My father taught me to play squash before he let me use his Pancho Gonzales tennis racquet (example pictured). Dad was good at both sports until his back injury precluded him from playing much.

Because I started with squash, that was my dominant racquet sport until I stopped playing in my mid 20s.

Tennis was only ever a social game for me, and I never considered myself very good, although in relative terms I’m a capable player even today.

Australia was a declining world tennis power when I began following the game in the mid 70s. From 1950 to 1967, Australia won 15 out of 18 Davis Cup titles.

Australia won the Davis Cup 16 times between 1937 and 1973, but only five times since.

Australian players topped the rankings in the 60s and early 70s, including Rod Laver, John Newcombe, Margaret Court and Evonne Goolagong.

John Newcombe

Most tennis was played on grass in those days. It was also very much a serve-volley game. Search YouTube for players from that era and you’ll see what I mean.

The introduction of hard courts made the game accessible to more people in Europe and South America. It also saw a shift to power tennis and the demise of serve-volley strategy.

Australia subsequently declined as a tennis powerhouse.

I haven’t watched much live tennis. The only time I’ve been to an Australian Open was at Kooyong in 1981, where I saw eventual champion Johan Kriek, from South Africa, win an early-round match on grass.

In a lesser league, but more enjoyable, I watched the Mount Gambier women’s tournament two years in a row, taking photographs and filing match reports for the local newspaper.

In 2009 I saw former world number eight Alicia Molik contest the tournament on her comeback trail.

But I’m not one to watch tennis on television and I’m not particularly motivated to sit in the stands at a major tournament.

The modern players are largely anonymous to me and I don’t find the style of play as enjoyable as it used to be on grass.

Young Michael is really interested in tennis though and wants to see the Australian Open next year.

For those who don’t know, Evonne Goolagong was an Aboriginal player who won 14 grand slam titles. Her father was an itinerant shearer and she grew up in the small country town of Barellan.

Here’s a musical tribute to the great Evonne Goolagong from 1981:

With Australian cricket at arguably its lowest point for 25 years, players have no time to prove themselves, prepare or find form in the Sheffield Shield before the major Test series against India.

I quite enjoy T20 cricket myself and believe there’s a place for it in the modern game, but not at the expense of traditional cricket or player performance.

The whole franchise system worries me too.

The South Australian franchise, Adelaide Strikers, played in blue last week while half the crowd appeared in red, which is the color of the state Redbacks.

There can be little “club” loyalty given that state players turn out for whoever offers the best contract, and even that is only for one year.

Mediocre players are being paid big money; some earn their living just from appearing in T20 tournaments around the world.

I can’t see this format succeeding in the long term. It wouldn’t surprise me if it goes the way of baseball and basketball … start with a bang and then fade away.

The danger is that damage may be done to cricket at other levels. People are already losing interest in one-day internationals and Test interest will wane further if performances drop and the overall cricket brand is tarnished.

The tournament should remain based on state teams, albeit under commercial licence. The two extra teams should have been in Canberra and Geelong instead of Sydney and Melbourne.

The matches should be played in March after the Sheffield Shield final. There may be some overlap with football, but that’s tough.

The number of ODI matches should be reduced to accommodate T20, which should remain provincial in focus, rather than international.

As it currently stands, cricket authorities risk undermining the system that produces the talent, which people want to watch. They also risk burning out and confusing patrons and viewers.

Last weekend she entered her first competitive event, aged 7 (see video).

I’ve never really been into watching gymnastics, but it looks great from a participant’s point of view and I think it will do wonders for Maggie’s confidence.

It’s remarkable that young children can perform on the beam without fear and fling themselves around on the bars.

There has been some media discussion about Australia’s performance in comparative terms.

A caller to ABC Radio suggested this was the “worst Australian team ever”, which drew a rebuttal from Jim Maxwell that 1978-79 was a more insipid performance.

My immediate reaction was to disagree with Maxwell on the basis that in 1978-79 Australia had a developing team of youngsters, rejects and loyalists.

The best players of the era were mercenaries/trailblazers with Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket, forsaking the baggy green for a yellow cap and cash.

That summer, at the age of 12, was also the first time I took any interest in the national side and Allan Border became my boyhood hero.

