Football Forum | Ticket Forum | Off-Topic Forum | All

Coffee 7:29 Tue Nov 25
Phil Hughes - RIP

BATSMAN Phil Hughes arrived at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital in an induced coma at 3:30pm and is currently in surgery after being struck on the head by a bouncer at the SCG earlier this afternoon while playing for South Australia in today’s Bupa Sheffield Shield match at the SCG.

A hospital spokesman confirmed Hughes had suffered a head injury and that Hughes was rushed into surgery after scans were taken.

There were distressing scenes at the SCG, as the Test hopeful and former Australian batsman was knocked out by a bouncer and stretchered from the ground at 2:23pm.

Ambulance officials confirmed he was in a critical condition.

At least three ambulances and a helicopter were on hand to treat the 25-year-old and transport him to St Vincent’s Hospital. He was reportedly breathing with some assistance when he left the ground.

Australian captain Michael Clarke was one of the first people to arrive at the hospital and is comforting Hughes’s sister and mother Virginia who were at the SCG today.

The opposing Blues players rushed in to help their former teammate and called for medical help from the dressing rooms when Hughes was felled by a bouncer by Sean Abbott when trying to execute a pull shot.

Doctors attempted to resuscitate the South Australia batsman on the wicket and stopped the medical van on the boundary to continue treatment soon after.

Jonah Lomas 2:54 Fri Dec 12
Re: Phil Hughes - RIP

Good little story this...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/cricket/64083685/Death-at-the-wicket

Sven Roeder 9:20 Wed Dec 3
Re: Phil Hughes - RIP

With his back problems I suspected CLARKE may retire after next summers Ashes. I actually think this may inspire him to play on if he can to honour his mate.

Gruesome Dump 9:07 Wed Dec 3
Re: Phil Hughes - RIP

Clarke won't be the same after this. He'll retire.

You also have to feel for Tracy Barlow and what she's going through.

SurfaceAgentX2Zero 9:06 Wed Dec 3
Re: Phil Hughes - RIP

Ok.

Time to move on now. That's what funerals are for.

jools268 9:04 Wed Dec 3
Re: Phil Hughes - RIP

I think what people are seeing in Michael Clarke is the sense of loss that we all feel when we lose someone very close to us. What we witness in his obvious sorrow and pain is a mirror to us and that endears us to him.

The fact that he is also manages to be so eloquent and genuinely touching in his grief is only to his credit and we can only hope that when something similar befalls us.as it will at some point, that we can display the same traits and communicate our pain as wonderfully as he has done for his friend.

genuine fan 5:08 Wed Dec 3
Re: Phil Hughes - RIP

Fortunes Hiding 4:41 Wed Dec 3

Ditto Mr Clarke you have my upmost respect

Fortunes Hiding 4:41 Wed Dec 3
Re: Phil Hughes - RIP

joey5000 11:42 Mon Dec 1

Just watched that.

Three times today I have had tears; sad.

M Clarke's speech was moving.

ted fenton 1:57 Wed Dec 3
Re: Phil Hughes - RIP

stewie griffin 8:31 Wed Dec 3
Re: Phil Hughes - RIP


Never been a fan of Clarke, but he's been absolutely immense the last week or so, culminating in the eulogy this morning

Sven Roeder 1:47 Wed Dec 3
Re: Phil Hughes - RIP

Full text of Michael Clarke's tribute to Phillip Hughes at the funeral in Macksville on December 3


I'm deeply honoured to have been asked by Phillip's family to speak today. I am humbled to be in the presence of you, his family, his friends and his community. He was so proud of Macksville and it is easy to see why today.

Taken from the game, his family and loved ones at the age of just 25, he left a mark on our game that needs no embellishment. I don't know about you, but I keep looking for him. I know it is crazy but I expect any minute to take a call from him or to see his face pop around the corner. Is this what we call the spirit? If so, then his spirit is still with me. And I hope it never leaves.

I walked to the middle of the SCG on Thursday night, those same blades of grass beneath my feet where he and I and so many of his mates here today have built partnerships, taken chances and lived out the dreams we paint in our heads as boys.

The same stands where the crowds rose to their feet to cheer him on and that same fence he sent the ball to time and time again. And it is now forever the place where he fell. I stood there at the wicket, I knelt down and touched the grass, I swear he was with me. Picking me up off my feet to check if I was okay. Telling me we just needed to dig in and get through to tea. Telling me off for that loose shot I played. Chatting about what movie we might watch that night. And then passing on a useless fact about cows.

I could see him swagger back to the other end, grin at the bowler, and call me through for a run with such a booming voice, a bloke in the car park would hear it. The heart of a man who lived his life for this wonderful game we play, and whose soul enriched not just our sport, but all of our lives.

