We need to revisit the old ethic which said, "It matters not whether you win or lose, it is how you play the game that counts."

Unfortunately, in life, as well in sport, there is now too much of "It matters not how you play the game, but whether you win or lose that counts." This is palpably evident in the daily doings of the politicians who should be setting us a better example.

David

That this was a personal tragedy for the family of the deceased is beyond question. That the national team is in collective mourning is also understandable.
But this death was not a stand alone incident. A field hockey death of a 24 year old woman two years ago in WA, a 14-year-old ice hockey player's death in Minnesota two weeks ago, a cricket umpire's death in Israel two days ago - the list is not short. Add life-changing injuries including paralysis from contact sports each year and the conclusion is soon reached that sport is not just fun and games.
And this is as it should be. What is not as it should be is the braying of fans for blood, and the resulting bad behaviour on the various games' pitches of contestants playing to the gallery.
Accidents happen, but we need to see a bit more respect from all parties and an acknowledgement that all sport carries risks.
Rest in peace Phillip Hughes, and let the games go on.

And ten years ago it was David Hookes
Whose death outside a Pub
Put him on the way to Sainthood
Sudden "Hooksey" to a Nation
Until his life caught Up *

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hookes#Personal_life

Am I too hard hearted, or just sensible? It is unfortunate for the bloke & his family, but what is so special about this? Is it that cricket is supposed to be a gentleman's game, where people don't get hurt?

As another post says, many are hurt, or killed at their sport. There is not much fuss when a skydiver is killed.

I have been racing at 4 motor race meetings where drivers were killed. In 2 instances I only discovered the next day that someone had been seriously hurt, let alone killed. There was no fuss made about them.

After a couple of deadly, & a couple of near deadly crashes the racing went on. At 2 Bathurst meetings they were worried that to stop the meeting would lead to a traffic jam, & difficulty with ambulances getting to the hospital.

I have had 3 mates killed racing. I even won the memorial trophy for one of them, but we didn't make all this much noise about it.

As I gave up watching cricket when Shane Warne appeared, [can't stand him], I have never heard of this bloke, & find the whole production a bit over the top. Perhaps these people consider themselves much more important than they are.

There were two deaths at the Royal Adelaide building site on the same week barely got a mention.

Hasbeen & Cobber definately correct in your postings, it is the media that keeps on and on with reports daily on Phillip Hughes death, he is not the first person to die young and will not be the last, I had never heard of him, not being a cricket fan, flowers left at sites by people who do not know him or never met him is beyond my comprehension, flowers to the living not the dead
Media seem to latch onto these tragedies or any other celebrity tragedy but do they realise we are bored out of our brains with daily reports, get on with life.
I hate to think of the media coverage of the old Queen when she dies, it will be time then to not buy any newspapers or watch television for at least six months,.
Move on media and television, a lot of people are not mourning the loss of Phillip Hughes, he is dead, so be it, he is the same as any other citizen in the world who gets no reporting for weeks on end, they are just as important to me as Phillip Hughes

the media luvvies danced over the grave of Thatcher. Says it all.

As american football teaches us - protective gear makes a game more violent, not less.

Get rid of the Sir Lancelot outfits, and prosecute bowlers that kill batsmen. The game will return to its gentlemanly roots in quick order.

I did wonder whether or not charges would be laid against the bowler, and the rationale for not doing so.

Come on you idiots, the bowler did not set out to kill the batsman. The helmet is protective gear... an evolution of the game necessary because people were accidentally getting hit in the head. This death was a tragic accident that admittedly has become over sensationalised and it ends there, quit trying to turn this into something it isn't.

It seems almost everyone on OLO completely over thinks every event that happens. Rarely do these same people simply let something happen without a critical or negative interpretation.

Going by the way other threads morph, it's only a matter of time before a Greenie suggests this death is the result of gender bias; a Lefty blames Tony Abbott, and one the staunch right points the finger at multiculturalism.

The negatives are the people who think and are not sucked in by the lies daily told by the media circus and Governments.
Phillip Hughes death by the media, enough is enough, get over it. Death is always of interest because we know nothing about it after we go, morbid curiously sets in by the public.
Tony Abbott should be in Parliament looking after the electorate, not at a funeral of a cricketer, after all he is only another human being who has died young.

Sometimes silence is the better part of valour. Those who dislike sports should zip it today. Thomasina, you've shown your cards when you said the bowler should be prosecuted for manslaughter.

Why all this fuss over Phillip Hughes, he is after all only a cricketer, let's hope Tony Abbott and Bill Shorten attend the funeral of the four people killed in a car accident in the South East, they are as important as Phillip Hughes, there is no doubt about it we live in a celebrity society, definately class distinction, all the prayers in the world didn't save Hughes, no prayers for the accident in the S.E. all treated the same in death, thank goodness this whole saga is coming to an end, perhaps two more days of media hi archly reporting.