I wonder if any new members of the current Australian side will become heroes to a generation?

Australia lost the 1978-79 series 5-1 and went down 3-1 in 2010-11 in a shorter series. I doubt there is anyone, however, who doesn’t believe England would have won the current series 5-1 if two extra tests were played in Sydney and Melbourne or Hobart.

Starting team

1978-79: Graham Wood, Gary Cosier, Peter Toohey, Graham Yallop, Kim Hughes, Trevor Laughlin, John Maclean, Bruce Yardley, Rodney Hogg, Allan Hurst, Jim Higgs.

2010-11: Shane Watson, Simon Katich, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey, Marcus Northe, Brad Haddin, Mitch Johnson, Xavier Doherty, Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus.

Rodney Hogg starred with the ball in 1978-79.

Comment: I would back the 1978-79 side in a contest between the two. The vintage team had a suspect top order, but Wood, Yallop and Hughes were class players. The bowling attack was much stronger and better balanced than today’s line-up.

First Test at Brisbane

1978-79: England won by seven wickets after an Australian batting collapse in the first innings. Australia batted reasonably well in the second dig, with centuries to Yallop and Hughes. Hogg took seven wickets for the match and Hurst four.

Points: England 6 Australia 4

2010-11: Match drawn. Hussey and Haddin scored centuries, Siddle took six wickets. England amassed 1/517 in their first innings.

Points: England 5 Australia 5

Second Test

1978-79 (Perth): England outclassed Australia to win by 166 runs. Hogg took 10 wickets, Hurst and Yardley four each as England were dismissed twice. The batting failed twice, with only Toohey and Wood scoring half centuries.

Points: England 7 Australia 3

2010-11 (Adelaide): England won by an innings and 71 runs. Hussey and Watson both scored two half centuries, but nobody made a ton for Australia on a good batting deck. Harris was the “best” bowler with 2/84.

Points: England 8 Australia 2

Third Test

1978-79 (Melbourne): Australia won by 103 runs. Wood made a century and Border 29 on debut. The bowlers dominated, with Hogg taking 10 wickets and Dymock five.

Points: Australia 7, England 3

2010-11 (Perth): Australia won by 267 runs. Hussey scored 61 and 116, Watson made 95 in the second innings. Johnson and Harris snared nine wickets each.

Points: Australia 8 England 2

Fourth Test

1978-79 (Sydney): England won by 93 runs after Australia collapsed for 111 chasing 205 for victory. Border scored 105 runs without being dismissed and bowled 23 overs. Higgs took eight wickets.

Points England 6 Australia 4

2010-11 (Melbourne): England won by an innings and 157 runs. Australia made just 98 in the first innings and 258 in the second. Siddle took six wickets.

Points: England 9 Australia 1

Fifth Test

1978-79 (Adelaide): England won by 205 runs. Australia’s batting failed in both innings. Hogg and Hurst took seven wickets each.

Points: England 8 Australia 2

2010-11 (Sydney): England won by an innings and 83 runs. The only batsmen to make half centuries were all-rounders Johnson and Smith. Johnson took four wickets.

Points: England 9 Australia 1

Sixth Test

1978-79 (Sydney): England won by nine wickets. Australia’s batting again failed twice to pass 200, even with Yallop contributing 121 in the first innings. Higgs took five wickets for the match.

Points: England 8 Australia 2

Points tallied (subjective measure):

1978-79: England 38 (6.3 average) Australia 22 (3.6)
2010-11: England 33 (6.6) Australia 13 (2.6)

Comments: The 1978-79 team failed regularly with the bat, but was frequently in a winning position. The best-performing batsman (Yallop) scored less than Hussey and Watson in 2010-11, but more than any other Australian this summer.

The big difference between the two teams was the bowling. The 1978-79 side proved itself capable of dismissing England twice in a match. Hogg took 41 wickets, Hurst 25 and spinner Higgs 19. The “best” bowler in 2010-11 was Johnson 15.

The 1978-79 team had class players who performed well in Yallop, Hogg and Higgs. Promising youngsters included Wood, Hughes and Border, while Yardley and Dymock also went on to be successful Test players.

