Opinion

These opinion pieces have been written by Robert Drane over the past 30 years.
OPINION

Trading places

  The dramas of this year’s AFL national draft revealed a lot about why people watch and play the game.…
OPINION

Draft Dodgy

The pious indignation and earnest discussion sparked by former Hawthorn coach Ken Judge would be amusing if it wasn’t so…
OPINION

Enter, Exum

Documents recently released by Dr Wade Exum detail the results of positive drug tests for over 100 US athletes, including…
OPINION

Cricket Crisis

The chain of events that led to the Test match between India and South Africa being relegated to a first…
OPINION

The Carey affair

How do we sign off on the Wayne Carey saga? Should we? When is it a decent time to stop…
IssuesOPINION

Sideline Fever

All over the world, sporting officials are under siege. Australia’s figures disclose a crisis. A record 75% of kids who begin umpiring Australian Rules Football are dropping out. Rugby League’s rate is 60%. The number of people officiating in sporting events has fallen by a confounding 26%. It’s not a silent epidemic. There’s no mystery about it. The entire world witnesses it daily, on television screens, at major and minor sporting events, and, crucially, in junior ranks. Here are some examples of what they’ve seen just at the elite level: