Lara Bingle and Michael Clarke… in happier days.
by LUCY CHESTERTON
Wow. Did you SEE Michael Clarke’s record-breaking batting run on the cricket pitch this week?
The fourth double century he scored for 2012, the one that ushered him into the history books? It was a huge feat, something he certainly couldn’t have managed if he was still dating Lara Bingle.
Wait, WHAT?
According to the Daily Telegraph, Michael Clarke’s winning streak has less to do with his talent and everything to do with his decision to kick Lara to the kerb and put a ring on new wife Kyly Boldy instead. A wife who would make the relationship “all about him”.
Sports journalist Phil “Buzz” Rothfield writes:
MICHAEL Clarke is the best advertisement for marriage and a settled home life. …
His batting average since marrying stunning model Kyly Boldy in May is an equally stunning 263.5
It’s a big improvement on the old soap opera days of the Lara Bingle relationship when he more often appeared in gossip than sporting columns.
[When the relationship with Lara ended] he returned to Wellington and smashed 168 against the Kiwis. It was the first sign that life after Lara would mean a vast improvement in his batting average.
From this, I’m gathering, sports-mad Australia should be thanking their lucky stars Michael saw the light and moved on from that harpy Lara before it was too late.
Which is insulting enough. But then, this. Rothfield quotes a source’s less-than-admirable take on the two relationships:
“With Lara, it was all about her. With Kyly it’s all about him.”
And there’s where my eyebrows went from half-mast to hairline. Stable partnerships can help people achieve great things… but in my world, the bond should help both parties succeed in their chosen field, whether it’s a literal field or not. Rather than a relationship be “all about” one of the members.
And I’m not the only one whose eyebrows are still sky-high after reading this interpretation of Michael’s efforts.
Lara herself has weighed in, Tweeting:
TV personality Charlotte Dawson added her voice to the growing chorus of protest over the source’s claim and Rothfield’s “research”. She Tweeted:
Charlotte knows a thing or two about making a relationship with a sportsman “all about” his ambitions. In her recent autobiography, Air Kiss and Tell, she writes about coming second to her then-husband, swimmer Scott Miller. In the lead up to the Sydney Olympics, she discovered she was pregnant with his child. She writes:
I could sense some hesitation in Scott [when he discovered I was pregnant]. My due date would clash with the 2000 Olympic Games and this was very concerning. Everything Scott had done was leading up to this moment and nothing could stand in his way, so it was decided that we would terminate the child and try again later. Who needed a developing foetus when a gold medal was on offer, eh?
Clarkey and Kyly.
Of course, it’s Kyly’s choice to support her husband however she wishes, and we only have the word of a “source” that it’s all about Clarkey, anyway.
But my problem with the article is that, in support of its case, it presents two ideas that are in my mind, complete opposites.
After quoting the source’s “It’s all about him,” Rothfield concludes, “Happy wife, happy life.”
Sorry, but the idea that in a marriage “some are more equal than others” doesn’t win any points with me.
Pup’s previously bad batting stats are no more Lara’s fault than Katie Holmes is to blame for Tom Cruise’s shocking choice of movies (Rock of Ages, anyone?) And when his career was full of Top Guns and Ricky Business, no one went around handing awards to Nicole Kidman.
So, I find the concept that Lara somehow stole success from Clarkey absurd. It unfairly implies she didn’t want the best for him when they were together, engaged and clearly in love.
It blindly suggests Clarkey had little or no will of his own then, and was too easily led astray when it came to the whims of his other half. And finally it assumes that a man can only succeed when the relationship is “all about him” and his partner is kept firmly on the sidelines instead of pursuing her own passions.
It is unfair to Clarkey and to Kyly (who clearly has talents of her own), and it’s unfair to Lara. As the story of the very brave and very beautiful Charlotte tells us, those kinds of one-sided relationship never ends well.
Don’t agree? Well, you can always blame my partner for my failings.