Is this what indigenous Australians believe about a person's spirit being connected with the land upon which they walk? If so, I know they are right about the SCG.

His spirit has touched it and it will forever be a sacred ground for me. I can feel his presence there and I can see how he has touched so many people around the world. The tributes to him from cricket lovers kept me going.

The photos, the words, the prayers and the sense of communion in this loss from people across the globe have shown me his spirit is in action. It has sustained me and overwhelmed me in equal measure. And the love of my band of baggy green and gold brothers and sisters have held me upright when I thought I could not proceed.

His spirit has brought us closer together - something I know must be him at work because it is so consistent with how he played and lived. He always wanted to bring people together and he always wanted to celebrate his love for the game and its people.

Is this what we call the spirit of cricket? From the little girl in Karachi holding a candlelight tribute to masters of the game like Tendulkar, Warne and Lara, showing their grief to the world, the spirit of cricket binds us all together. We feel it in the thrill of a cover drive. Or the taking of a screamer at gully, whether by a 12-year-old boy in Worcester or by Brendon McCullum in Dubai. It is in the brilliant hundred or five-wicket haul, just as significant to the players in a Western Suburbs club game as it is in a Test match.

The bonds that lead to cricketers from around the world putting their bats out, that saw people who didn't even know Phillip lay flowers at the gates of Lord's, and that brought every cricketing nation on earth to make its own heartfelt tribute.

The bonds that saw players old and new rush to his bedside. From wherever they heard the news to say their prayers and farewells. This is what makes our game the greatest game in the world. Phillip's spirit, which is now part of our game forever, will act as a custodian of the sport we all love.

We must listen to it. We must cherish it. We must learn from it. We must dig in and get through to tea. And we must play on.

So rest in peace my little brother. I'll see you out in the middle.

jools268 10:27 Wed Dec 3
Re: Phil Hughes - RIP

Clarke comes across as being a very strong competitor on the field and a thoroughly decent and genuine human being off of it.

Also like the tribute from Clarkes wife.

'Today will always be remembered as the day we farewelled our friend way too early in life. We miss you now, we will miss you more tomorrow but we will never forget you!'

'That smile, that laugh, that cheeky little grin, your warmth, your love, the friend you've been. Our hotel room visits, my extra dinner date, my little Italian brother and our tour mate. Our Xmas lunch buddy, a friend we trust, our trivia night partner, the guy who was never fussed!

'WE LOVE YOU HUGH DOG, LIFE WON'T BE THE SAME, HERE'S TO THE DAY WE SEE YOU AGAIN! The Clarkes xoxo'

Dr Congo 10:18 Wed Dec 3
Re: Phil Hughes - RIP

There's a great slideshow of pictures here http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-28/in-pictures-tributes-for-phillip-hughes/5926780

Sven Roeder 10:12 Wed Dec 3
Re: Phil Hughes - RIP

Never understood the antipathy towards Clarke. In Australia it seemed to be on the basis that he was a kid from the Western Suburbs of Sydney who didn't fit the usual beer drinking bogan stereotype and wasn't enough of a BLOKE.

He has been immense in this last week while dealing with his own grief for someone he was so close to.

Of course the death of any prominent sports person for a national team would be shocking and have a big effect but I think Phil Hughes is someone who has had a bigger effect on the nation even for people who aren't cricket fans.
Modern Australia is a city based nation but many still think of the country in terms of a farming , country based culture (all a bit Man From Snowy River) and this image of an easy going country kid who is a natural sportsman and a genuine good bloke representing the country is a powerful one.

RIP Phillip Hughes

Ronald_antly 10:10 Wed Dec 3
Re: Phil Hughes - RIP

I had tears streaming down my face.

Marston Hammer 9:31 Wed Dec 3
Re: Phil Hughes - RIP

His funeral speech was really moving, had me close to tears

stewie griffin 8:31 Wed Dec 3
Re: Phil Hughes - RIP

Never been a fan of Clarke, but he's been absolutely immense the last week or so, culminating in the eulogy this morning

Northern Sold 12:30 Tue Dec 2
Re: Phil Hughes - RIP

He's always been a decent bloke Miike....

Takashi Miike 12:15 Tue Dec 2
Re: Phil Hughes - RIP

clarke has been quality over the past week, really done his mate proud

Sven Roeder 12:03 Tue Dec 2
Re: Phil Hughes - RIP

Michael Clarke's column in The Sunday Telegraph in Sydney



Michael Clarke: Phillip Hughes made me a better man; I’ll miss you forever my friend

AS I stood in the centre of the SCG on Thursday night, at the spot where my little brother played his last shot, I struggled to comprehend how this tragedy could happen to one of life’s true characters and gentlemen.

