David Hookes

I love my woodwork.. I love my cricket. They are inexorably tied together. Today is a dark day for those like minded soals among us.

I remember working in the shed in 1977, during the centenary test, when a young David Hookes burst onto the scene. I was restoring a double bed at the time for the child bride. I remember the ups and downs, the upheavals during the World Series Circus, the end of your international career and the magnificent domestic career that followed.

I know that woodworking should be an entertainment, an avocation, a pleasure and pastime that stands alone without an outside crutch. I don't need company - but never pass up the opportunity for idle banter, I don't need praise - but don't reject it either and I don't need drink - but enjoy a cold one after. During these hours in the shed / up a ladder / under the car with a hammer / paintbrush / spanner in my hand the enjoyment is in doing the best job I can and saving a couple of bucks. What REALLY adds to the pleasure is tuning in the old ABC AM and listening to the cricket. Hooksie's career spanned my early married years, the birth of my first child and the first house that I built for my growing family.

Now some young thug has taken a part of that away. I am genuinely upset with the passing of David Hookes. I never met the man but that does not diminish the loss that I and many others feel today. My heart goes out to his family, his Victorian teammates and those who new him as a man.

I am not into hero worship. I do not believe that sportsmen and women should be placed on pedestals and that their lives should be more highly valued than others that slog their ways through life's highs and lows. The baggygreen in itself does not demand respect. We should however, respect the dedication and hard work required to reach the elite levels of sport. We should also respect those in our society who are less gifted, but through hard work and dedication achieve their life's goals.

If your only skill in life is the ability to beat a "lesser" person senseless then you do not earn my respect. Sympathy would be the highest emotion that you could earn from me. Dressing in a gentleman's tuxedo does not make you a gentleman, the same as me donning the baggygreen would not make me a test cricketer.

Cry with your child when her pet dies. Puff up with pride when your child comes to you with a broken toy and the words "Daddy can fix". Take enjoyment from discovering long lost timber under decades of paint. Share your triumphs with like minded souls. Help those who are weaker. Achieve what you can in life but not at the expense of others. Then you will be a man who deserves respect.

Rest in peace David. A man who earned respect.