Some more opinions from Twitter on the matter:
Example
Do you think the implication that Clarke is a better player without Lara Bingle is insulting? Do we need a calming influence in our partner or stability in our personal lives to succeed in our careers?
Comments
50 Comments so far
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I feel Cricket Australia made it very clear to Mr Clarke that it was in his best interests to get rid of Bingle. CA are notoriously conservative and any ‘wag’ who appears in woman’s day for anything more than showing off her baby bump is just appropriate.
I think Lara is the type of person I’d want to be friends with; funny, not shy, smile that lights up a room and very easy to talk to. I think to her true friends she must be a great companion.
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I feel bad for Lara. She always gets SO much hate! I think it is undeserved! Why won’t they leave her alone?!
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Was this photo really taken just six years ago? Pre-modelizing pre-Vice Captain Michael with then live-in girlfriend and sweetheart of eight years Erina-Lea Connelly.
Let us not forget that his profile sky-rocketed once he hooked up with Ms Bingle, so it hasn’t been all bad for his career. Suddenly he was on everyone’s radar. ‘If there was one thing that could elevate the young cricketer’s profile overnight it was a beautiful and slightly famous It girl.’
Bingle and Clarke started dating in January 2007… ‘the 24-year-old cricketer fell hard and fast for the 19-year-old. He called off his relationship
Erina-Lea.
Oh yes, now he is captain. Well played, MC, well played.
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You know, I’ve always felt bad for Erina-Lea. I really hope she met someone fabulous and is living a happy life with him. Does anyone know?
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Well, well… a Google job turned this up: https://twitter.com/ErinaLeaPeters
Looks like married with a baby boy Toby now.
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Hi Rawfish, yes it is true I am now
Married and have a 5 month old baby boy! Don’t feel bad for me, lessons learned and everything happens for a reason! Thank you for remembering me, I’m chuffed! X
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Hi Rawfish, yes it is true I am now
Married and have a 5 month old baby boy! Don’t feel bad for me, lessons learned and everything happens for a reason! Thank you for remembering me, I’m chuffed! X
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Maybe it’s just that he relishes his role as captain, something that is also relatively new. Now if they would only get rid of Ponting.
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God, people are fickle. I remember when Michael Clarke couldn’t put a foot right -now he’s a hero, and all for the love of a good woman. WTF?
Don’t get me wrong here; I think he’s worked really hard for years to battle public opinion about his social life, a rocky love life and slumps in form, and for those reasons, yes, he is a hero. Not because he’s moved from one woman to another.
And how about Kyly? Isn’t it a bit hard to credit her with Clarke’s improvement in form? What happens if/when his batting takes a turn for the worse? Will it be her fault then, too?
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To a certain extent you can’t really fault this article. It could have been written better and without actually mention Bingle. Overall, if your happy in your personal life and if there isn’t much stress or pressure, than your more likely to succeed in other tasks. Everybody knows that.
I don’t really see why this has become gender issue, because it’s more about the fact of Bingle’s status and the fact that she’s prone to outbursts of drama in the public. Clarke’s personality seems to be the complete opposite, and obviously, it was a distraction and it did effect his performance. He woke up to his senses and realised she wasn’t the right woman for him.
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I wonder how supportive Michael was of Lara’s career? Remember, Kyly used to be a model and pitt stop girl once too…marriage is about compromise but let’s see how this marriage works out when Kyly doesn’t have time to travel, when she compromises on her own business, wen kids come along and Michael spends most of the year away from home.
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Yep, I think being a professional cricketers wife would be the pits. They’re away so much of the time, unless you want to tag around after them, it would be a pretty lonely life.
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100% agree
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I will probably be lambasted for saying this, but there is perhaps some truth to the premise of Phil Rothfield’s article. My husband used to play for his country in a very popular team sport, and his first wife was not an easy person to get along with, and made a point of being difficult with other wives and girlfriends.
