They’re calling it treason. Because it is.
Legendary Australian cricketer and beer drinker David Boon, who reportedly sank 52 cans en route to England in 1989, is now a whisky drinker. That’s like the Marlboro Man switching to Alpine Lights.
News of Boon’s starring role in a Canadian Club whisky ad broke yesterday amid much hullabaloo and flannelette shirt-rending, which is pretty much exactly the reaction Canadian Club would have been hoping for.
Previously best known as the tipple of choice of Don Draper, chief boozehound in the TV series Mad Men, Canadian Club is seemingly now a drink of the masses.
When we need a cheap-arse mock Scotch and can’t afford Johnnie Walker, Canadian Club will be top-of-mind, even if never makes it anywhere near the top shelf.
Yep, Australia is right behind you Boonie. Talk about a marketing masterstroke. Oh, except for one thing…
David Boon is in fact one of the most despised people in Australia. In the national estimation, the Keg on Legs is the dregs.
How so? Simple.
For the last 10 years, David Boon has been a national cricket selector.
Never mind that he was a much loved batsman in the first half of Australia’s golden era.
No matter that we laughed uproariously at the tiny plastic Boonie VB dolls which delivered such corkers as “Take that your majesty!” and “We’ll have those Ashes back now, thanks!” and “When are we going to the pub?”.
Let’s say this one more time, for people who tend to skip a line when they’re reading. Upper case should help make the point even clearer.
DAVID BOON HAS BEEN A NATIONAL CRICKET SELECTOR FOR 10 YEARS.
A selector, no less. That’s like the toughest dude in jail becoming the jail warden.
Nothing or nobody in Australian society is more hated than cricket selectors. Even the carbon atom has nothing on these guys.
Boon announced in May that he would leave his selectorial post, but the damage has been well and truly done over the past 10 years.
David Boon is one of the only four men in Australia who couldn’t see that Marcus North carried a toothpick under his arm when he went to the crease.
David Boon thought that Bryce McGain was the Australian spinner who could fill Shane Warne’s boots.
David Boon thought that Xavier Doherty was the Australian spinner who could fill Shane Warne’s boots.
David Boon thought that – you’re going to love this one – David Boon thought that Michael Beer was the Australian spinner who could fill Shane Warne’s boots.
In last summer’s Ashes, Beer proved categorically not to be the answer.
How ironic that Boon should have come to the same conclusion in his private life.
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