Thu 24 May 2012 | 
The Sweet Spot
I love a generous country
Email to friend
Print
Enlarge textAs the impact of the Queensland floods continues to take its toll, World News Australia Sports Presenter, Robert Grasso applauds the generosity of the nation’s sporting community.
- 12 Comments | Join the discussion
More than a century ago, Dorothea Mackellar encapsulated the “beauty and the terror” of Australia with her moving tribute, “My Country”.
With the death toll from the Queensland floods steadily rising, to this day, those moving words are as pertinent now as they ever were.
However the recent display of generosity from sporting organisations and individuals in response to the tragic event, brought home the fact that one of the greatest things about this land is neither its flora or its fauna, but its people.
Socceroo Tim Cahill’s gesture was among the most impressive. Currently with the Socceroos on Asian Cup duty in Qatar, Cahill donated an Everton “match day experience” to auction website eBay to raise funds for the victims of the floods.
At the time of writing, the bidding is currently at $60,000.
Meanwhile, the Socceroos will wear special shirts in their warm-up for Saturday's crucial Asian Cup clash with South Korea to raise awareness about the Queensland floods.
Australian captain Lucas Neill said a moment of silence would also be observed and the players would wear black armbands during the match at Al Gharafa Stadium.
The AFL and all its 18 clubs acted quickly, kicking $500,000 into the Queensland government's flood relief appeal.
While the National Rugby League’s Queensland clubs, the Broncos and the Cowboys donated $25,000 and $20,000 respectively.
But the financial help didn’t just come from our football codes. Cricket Australia was also among the sporting bodies to lend a helping hand, to the tune of $100,000.
That was followed shortly after by Cricket NSW chipping in, donating all gate receipts from its Twenty 20 Big Bash match against Queensland in Sydney on Saturday January 29 to the Queensland Flood Relief Appeal.
And the support hasn’t been confined to locals.
With next week’s first Grand Slam of the year fast approaching, the Superstars of tennis will unite on the eve of the Australian Open to raise money for the victims of Australia's flood disaster.
Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Kim Clijsters are among the topliners who'll join Australian No.1's Lleyton Hewitt and Samatha Stosur and former great Pat Rafter in a Rally for Relief exhibition match at Melbourne Park on Sunday.
Then there’s seven-time Tour de France winner, Lance Armstrong. Currently in Adelaide for the Tour Down Under in what well may be his final appearance on foreign soil before retiring, Armstrong made a personal donation of $50,000.
Furthermore, the Cycling superstar has put out a call via Twitter for his supporters to join him for a ride in Glenelg to raise funds for the floods on January 15.
Mackellar may have spoken about this sunburnt country of ours, a land of droughts and flooding rains.
For mine, I love this generous country.
top
Blog Home 
Comments (12)
Previous 10 |
21 Jan 2011 12:40 AEST
From: perth
keep it coming
I have family affected by the floods so it is great to see blogs like this which restores your faith in your fellow man. I hope people continue to donate. I certainly will.
20 Jan 2011 10:37 AEST
From: Brisbane
Ms
If Anna Bligh allowed normal use of water, ie Qld is still under water restrictions, the dam would probably not been as full, thus reducing flood probability.
20 Jan 2011 10:32 AEST
From: Brisbane
Ms
I think people could rebuild in flood areas only after the Brisbane River is dredged and made deeper, thus get rid of the silt and mud, which is toxic anyway, and provide a positive future for those people who have inested in housing along the so-called 1974 flood zones. The dam was a solution after the 1974 floods, it could have been used more efficiently, that is, emptied a bit more before the storms that everyone knew were coming.
17 Jan 2011 8:01 AEST
From: Melbourne
Touching
I was watching the rally for relief tennis the other day and it was truly touching to see all these top ranked tennis stars support the Queensland floods relief campaign. Good to see it's not only the Aussies helping out,
16 Jan 2011 13:03 AEST
From: Sydney
Qld Flooding
This is the second time major floods have destroyed many of those areas in Qld. If they go ahead and rebuild on the same blocks I would have grave doubts about their sanity .
14 Jan 2011 23:08 AEST
From: Eagleby
flood
I have been trying to get the government both federal and sate to try to stop people from living in flood areas for a few years now I see the pain on the faces of the victims of stupidity in planing aren't we supposed to learn from our mistakes and then do something to change the situation but not here they hang on to the same thing that causes them pain. Foolish! Who can tell the next time it is going to flood again apparently it flooded twice in one wear and the second time was worse
14 Jan 2011 22:05 AEST
From: Melbourne
Heart warming
It is truly heart warming to see Australians band together in this time of need. We should never lose our compassion for one another. Well done to all who have helped in any way. Very moving times.
14 Jan 2011 20:08 AEST
From: thornbury
heroes
Great blog as usual. Its great to see our sporting heroes giving back to the community when they need it most.
14 Jan 2011 17:15 AEST
From: Geraldton WA
Mr
I agree entirely with the sentiment of Robert Grasso. One good thing to emerge from epic disasters such as this is the groups and individuals with nothing to gain other than satisfaction who step forward and offer support. Thankfully Australia has such individuals and groups in droves. In the trying times that our modern world challenges us with it is actions and gestures such as this that helps restore our faith in humanity. In addition I believe the vast majority of Australians and military personnel will be very pleased to see our military being used for a purpose that all Australians can be proud of.
14 Jan 2011 16:21 AEST
From: Queensland
We didnt have to have our generousity tested
It is probably too early to discuss why Brisbane flooded but the question must be asked. Even to the most uninformed it would appear that gross incompetence at the Wivenhoe dam was responsible for the devastation. The flooding was avoidable. A lack of foresight and logic. Does Queensland have a water minister they can whitewash with this?
Join the discussion
PLEASE NOTE: All submitted comments become the property of SBS. We reserve the right to edit and/or amend submitted comments. HTML tags other than paragraph, line break, bold or italics will be removed from your comment.
Most Popular
About this Blog
World News Australia's Robert Grasso analyses the week in sport. Follow @RobertGrasso
Robert Grasso Robert Grasso is an award-winning Senior Sports Journalist, Producer and Presenter for SBS World News Australia.
Other Blogs
TV
- Living Black
- Italian Food Safari
- Thalassa
- Luke Nguyen's Vietnam
- Behind the Scenes: The 2009 Deadly Awards
- My Family Feast
- Costa's Production Blog
- Eurovision 2011
- Swift and Shift Couriers
- Global Village
- My Bogan Diary
- The Road to the White House
Food
Films
Documentary
- Britt Arthur
- Catharine Lumby
- John Birmingham
- Rory Medcalf
- Mark Jones
- Emily Booth
- Bob Wurth
- Andy Martin
World News Australia
- Ricardo's Business
- 180 degrees
- Reporters' Blog
- The Hashtag
- The Other World Game
- Window on Africa
- Pop, Cultured
- PJ's Notebook
- The Sweet Spot
- Back of the.net
- Source Code
- The Road to 2012
- Candid Canberra
Sport
- The Circus
- The Interchange
- The Hangover
- Lip Service
- Deep in the Dust: On the Dakar trail
- Dakar Dreams
- The Finktank
- Open Season
About SBS
Business
Internet and Technology
Cycling Central
- Rochelle Gilmore
- Matthew Price's Broom Wagon
- Anthony Tan's Velo Files
- Matthew Keenan
- Al Hinds
- Sophie Smith
- Philip Gomes
- Scott Sunderland
- Mike Tomalaris
Festival Reports
Tour De France