I resolved then and there to write this tribute to Phillip Hughes.

I want to use the occasion of this, his 26th birthday, to shine a bit more light onto Phillip — the man he was and the life he led — which will help explain the extraordinary outpouring of support from inside, and outside, the world cricket family.

His cricketing achievements — of which there were many — really play second fiddle to the human qualities that he exhibited.

Loyal to a fault, eternally optimistic, kind hearted, wicked sense of humour, a child like verve for life … I really could go on and on.

Sitting with his parents Greg and Virginia, sister Megan and brother Jason over the past few days it struck me that above all, he was a family man
He was always incredibly proud of his family and the upbringing he had.

He was a country boy at heart, with honest values and a work ethic second to none. And it is easy to tell where those qualities come from.

His parents are salt of the earth Aussies, who have handled the past several days with a dignity and grace I could only admire. They will have my support, and the support of the entire Australian cricketing family, whenever and wherever they need it.

I met him as a boy of 17, when he came down to Sydney from Macksville to play for my club Western Suburbs.

I was drawn to him instantly, falling for his cheeky grin and love of life.

Phillip truly was uncomplicated — what you saw was what you got.
I don’t think in 12 years of playing cricket at the top level I have ever come across a more loyal or generous-hearted teammate.

Whenever Hughesy suffered adversity — if he was replaced in the team or if he wasn’t scoring as many runs as he wanted — he never dropped his head, never once complained.

If he had a tough conversation with a selector he would nod, agree he needed to work harder, grin because he felt bad for the person delivering the message and then get on with it.

You knew deep down he was shattered because playing cricket for his country meant everything to him.

But his head wouldn’t drop because he knew his teammates didn’t need that — he was honoured to be running drinks as 12th man for his mates and he went out of his way to show that.

But Phillip’s laid-back nature disguised something more important about the man. He was as mentally tough as they came.
That toughness was evident in the way he approached the craft of batting.

It is easy to forget just what a prodigious talent he was.

He may not have had textbook technique — show me someone who does — but what this man could do is score runs for fun.

At only 25 years of age he had 26 centuries to his name in first class cricket, and I have no doubt he would have made it 27 last Tuesday.

What an amazing talent.

I said a couple of months ago that I had no doubt Phillip would have gone on to play 100 tests, such was his determination and skill.

When he was last dropped from the Australian team he knuckled down, worked on parts of his technique that he felt could be improved and he peeled off century after century for South Australia.
He lit up like a beacon again for the selectors to not help but notice.

He also had a knack of making people laugh. I remember the last time we batted together: we would meet in the middle of the pitch and I would be asking him whether the ball was moving in the air or off the deck.

All he could do was talk about his cattle. What that man didn’t know about cows wasn’t worth knowing.

He was a world champion at expressing the smallest facts about Black Angus in particular.

He loved them so much he was trying to convince me to run a herd of them on my own farm.

When we were on tour every night on the way to his room he would come past mine to steal my licorice.

I used to say to him constantly: “What’s mine is yours, mate”, which he took as licence to nick my one vice.

I heard a mate a few days ago refer to Phillip’s life through this line from an old military poem and I think it perfectly sums him up:

“One crowded hour of glorious life is worth an age without a name.”

Phillip was taken from all of us way too soon, but his attitude to life, his achievements on and off the field, and the hundreds of friends he made along the way all demonstrate that he did indeed live a crowded hour.

That his career, and his life, was cut short in his prime is incredibly unfair.

I don’t have a blood brother, but I am very proud to have called Phillip my brother. I am a better man for having known him.

Vale Hugh Dog. I will miss you forever, but I will not forget.

Happy birthday bro.

Ronald_antly 11:54 Mon Dec 1
Re: Phillip Hughes - RIP

joey5000 wrote...

"Those upcoming Aussie tests will be strange. "

Very true. It will be particularly interesting to see how the likes of Mitchell Johnson conduct themselves with regard to the delivery of "chin music".

Sven Roeder 11:50 Mon Dec 1
Re: Phil Hughes - RIP

Channel 9 are consulted on all decisions I am sure.
And even when they aren't their Director of Sport came out and moaned when Australia rested players like Warner & Clarke from some meaningless ODI's a while back.
Some fat tv executive picking the team FFS

joey5000 11:42 Mon Dec 1
Re: Phillip Hughes - RIP

Takashi Miike 8:35 Sat Nov 29
Re: Phillip Hughes - RIP
this has probably already been posted but it's a nice tribute

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHL-qiz9y8Y

That's a lovely tribute, Miike. He always came across as a great guy and a character.

Those upcoming Aussie tests will be strange.

Page 1 - Next