When all of this Michael Clarke/Lara Bingle relationship started playing out, my husband picked how it would end-and he was spot on. He said there was nothing worse than going out into the arena for an important game, worrying about what was waiting for you when you got off the field, once the game had finished – i.e. who had upset his wife this time or who had his wife upset? Which teammate would end up coming to him in a few days detailing the other partner’s side of the story etc etc etc? My husband says believe it or not, even at the highest level, this stuff DOES affect players no matter how professional/fantastic etc they are. Just like any of us, things that happen at home can affect us at work too, even when you are a professional sportsperson.
He says the difference in having someone who is supportive of not only your career but gets along with people easily means he can just focus on his job and getting it done to the best of his ability, and that for many of our great sportspeople, you will discover that they do have a loving and stable home life outside of the sport. I think about all the people I know at the top of my husband’s sport, and that is absolutely correct.
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We were at the cricket a few years ago at the SCG and sat near the area where the WAGS were sitting. They were all chatting to each other, sitting next to each other. And then Lara arrived, she was whistled at and cheered by people in the crowd. But she didnt receive a friendly reception at all from the other WAGS. It was quite clear she was on the outer. I put it down to jealousy, most of the others were all older and mums and certainly not getting whistles and cheers.
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Does this mean Ricky Ponting’s wife is to blame for his bad form? I don’t think so. What a ridiculos article by the Daily Telegraph!
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Nah he’s just past his prime. Time for Ponting to give it away.
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your wish is my command!
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I think that if you are happy and contented in your personal life the benefits onflow into all areas of your life including the sports field. So yeah Michael Clarke is probably playing better at the moment than he was at the height of the Bingle wankfest.
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I am more sad about Charlottes story. Poor love having to terminate her pregnancy because her husband needed to focus on the olympics!! WOW!
Mind is blown!
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me too! that is so unbelievably sad!
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Having to ? Or chose to, albeit under some pressure ?
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There were serious problems in that relationship from what we could see on the outside (which I know isn’t always true). But the Brendan Fevola photo thing, the Woman’s Day spread, the Clarke leaving his tour in NZ due to a drama with Lara at home…. of course that stuff is distracting. I used to have a boyfriend who was SUCH high maintenance in my early 20s and I stupidly let it impact my work really badly.
I think Rothfield expressed this in a really clunky way but the essence of ‘happy partner, happier life’ (which doesn’t sound as good) is undeniable.
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I disagree with this article. I’d blame the author’s partner as suggested, but in this case I think the fault is the author’s alone, firstly in failing to acknowledge the impact relationships can have on your whole life – that includes work – and secondly in bringing a negative connotation to what simply amounts to compromise.
While I can’t say Lara Bingle is personally to blame for Michael Clarke’s batting average (surely some of this has come with his own growth and maturity etc), I know firsthand that a relationship has the power to impact the whole of your life. Just as an awful working environment can impact on your relationships. When you share a life with someone, their choices impact you. And just because you love someone, it doesn’t mean they are good for you. It is naive to think otherwise.
This: “Sorry, but the idea that in a marriage “some are more equal than others” doesn’t win any points with me.”
…sounds like someone who doesn’t understand the art of compromise to me. Sometimes, you give something up for your partner, other times they give something up for you. I wouldn’t use the Clarke/ Boldy example here as their specific situation is fairly far removed from what many ‘normal’ people experience and whatever compromises they may have made as two people in careers (elite sportsman, model) with time limits are not our business. They both seem happy and content, and it is not up to us to decide what standards they should live to.
If behind every great man there had to be a great woman, then the opposite applies, too. And vice versa.
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So well said Punkernickle!
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Why do we have to make everything a gender issue? arcing up about this kind of thing does nothing to help our cause.
This is not an issue of gender, this is about the fact that Lara’s high profile and public drama’s were a distraction for him.
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He was young and living a young persons life. He’s now matured and settled down. Big deal.
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Does anybody else find this whole thing unimportant and uninteresting?
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Clarke/Boldy/Bingle = unimportant.
Impact of relationships on life = interesting
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Totally agree.
