Recent events have again demonstrated a gaping chasm between cricket’s corporate fantasy and a grittier reality
![Contradictory Australian cricket culture still ruled by traditional machismo | Sam Perry](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/868823453eaa6c0d7fc4f9fe2ef1910daf619f4f/0_179_5098_3060/master/5098.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctb3BpbmlvbnMucG5n&enable=upscale&s=a4461dcfaf48238e0e0c054af96b6d66)
Over the weekend, men,
Women, boys and girls gathered in various parts of the nation to play for their clubs. It is the raw manifestation of
Cricket Australia’s core business: people playing, and enjoying, cricket.
Culture is never built in one place, but lots of it is built here. For the men, power and status are commensurately apportioned to those who deliver runs, wickets, and stories for the team and club. So, if you’re a “good stick and a good schooner”, you tend to make the rules. Stories abound in the stretching circles. Traditional machismo rules the day. Upon winning, it’s not unheard of for clubs to sing songs referencing binge drinking and sexual promiscuity. If it’s not being bellowed in song, it’s being side mouthed in conversation.