Off The Cuff: A wry look at life

Even fallen heroes can remain role models. Hansie Cronje is a case in point. Not too long ago, he had a world of opportunities and more… some of it his for the taking on a daily basis. One mistake, one weak moment in listening (reluctantly?) to that persistent, devious voice that seems to come from nowhere to all of us, and it was all behind him. The generous view here is that good men and true walk on heavily-mined soil in a world made corrupt by a cabal of bookmakers. But more of that later.

My little boy, in common with thousands of 12-year olds in many parts of the planet, is in turn, Sanath Jayasuriya, Steve Waugh, Tendulkar, Lara, Shaun Pollock, Wasim Akram among others. Such is the hold Test cricketers and other international sports stars have on their imagination that these youngsters imitate their heroes to an extent that is both amusing and touching.

Cricket has the following it does perhaps because the game reflects the ups and downs of life like no other sport. Team effort, individual brilliance, reversal of fortune, incredible failure, success against impossible odds…a Test or One-dayer will serve up all these, and then some.

But what happens, I wonder, when some of these heroes fall from grace…let the side down? What effect does it have on these little hero-worshippers? Before you take the Freudian route, tarry for a moment and listen to the feedback I got from my little boy, who was also conveying what some of his classmates were saying.

And in their considered opinion, it was a mistake…albeit a sad one. But wasn't it so wrong, failing country and fans? Yes, but he said he was sorry! And maybe his family needed money urgently! From the mouths of babes…juveniles still a long way from understanding the hidden, unsavoury aspects of the great game.

Still, parents, teachers, coa-ches and guardians might like to explore the possibilities this presents to teach their charges about the oases and mirages of the real world. If Hansie Cronje was a light that failed, he can also be held up as an example of a person who, after owning up to his mistake and paying a heavy price for it, was making a valiant effort to get back on track and do more useful things with the rest of his life.

In the larger scheme of things, it seems right to focus on the manner in which Cronje was a leader of men while being one of the boys – with the right mix of inspiration, empathy and drive.

Nelson Mandela, that icon of compassion, said of Cronje: "Here was a young man courageously and with dignity rebuilding his life after the setback he suffered a while ago. The manner in which he was doing that, rebuilding his life and public career, promised to make him once more a role model of how one deals with adversity."

In a world where politicians, so-called statesmen, civic leaders, business tycoons and movie and pop stars make the news everyday for appalling excesses and all the wrong reasons, youngsters need to hang on to their sporting heroes more than ever.

As the Bard said, and Ian Botham concurred, the good that men do is interred with their bones. The world thus, will remember Cronje for this single mistake. Perhaps we should tell our charges that, just as he had faced down fiery pacemen and umbrella fields out there in the middle many times, Wessel Johannes Hansie Cronje, in the final months of his life, also gave a lesson in overcoming an adversity of his making. Even fallen heroes can remain role models.