F E A T U R E S

Interview: Life After Keating
Labor's foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd looks at the world and wonders what might have been ...

Industrial: That Friday Feeling
Anthony Stavropoulos has been working six days a week for the last eight years and now he wants his weekends back. “Remember that Friday feeling?” he asks. “You just don’t get that anymore.”

Bad Boss: Begging to Work
They may put themselves about as the Saints of the Fourth Estate, but bosses at the Big Issue Magazine have been nominated by their own vendors for this month’s Tony award.

Organising: Project Pilbara
Sydney University’s Bradon Ellem reports on how unions are bouncing back in Rio territory

Unions: Off the Rails
The Federal Government is attempting to turn NSW Railways into a political football with a proposal that threatens the safety of freight and passenger trains in NSW and life in our rail Towns, writes Phil Doyle.

International: Brazil Turns Left
Union stalwarts throughout the American hemisphere are cheering the election of Lula – the peanut seller and shoeshine boy, turned union leader - who has been elected as the first working-class President of Brazil.

Environment: Brown Wash
Stuart Rosewarn argues the Johannesburg Sunmmit was a gripping showcase of Australia’s lack of a strategic vision.

History Special: Learning from the Past
Ray Markey looks at union membership growth in the 1880s & 1900s to argue that today’s unions must engage to grow.

Corporate: Will the Bullying Backfire?
Job insecurity, unemployment, a growing gap between rich and poor, massive global poverty and environmental danger are the big issues for the protests at the World Trade Organisation meeting in Sydney.

Technology: Danger Lurks For The Passive
If unions fail to exploit opportunities on the web to gain members, other organisations are likely to fill the void and provide services to workers on the internet.

History: In Labour’s Image
Neale Towart looks at a long-overdue initiative to around NSW through the eyes of the workers.

Politics: Without Power Or Glory
South Coast contributor Rowan Cahill gives his take on the Cunningham by-election result.

History Special: A 'Cosy Relationship'
Barbara Webster looks at Rockhampton between 1916 – 1957 to debunk the ‘dependence’ theory of trade union growth.

Culture: Blood Stains the Wattle
Former Queensland Treasurer Keith De Lacey has turned up in print with a rollicking tale of life during the famous Mt Isa strike of the 60s.

Satire: Iraq Pre-empts Pre-emptive Strike
Saddam Hussein has launched a pre-emptive strike on the United States to prevent it from pre-emptively striking Iraq first.

Poetry: The Executive Pay Cut
Executives accepting pay freezes, or even pay cuts? This outrageous proposal has been put on the table by some capitalists themselves, and taken up by our bard.

Review: Time Out
When a family man invents a new life after losing his steady job, Tara de Boehmler watches his charade escalate until there is no turning back.

C O L U M N S

Month In Review
War and Pieces of Work
The Bali Tragedy dominated the news this month, leaving many questioning the motive and wondering if this is fallout from Australia’s unquestioning support of George Dubya’s ‘War On Terror’.

The Soapbox
Beware of Greeks Bearing Historical Allusions
Roland Stephens argues that the current popular line that the USA is a modern day version of the Roman Empire is flawed.

The Locker Room
Over The Fence Is Out
Phil Doyle warms up for another season of hard hitting and fast bowling in the park, making the rules up as he goes along.

Indigenous
The Sea of Hands
Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation are five years old. Spokeswoman Dameeli Coates addressed labor Council to mark the event.

Postcard
Tokyo Youth Call
Tokyo unions are relying on young organisers to infiltrate workplaces as part of a major organising campaign, which focuses on non-unionised companies, reports Mary Yaager.

Bosswatch
Still Crazy After All These Years
With new research suggests CEO carry similar personality traits to psycho-paths, the AGM season is proving that there’s little room for logic in our nation’s board rooms.

E D I T O R I A L

Why The User Should Pay
Unions have often been the victims of the user-pays ethos – the pointy end of the assault on the State by the Top End of Town that has left our public sector looking like the poor relation to the corporates.