The 2010-11 team had good contributions from Hussey, Watson and Haddin, with a match-winning cameo from Johnson, otherwise the efforts were “solid” at best, eg Siddle and Harris.

It remains to be seen if any of the youngsters from 2010-11 go on to be as good as Border and Hughes, but on bowling strength alone the 1978-79 team was a better outfit.

At least after the 1978-79 humiliation Australia rose from the ashes. It’s hard to be sure the same improvement can be expected any time soon in 2011.

Some unwanted records from 2010-11

• England won three matches in the series by more than an innings.
• England made its highest-ever innings score in Australia (644).
• England made four scores above 500 in a series for the first time.

Before that, the coverage was mainly about how bad the venues where and whether it was safe for athletes to attend. Those problems appear to have not materialised.

I always felt uncomfortable about that, and the decision by some precious types to withdraw.

They were selected to represent their country, but turned down the honor because of perceived risk to themselves.

The Australian cricket and hockey teams have been visiting India for decades without major incidents.

The Commonwealth Games were originally the Empire Games. The first Games were held in 1930 in Hamilton, Canada, where 11 countries sent 400 athletes to take part in six sports and 59 events.

They’ve grown in scope since then, but have probably fallen in prestige.

I can remember Olympics dating back to Montreal in 1976, when I was nine, but I can’t remember much about any Commonwealth Games, not even Melbourne four years ago.

Let’s face it, most Olympic events aren’t spectator sports except at the actual Olympics. Drop down a level in standard and reduce the size of the competition and you don’t have much to showcase.

At Delhi, I’ve been slightly interested in the hockey and the rugby sevens.

And I like to see the minnow nations succeed. The Commonwealth Games are one of the few international sporting competitions where the United Kingdom takes part as multiple countries, ie England, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man, even Guernsey and Jersey.

And the Cayman Islands won their first ever Commonwealth Games gold medal at Delhi through sprinter Cydonie Mothersill (pictured).

I previously thought the Cayman Islands were only good at tax evasion!

The main arguments against such a move are tradition and money.

The game has moved so far from its historical roots that I don’t place much weight on the “tradition” argument.

This is the first drawn grand final in AFL history. There were only two in the former VFL and the last was in 1977. I remember that one.

If the AFL resists introducing an extra-time decider it will be because of money. The league stands to make a massive windfall in ticket sales and other revenue from the rematch.

I think the mechanism for deciding the result in earlier finals if scores are still deadlocked after extra time is a “golden goal”.

I’d like to see a goal-scoring shootout instead. Players should kick for goal from 40 metres out on a 45-degree angle.

That should guarantee a Collingwood loss!

Two such stories have gripped Australia in the past week.

The Melbourne Storm rugby league salary cap rort is said to be the biggest scandal ever in Australian sport.

For the benefit of overseas readers, Melbourne Storm was stripped of its last two premierships, fined $500,000 and forced to return $1.1 million in prize money. The club has also been banned from accruing any premiership points this season.

Its crime was to spend $1.7 million above the salary cap over five years.

I don’t like rugby league and the controversy confirms my prejudice against the sport as being mobile wrestling played by thugs and managed by shonks.

They are subjective views, but these facts are relevant when putting the Storm controversy into context:

• The amount involved is only $340,000 per year;
• Melbourne Storm is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited.

It’s incredible to think that senior people in News Ltd were unaware of the rort.

It’s less incredible to observe that very little analysis of this fact has been reported in News Ltd newspapers.

The Fairfax press is taking a closer interest, as this report in The Age reveals.

Discredited Storm chief executive Brian Waldron, who News chief John Hartigan described as “the architect” of the scam and a “rat” has promised to disclose everything under oath at a properly constituted public inquiry.

That must make a few people nervous, especially Waldron’s comment:

“I am … prepared to give the entire background to Rupert Murdoch so that he has a full understanding of how his company has managed a $66 million investment in the Melbourne Storm since its inception.”

It’s a murky world when a media company has commercial interests outside of publishing.

I’m not suggesting that News executives knew about the salary cap breach, but they should have known earlier if they were properly overseeing their investment.

The other larger-than-life news story concerns West Australian Treasurer Troy Buswell, which I will comment on separately.

