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Toulon-bound Ben Barba owes the NRL nothing

Peter FitzSimons

So Ben Barba should be pilloried for saying, "The NRL hasn't given me too much"?

The critics certainly think so. The notion is the obvious one that Barba is an ungrateful git who was more anonymous than a wrong number before the NRL turned him into the star he is, only for him to disgrace himself, by being no less than a "drug cheat", and then have the hide to turn his back on rugby league by taking the filthy lucre of France, and then be so ungrateful as to say the NRL hasn't "given me too much"! Cur! Ingrate! And did we mention "drug cheat!"?

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Barba makes shock switch to rugby

NRL star Ben Barba has signed a deal with French rugby powerhouse Toulon until the end of the season. Vision courtesy Seven Network.

Give me a break.

Calling him "a drug cheat" because of the positive cocaine test after the grand final is demonstrable, disingenuous nonsense. Who thinks, who has ever suggested, that Barba's fabulous skills have come from cocaine, in the same manner that Ben Johnson's speed came from steroids? No-one that is serious.

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As to the idea that the NRL is sport's answer to the Salvos, handing out succour from the goodness of its heart, that is equal bullshit. The whole raison d'etre of league, from its very foundations, was to make money, and it has done it superbly well ever since, building a wonderfully entertaining game filled with entertaining players.

And who does it give money in turn to? To those who can entertain the most, who can make money and generate fame for rugby league. And traditionally – as witness where Super League came from – it has way underpaid its entertainers giving them a lot less money than they are actually worth.

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Ben Barba is in the front ranks of those who have done exactly that, a fabulous player who has made the turnstiles swing and lifted ratings. He owes rugby league nothing, and earned every cent of his riches. And so now league has placed a ban on him, he has decided to take a fabulous offer from France? So good luck to him. It is in the very traditions of league. Take the money and go!

Greg will fix it

Didn't I tell you already? This column is NOT the Greg Norman Times, and as fascinating as the great man is, as eminently quotable as we all find his every utterance, it is simply not right to come back from holidays and fill item after item with the latest news on our most charismatic golfer.

For one thing, we do not wish to distract Greg, as I have no doubt that, as we speak, he is very busy trying to put the Humpty-Dumpty of Australian-American relations back together again, given his intimacy with Prime Minister Turnbull and President Trump.

True, relations between our two countries have not been so strained since the days of the great Gough Whitlam and Richard Nixon, but I'll bet it is nothing Greg can't fix with a quick phone call to Trump, and a quick 5-iron to the behind of Malcolm: "Don't you ever ANNOY the Donald like that again! How dare you be so annoying he had to hang up on you! Australia's job is to be subservient spear-carriers for the Americans, and have no right to even ask for basic courtesy in return!"

Trust me, Greg will fix it. Against all that, one quote the Greg gave to an American interviewer this week for a business podcast is too wise and humble not to share, as it finally puts to bed the notion that Greg is a self-obsessed narcissist of such colossal proportions it would make a brown dog weep. So, tell 'em Greg, tell those narks what you said:

"It's not all about Greg Norman. It's all about the brand but the brand is about Greg Norman. So when Greg Norman is not here anymore and I don't like talking about myself in third person, then the logo and the brand has got to live on … The most important thing [is what] will allow us to get [the Greg Norman brand] 200 years going forward."

And there you have it. Get on with your little lives. Let Greg get on with his enormous one, so that in 2217, the peoploids can still raise a glass to the man that was Greg. In the meantime, here's to Greg. He hates talking about himself in the third person! 

The longest streak

Ever heard of streak running? Me, neither. But I gather it is a subset of joggers who pride themselves on running "at least a mile every day, regardless of injuries, surgery or other circumstances". No exceptions. You run. Every day. And you keep your "streak" of successive days going for as long as you can. The world leader for many and many a'moon has been former English Olympian, Ron Hill, now 78 who started his streak on 21 December 1964, and ran every day thereafter – <> – for the next 52 years and 39 days … until last Sunday, when he had problems with his heart.

"I thought I might die," he recounted. "There was no other option but to stop. I owed that to my wife, family and friends, plus myself."

Good job, anyway, Ron!

The King is resting, long live the new King, Jon Sutherland, 66, of West Hills, California, who now has the longest active streak in the world at 17,417 days, just over 47½ years. My question: is there a streak movement going in Oz, and who is our reigning champion?

Question of the anthem

Let us leave aside the hideousness of the Mundine/Green fight. As I have said before, I have no desire to see, or promote, two men trying to damage the other's brain. But Anthony Mundine's line, during the week, that he would not stand for Advance Australia Fair, because it was racist, was fascinating. His theme was that it was the theme song for the appalling White Australia policy, and had no place as our anthem.

"Do your research on the anthem," he said. "Do your research on 'advance, we're young, we're free'. We are far from young. And a lot of us ain't free. Advance Australia Fair, you speak to your historians and educated college professors, it's there as in white fair, not in fair go."

