Phillip Hughes meant absolutely nothing to the majority of people, it was the media which day after day of reporting was sickening to say the least, almost to the stage of not buying the papers talking about him, he was not the first person to die young.
Tony Abbott and Bill Shorten should have been in Parliament than attending a cricketers funeral, let's be honest he was after all only a cricketer, did he save lives by some means, no he didn't, flowers etc placed at venues by people who never knew him
Is ridiculous, give the money spent to charities and look after the living, not the dead.
Get over these celebrity deaths media witers, one hates to think of the six months of paper rubbish when the old Queen dies, who wants to hear day after day of drivel, it will then be time to not buy any newspaper or turn the TV set on.

It is indeed sad that we lost a young, dashing cricketer in Phillip Hughes.

However, besides the media's over-reaction, the reaction of Cricket Australia (CA) was over the top, if not farcical.

CA had no hesitation in dropping Phillip Hughes from the Test Team, when it saw fit. Yet, when Phillip died, CA went to the extent of cancelling the First Test against the visiting Indian team, something that Phillip would not have wished, given his sporting spirit and love for the game, and the mental and physical strength of his fellow players .

And, as Phillip would have told them if asked, it is silly, if not reckless, of CA to reschedule the Brisbane Test such that 20 days of intense Test cricket are force-fitted into a 33-day, hot-summer period. Let's hope that no players do their 'hammies' as a result of CA's ineptitude.

The comments by the author accord with mine . The sad death of Philip Hughes was for grieving by his family and friends , with only passing relevance for the majority of the population .

An appropriate response by the cricketing industry would be to ban bouncers outright , with any offenders being suspended for long periods with forfeiture of match payments . This will not happen .

The choreographed grieving for Diana Spencer [ whose sole contribution to the world was as a breeding partner for the sole male offspring of the English monarch ] was nauseating . It was designed both to encourage public support for the continuation of the taxpayer funded position of the Windsor family and to produce profits for those in the media who report on their irrelevant activities .

The media inspired outrage at the prank call to the London hospital , where another Windsor breeding partner was confined , was similarly unjustified . It should have been treated as the silly prank that it was and forgotten .

The unfortunate nurse who took the call in naïve good faith was hounded to her death by the enforcers of the Windsor family and their sycophants . Now , another Windsor scion seeks public admiration by handwriting a letter of sympathy to the widower of the nurse . If the nurse had dismissed the call and it turned out , in reality , to be the Queen , she would have been severely punished for disloyalty .

Where was these peoples grief when our troop's or police die.
Hundreds of Aussie die in work place accidents each year, why does Mr Hughes get special treatment.......

The media of this country is hopeless.

I think the death of any young person for any reason is a tragedy. And those that knew and loved this apparently very popular young man; even more so!

But why did he die? Well, a technical error!
Of all the things one does when facing a sharply rising ball, taking the eye of the ball is not one of them; nor turning the head, so that the ball is able to hit that part of the head not protected!

The problem here is instinctive reflexes, learned at a very young age.

Now let me say I've played and umpired, when there were no helmets; and can see no prospect of the bouncer ever being banned!

Better that players should learn and develop their essential reflexes at a very young age, when they first start cricket.

And this is down in the nets day after day, with their only protection the willow; where they would face served wet tennis balls that sting enough to hone those reflexes; and sort the whimps from the gladiators, who go on to play professional cricket; along with all the inherent risks.

You don't protect your wicket with your shins, your testicles, your hands or your head; just the willow!
And if that is taught as the very first and founding principle, we will see far less injuries in cricket.

Cricket is a very simple game that goes, see ball hit ball!
And learn to keep it on the ground so you can't be caught out.
And these is where we need to eliminate never ever played, nor even like the game, teachers who know little or nothing, yet are asked to coach, and indeed, teach/hone the basics/instinctive reflexes!

Simply put, and to overstate the blindingly obvious; young Phillip Hughes would be with us still and playing the game he loved most in the world, if he had simply ducked into the ball, and let the helmet wear most of the damage.
That being so; impossible to blame either the bowler or the bouncer!
Rhrosty.

Nice article. I'm glad it is not just me who is sickened by national outpourings of grief over people whom most of us have never heard of and certainly don't know intimately.