Gough Whitlam was not renowned for his sporting interest or athletic endeavour, but as a politician who loomed so large in Australian public life, it is almost inevitable that he cast a shadow on the nation's playing fields.
On the Tuesday evening of Whitlam's death, ABC viewers watching Kitchen Cabinet were treated to a sneak peek at another former prime mInister's "pool room" – a wall of framed images of Bob Hawke's sporting hero, some battler called "Hawkie". All of which left Pssst pondering what limited-edition memorabilia wonders would adorn Gough's (likely mythical) pool room.
Doubtless on the marble bar there would have been a bronze bust, or two, featuring classical Greek Olympic poses, maybe even one of the man himself as depicted in 1984 by Age cartoonist Peter Nicholson. And there would definitely be a picture or two of Gough's sporting sweetheart Margaret, nee Dovey, in her swimming prime as a competitor in the 220 yards breaststroke at the 1938 British Empire Games.
The photo archives also produced some intriguing images of Whitlam attending the VFL's 80th anniversary dinner in 1977, greeting Australian rugby league great Arthur Beetson at a match in 1968 and a 1973 picture of Whitlam with Inter Dominion pacing winner Hondo Grattan and trainer/driver Tony Turnbull. Surely it was the last time that an Australian prime minister has attended the trots.
And what Gough pool room wall would be complete without at least one Tandberg cartoon referencing Sir John Kerr's tired and emotional antics at the 1977 Melbourne Cup? In his book The Truth of the Matter, Whitlam described the man who dismissed him from office as being like Caligula, "weaving his way down from the imperial box and making his merry remarks to the owner, the fascinated crowd and a million viewers [who] may have thought that the horse would have made a better proconsul".
You can bet there would be no Springboks or Carlton memorabilia on the walls. One of the Whitlam government's first acts in December 1972 was banning sporting tours involving South African teams, while the body-blow sacking of Jim Cairns in June 1975 followed the discovery that the treasurer had misled parliament in denying he had authorised former Carlton Football Club president George Harris to seek overseas loans.
Whitlam acolyte Mark Latham, writing for The Financial Review this week, said that "as a university student, Gough's chosen sport was rowing – an activity he later described as the perfect preparation for politics: 'You can face one way while moving in the opposite direction'." Sports memorabilia, by its very nature, looks backwards, but like the man himself, we would expect the Whitlam pool room to also look forward.
In a speech at the Collingwood Football Cub in 1994, on the 19th anniversary of the dismissal – which was attended by Pssst in a former life as an ABC reporter – Whitlam made an impassioned plea for Australia to change its flag in time for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Australian Olympic chief John Coates recalled this week that the Whitlams had been tireless in their efforts to win the games for Sydney – visiting 13 African countries in 30 days in 1993.
"It was a very hectic schedule and it was far from five-star accommodation as we met with presidents, prime ministers as well as IOC members," Coates said, adding that in the final ballot Sydney defeated Beijing by just two votes.
At the Collingwood function, Whitlam greeted his admirers with the words "My fellow Melburnians", before calling for the Union Jack to be banished from the Australian flag for the sake of our Olympians.
"Sporting events are the great occasions for national flags," he said. "Our team should compete under a flag which is accepted by Australians of all backgrounds and which is recognised as distinctly Australian by all other teams ... Margaret's and my weeks in Africa and days in Lausanne and Monte Carlo last year in support of Sydney's 2000 bid convinced us that the inclusion of the Union Jack in our flag would be no asset in the Olympic context."
And his preference of ensign for our athletes to march under?
"The Southern Cross represents the sole Australian contribution to Australia's flags and does so in a uniquely recognisable and acceptable style," Whitlam said. "In my view, the arrangement of Australia's flag – the Southern Cross with white stars on a blue background or blue stars on a white background – should adopt the proportions of Canada's flag."
So that is clear then: there are definitely no Union Jacks, Fanatics' yellows or Bondy's Boxing Kangaroos in Gough's pool room.
THE WATCHMAN
14 minutes to midnight for... betting companies spruiking novelty bet odds as news stories You'll be waiting a long time, fellas.
LOCAL HERO
The Australian Boat Race - an annual head-to-head race between the University of Melbourne and the University of Sydney featuring men's and women's eights - is scheduled for Sydney Harbour on Sunday giving the locals a decided advantage. The event - held on the Yarra when in Melbourne - dates back to showdowns between the universities on the water from the mid- to late-1800s. Melbourne's women's eight remains undefeated since home-and-away fixturing started in 2009.
WHAT THEY SHOULD DO...
...is ease up on the advertising restrictions. During this years Bathurst 1000 you could see ads on the exterior of the cars, the interior, the drivers race suits , the billboards, the grandstands, the concrete walls, the bridges, scrolling across the bottom of the screen and also during breaks in the coverage. However I noticed there was no signage on the bitumen road. This is a glaring oversight and grossly unfair to the sponsors. What they should do is allow the track to be painted and give back to the sponsors their right to endorse their products. - JON O'NEILL, Waurn Ponds.
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