Fascinating! Could that be true? Could it be that it means Advance Australian white people? So I did as Mundine suggested, and spoke to my historians. In this case, David Day, the Australian historian I respect most, with Professor John Molony.

David Day replied:  "I can see where Anthony is coming from. 'Fair' can of course be read in two ways and you'd have to do more research to discover what was in the mind of the writer at the time he wrote the song. But it was certainly done at a time when a white Australia was being put on the political agenda and when it was sung on 1/1/01 it was firmly on the national agenda and 'fair' would have resonated in both a racial and an equity sense. The absence of any reference to Indigenous Australians and the bit about boundless plains to share is obviously offensive to Indigenous people."

So you see – it is not clear-cut either way, so far. If anyone does have any more detailed info on the origins of the anthem, would love to see it!

What they said

Serena Williams: "My first Grand Slam started here, and getting to 23 here, but playing Venus, it's stuff that legends are made of. I couldn't have written a better story. I really would like to take this moment to congratulate Venus. She's an amazing person. There's no way I'd be at 23 without her. There's no way I'd be at one."

Champion: Serena Williams with the Australian Open trophy.

Champion: Serena Williams with the Australian Open trophy. Photo: Joe Armao

Rafael Nadal after his defeat: "Today was a great match, probably Roger deserved it a bit more than me. Congrats to Roger and to all his team. It's just amazing the way that he's playing after such a long time without being on the tour … You have been working a lot to make that happen, so well done. I feel very happy for you."

Federer in reply: "Here we stand in the finals. I'm happy for you. I would have been happy to lose too, to be honest. A comeback was perfect as it was. Tennis is a tough sport. There's no draws, but if there was going to be one, I would have been very happy to accept a draw tonight and share it with you Rafa, really."

Federer went on to urge Nadal to keep going after major titles – he already has 14 – despite continuing injury issues: "Stay on the tour. Keep playing, Rafa, please. Tennis needs you. Thanks very much for everything you do."

Margaret Court, who won 24 major titles in her 17-year career, on Serena Williams' 23 majors: "I think she will break the record, and I think she will break it soon. It's so much easier for players today to do what they do. She hadn't played for about three months before coming here, and it's easier to do these things." No, I don't quite gets what she means, either.

Garry Lyon re-emerges into the public domain: "I'm still in a relationship with Nicky [Brownless]. Nicky and I are together and I'm eternally grateful she was able to support me through all of this and I'd like to think there'll be no more interest." Good luck!

Cristiano Ronaldo on being elected the 2016 Ballon d'Or winner, which I think is some kind of soccer trophy: "2016 was the best year of my career, the trophy shows that people aren't blind and watch the games." (Editor. I'm back. Incommmmmming!)

Kansas City Chief Travis Kelce unhappy with the referees: "Referee No. 51 shouldn't even be able to wear a zebra jersey ever again. He shouldn't even be able to work at f------ Foot Locker."

Dana White responds to Meryl Streep after she so wonderfully bagged MMA in her Golden Globes speech: "It's not going to be everybody's thing and the last thing in the world I expect is an uppity, 80-year-old lady to be in our demographic and love mixed martial arts."

Philosophy of tennis player Eugenie Bouchard:  "It's lonely to become a champion. It's lonely to be successful."

Sir Mo Farah: "On 1 January this year, Her Majesty the Queen made me a knight of the Realm. On 27 January, President Donald Trump seems to have made me an alien."

Ben Barba heads to France: "Au revoir everyone, thanks for the memories and who knows I may return down the track. You never say never."

Tim Raines, elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame after he stopped playing in 2002: "A lot of people didn't really know what Tim Raines did for 23 years."

Anthony Mundine saying he won't stand for the national anthem: "I am a man that stands against wrong and I think that is a big wrong in our country. And I can't stand for something that I don't believe in. The flagship for the country is the flag and the anthem. They are the iconic symbols. So let's start by changing them and bringing the first-nation people, the traditional owners, with us." See item.

Tweet from Buretto77 on the Australia - New Zealand one-day match
"So Australia needed 6 to tie and we won it with an underarm. Brilliant!"

Team of the Summer

Roger Federer and Serena Williams. Both wound back the clock with impressive victories.

Venus Williams. Her speech as runner-up to her sister, was a stunner. How did we not know before she was so eloquent, so warm, so gracious?

Tiger Woods. Not so for Tiger as missed the cut back on the PGA Tour.

Perth Scorchers. I'm told they won the Big Bash for the third time in the past four years.

Sydney FC. Yet to lose an A-League game this season.

Women's AFL. Season that kicks off this weekend is certain to be a hit. There already seems to be a great deal of buzz about.

Sydney Sevens. Kicks off this weekend.

Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots. Into the Super Bowl.

Josh Hazlewood. Contributed 0 to an amazing 10th wicket stand with Marcus Stoinis, but held up his end! 

Marcus Stoinis. Played an amazing innings that everyone is talking about.