I was gobsmacked that a cricketer’s ex-romance made front page headlines on the smh website. How shallow and tabloid is that? People are dying, wars waging, politics brewing, and Lara and Pup were the headlines… Go figure.
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I think there is no denying that Clarkie and Lara’s relationship seemed a bit unbalanced and toxic which would have undoubtedly have affected his career. Obviously he seems much happier now and no matter what anyone says, when your home life is happy so are you. Male or female.
I cannot help but cringe whenever I read about Charlotte Dawson aborting her baby because the timing wasn’t right. I am all for a womans right to choose but this does not sit well with me at all and makes me feel very sad
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A shame Kyly’s parents couldn’t afford a vowel
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‘Y’ can be used as a vowel occasionally, such as in ‘hymn’, but I know what you’re getting at, and totally agree.
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You used to be able to buy a vowel on Wheel of Fortune but I’m not sure where you get them now.
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I know, I keep wanting to pronounce it Ky-ly as in rhymes with lie.
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I just realised her name is Kylie! LOL
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Why would Nicole Kidman be getting high fives for Tom Cruise making Risky Business or Top Gun when he hooked up with her years later and was married to someone else at the time?
Of course relationships affect your work – and for Michael Clarke and Scott Miller (only using them because they’re the examples in the story), cricket and swimming respectively are/were their work. I totally agree with Anon’s point, especially about Lara Bingle being in the news and Pup being on tour – NOT what you need when you’re concentrating on your job – “What’s the latest story about, I’m getting heaps of texts/tweets about it”.
And you know what, if you decide to have a relationship with someone who has as consuming a job/endeavour as professional sportspeople or even driven people who love their career, then yes, you are going to have to take that into consideration in your relationship and don’t have a sook about it when you go in knowing that’s what your partner is like. I’ve seen in happen to people close to me – they get into a relationship with someone who KNOWS that they’re obsessed with their sport/work/whatever, then it goes to shit when they realise that they can’t change them, and somehow it’s the sport/work/whatever-a-holic’s fault? No. It really isn’t.
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Poor forgotten Mimi :`(
(IMHO, there’s no point in letting the truth get in the way of a good? story)
Agree with you 100%
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Poor forgotten Mimi, the woman who introduced Tom to Scientology and after a disagreement with the “church” got booted by Tom.
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Tom Cruise is such a f….g creep!!
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Hah Lara’s tweet is hilarious!
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Is it bad that I’m pleasantly surprised by Ms Bingle’s wit in her tweet?
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Not bad at all, I too was caught a tad off guard by her tweet.
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Rothfield’s original article was clearly written with his tongue firmly in his cheek. Everyone simply needs to relax!
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I don’t think it was written with his tongue in his cheek. I think he meant it and he was being nasty to Lara. Typical, arrogant, sports loving male!
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How on earth is that typical of a sports loving male???
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It’s good to see you guys taking an interest in sport.
I think that a faltering relationship can be distracting and could detract from any sort of professional performance.
I also think that having a hot, highly social missus out and about on the town and in the social pages while you’re touring India could also be a bit of a head niggle if you let it. Of course, the reverse is true also – having your partner constantly o/s would be hard.
So, not Lara Bingle per se, but a relationship in its death throes…
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Unfortunately this article expresses as simple idea very, very badly. I don’t think we can deny that what is happening in our lives affects our performance. We are human beings and not robots, our performance at work, on the sporting field or wherever is going to be influenced in some way by what is going on in our lives. These impacts are going to vary from person to person though. The author can’t possibly know what was going on in Michael Clarke’s personal life, or what impact his person life may, or may not, have had on his day job.
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Though I agree mostly with this article, I do think that when a relationship ends (or even begins), some people have a new take on life and start doing really well.
I am doing a lot better at work after breaking up with Mr W, and I’m SOOOOOOO much more positive and happy about life in general (obviously, I am still upset and sometimes miserable but I am far better company to be in than I was 8 weeks ago). This impacts on work for me in a positive way, so I reckon there is some truth in your relationships affecting the rest of your life…
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