N E W S

Bargaining Fees In the Dock

Deadly ‘Slave Labour’ Racket Exposed

Zoo Workers Buck Indecent Proposal

Cabinet Takes Stick To Abbott's Carrot

Cyber Action Behind Hilton Win

Aussies Back On Board

City Workers To Help Country Cousins

Sour Taste for Wine Workers

Government Grounds Ansett Levy

TAB Workers Winners as Cup Strike Averted

Aussie Post Gets Mail On Sick Leave

Council Backs Community Radio Venture

First Steps to Compo Clean-Up

Workers Out! Conference Opens In Sydney

Aussie Union Rep Power, Yes Please: TUC

New Burma Shame File

Activists Notebook

L E T T E R S

WHAT YOU CAN DO

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Over The Fence Is Out

******************

With the weather warming up your humble correspondent has been pleased to see a veritable proliferation of bats and balls springing up in parks around the countryside.

Along with this activity comes the attendant makeshift equipment and wickets. These range from the regulation three stumps and bails to the traditional garbage bin and items of various dimension that fall outside the ambit of the rules as set down by the Marlebone Cricket Club.

The happy activity of playing at a bit of cricket in the park and its close cousin, the backyard game, are at the very core of what sport, in this country, is all about.

Rules of sports can often be amended by the environment in which the sports take place. I have had no problem with this ever since my brother declared at 3 for 6134 one warm afternoon in January too many years ago. To lose a game of cricket by an innings and several thousand runs can be character building, but it would have been a lot easier if we had of instituted the rule about Mrs Henderson's dog next door earlier.

While participants in backyard and park sports are encouraged to use their environment, there are certain points worth noting, both in amending rules and the spirit in which the game is played.

We all know the type. Their grab for sporting recognition at a higher level was thwarted in the under 12's and they have had a competitive streak as wide as the current account deficit ever since. These harpies mainly do the community a service by being a pain in the sit down apparatus, but occasionally they excel themselves by making pedantic claims to being not out, despite the fact that they've been clean bowled by a six year old. They are to be avoided, unless they fulfil clause b) below.

Next up in the hall of shame is the ring-in. Usually this is someone who played cricket at a minor-county level somewhere, or kept Glen McGrath out of the state under 19's or some such arcane past.

These carpetbaggers are usually trotted out in some 'friendly' encounter between two sides that get to together once a year to mask their venomous hatred behind a veneer of amiability. If some friends who are fond of a punt turn up with someone who looks suspiciously like Mark Waugh, pray for rain. Beware if your workplace/trade/extended family is challenged by some rabble that wouldn't normally cross the street to use some unorthodox method to extinguish the flames should you find yourself on fire.

Speaking of being on fire, no one likes a smart-arse, so it's best to retire if you find yourself on the happy side of fifty while at the crease.

At the other end of the Richter scale it is common knowledge that no one can get out first ball. This rule can be applied to second, third or even fourth balls if the batter is:

a) Holding the bat the wrong way around.

b) Has paid for the beer, or

c) Has consumed a vast quantity of the sponsors product mentioned in b).

There is also no such thing as a no-ball, and no one ever gets out lbw, unless they're a ring-in.

Flannel creams are a definite no-no. Usually a Mighty Ducks shirt will suffice, or whatever you have worn from the nightclub the night before.

Your humble correspondent had the pleasure of watching Giles Burrow of the Exploding White Mice put in a sterling spell of left hand fast-medium bowling in the annual Long Hairs v Short Hairs cricket match in Adelaide in 1992 - all the while wearing his tight black jeans and motorcycle boots.

So armed with this knowledge the reader can now take strike, eye the packed leg side ruefully, watch the tennis ball as it dips sharply, keep the elbow up, and then take a wild swing at trying to send the ball clear across Mrs Henderson's yard.

Phil Doyle - settling in behind the leaders after the first furlong

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Workers Online is a resource for the Labour movement
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URL: http://workers.labor.net.au/features/200211/b_sportspage_phil.html
Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005