During the quarter-time break against St Kilda on Friday night, Malthouse was captured on television appearing to speak forcefully to Saints players.

Questioned after the game, Malthouse said to reporters: “I didn’t have words to the Saints players, I had words to my players to make sure they didn’t get involved, let’s get that right from the start.”

It later emerged that Malthouse had called Stephen Milne a “f***ing rapist”.

Milne, now aged 30, faced allegations of rape in 2004, but was never charged and the case was closed.

In other words, he is innocent. However, he has had to face sledging from rivals and fans since that time.

Malthouse must have had a brain explosion to lose his cool and abuse an opposition player during the break.

He should be better than that, but it sometimes happens that people act out of character in the heat of the moment.

It’s less easy to understand or forgive his post-match deception.

Webster’s dictionary defines a lie as: “A falsehood uttered or acted for the purpose of deception; an intentional violation of truth; an untruth spoken with the intention to deceive.”

This is what Malthouse had to say on Collingwood’s website:

Following my apology for inappropriate comments I made to Stephen Milne, I would like to take this opportunity to inform you of the reasoning behind the initial position I took in the post-match press conference on Friday night.

When asked if I was directing comments at St Kilda players or my own players, I chose the latter option basically under the old code of what happens on the field stays on the field.

I largely took this decision based on my belief that, if I had said I was directing comments at a St Kilda player(s), this would lead to follow up questions such as “who were you talking to?”, “what did you say?”, “were you responding to provocation?”, etc etc. This would in turn create unnecessary angst and controversy for both clubs, and individuals from both clubs.

However, having seen that St Kilda and their players were obviously aggrieved the next day, and with St Kilda wanting to take the matter further, and having reflected on my involvement in the verbal exchange, I felt it was necessary for me to acknowledge the inappropriate nature of my comments, and to offer the subsequent apology.

I strenuously object to being branded a liar. I acknowledge my original position has caused me much embarrassment and my family great distress, but the reason I reacted to the question the way I did was because at that moment, I felt it was the best outcome not to drag the two clubs and a number of individuals into an obvious controversy.

I’ve been involved in the game for over four decades and have always had the best interests of the game at heart, and will continue to do so.

I hope this explanation, in conjunction with my record and reputation, gives you, the Collingwood supporter, a greater understanding of this situation.

If Malthouse genuinely wanted to avoid “unnecessary angst and controversy” he failed miserably. He issued a public apology and was fined $7500 by the AFL for engaging in aggressive or threatening conduct.

As respected columnist Caroline Wilson observed in The Age, Malthouse’s apology was negotiated by others, was conditional and impersonal towards Milne.

And she reminds us that on Saturday, Collingwood president Eddie McGuire “was still telling anyone who would listen that the coach had used the word ‘pest’ not ‘rapist’. Did Malthouse lie to him too? Or was McGuire still clinging to controlling the uncontrollable?”

Malthouse lied on Friday night. It’s a fallacy to claim otherwise.

If he didn’t want to cause unnecessary angst he should have said nothing. “No comment” would have been his best response and his integrity would still be intact.

Coaches often tell white lies about players’ injuries, team selections and possible match-ups.

Most of us excuse that as part of the game.

When it comes to abusing an individual and then denying it, I find it impossible to excuse that, especially when there’s a lack of contrition.

This post is a gripe about the tennis courts being locked. You can see them towards the top left in the open paddock.

When we moved here and for more than a year afterward the courts were always open and anyone could play when there was no competition or practice happening.

The Corriedale Park courts are the home of the Uniting Church Tennis Club, but I assume it’s a council-owned facility.

Most of the other tennis courts in Mount Gambier remain open for public use. We’ve been driving to West Gambier for a hit, which is annoying given these courts are just across the road from where we live.

Australia has a great tradition in tennis.

Australians are outdoors people and we’re blessed with great summer weather. Whereas public tennis courts are scarce in Europe, they are common here.

It annoys me that these particular courts are now locked.

There was no history of vandalism, as far as I’m aware. Occasionally there was broken glass on the courts, but as my son pointed out, that can still happen. Someone simply has to throw a bottle over the fence.

I have never seen the nets damaged.

Come on Uniting Church and/or Mount Gambier City Council. Unlock the courts.