At
one point on the trip home to New South Wales
in 1932 after the conclusion of the Test match
in Perth against the touring South African's,
Bradman found himself alone with Fingleton and
McCabe. During the conversation, which centred
on their thoughts on the coming season (the English
tour to Australia included) he said something
that made both of them sit up shocked. He said,
"Don't be at all surprised if I am not with you
chaps this season".
Fingleton
recounting in his book thought the only reason
for Don talking this way was due to him being
fined £50 by the Board of Control over his writing
for the press while on tour to England in 1930.
Even though it had happened two years earlier,
Bradman still resented the fact that he had been
fined for breach of contract. The tour manager
in England was Mr W. Kelly and it was he that
deemed Bradman in breach of his 12-page contract.
It clearly stated that no player was allowed to
have any contact with the press and write for
them directly or indirectly. On the tour Don wrote
a series of articles for the press entitled 'My
life story' and because of this he found himself
£50 short of his promised £150 tour bonus. It
was rumoured that the board had wanted to withhold
the entire bonus due to Bradman because of his
'indiscretion'.
Bradman
had very little in common with the Board of Control
during this time, his background and his beliefs
were very much different to that of the elite
board. The success of the tour had brought more
money to the Board and the fact that they kept
his share of the profits didn't sit comfortably
with him - he never forgave the board members
for this situation in which he found himself.
Before
the 1932 - 33 series began, Bradman wrote to the
board asking for permission to write for the Sydney
Sun, in view of the fact that he had a contract
to write for them that year, part of a two year
contract. If permission is forthcoming to a current
Test player, he cannot write about the Team selection
during or after the match along with other provisos
and even if the Board give their permission; it
can be withdrawn at any time. It was not surprising
therefore given the background leading up to this
series that out of the two men that applied to
be the 'one' playing journalist allowed by the
Board - Jack Fingleton was accepted and Bradman
refused.
Bradman
wasted no time in issuing an ultimatum "If I am
not allowed to write, I will not play". To play
a series without Bradman was unthinkable, and
the Australian public and newspapers wasted no
time in letting the Board know how they felt on
the matter, not to mention the financial implications
if Don weren't to play. The stand off went on
for weeks, the Board found themselves in an awkward
position, backed into a corner by the supporting
press and public. The English tour to Australia
was by now two weeks old and Bradman had constantly
supplied the press with good copy during the first
two week, fully intent on honouring his contract
and if he was not to play cricket for Australia,
then so be it.
As
the first Test approached, Bradman's health took
a turn for the worse and the Board were quick
to act on an opportunity to buy themselves some
time. They requested two doctors to make a formal
examination of Donald and report back with their
findings. The report came back claiming Bradman
was healthy but had had a bad attack of influenza,
run down and need complete rest to regain full
fitness. Reuters claimed' it was the fall of the
Empire' talking of Sir Donald's ill health. Other
people thought it was a nervous breakdown and
some even reported he was suffering from pernicious
anaemia. Newspapers in England had already written
his obituary !
In
the end, the matter was taken out of the Boards
hands by Sir Hugh Denison, managing director of
the Sydney Sun and to whom Bradman was contracted
to. Although there are conflicting reports that
it was RC Packer that intervened as editor of
the Associated Press of Australia. The Board had
won, Sir Hugh stepped in and released Bradman
from his contract, allowing him to be available
to play, such was the pressure on Denison to allow
Bradman the option of not writing. |
