Drinking and RTW: a Sticky Wicket

Drinking and RTW: A sticky wicket.

By: Gabrielle Lis

Andrew Symonds' drinking presented Cricket Australia with a big RTW challenge. Did poor management lead to his downfall?

Telling someone they’ve got a problem with alcohol isn’t easy. Managing that problem to promote durable return to work can be even harder. If the situation plays out in the public realm, the complications only multiply. It comes as no surprise then, that when Cricket Australia announced the end of Andrew Symonds’s Australian career both they and he came in for a flogging.

The straw that broke the camel’s back fell in the first week of June, when Symonds was sent home from the 2009 World Twenty20 tour in England. Like many of the previous disciplinary actions to which Symonds has been subjected, this expulsion was alcohol related. It looks like being the end of the road for Symonds with Cricket Australia.

Robert Craddock of The Daily Telegraph claimed that Symonds had been allowed to get away with “far too much for far too long,” and pulled no punches in his attack on the man and the organisation.

“He is a boofhead. They were as weak as water. It really is that simple,” Craddock wrote.

Peter Lalor in The Australian was more restrained, but also criticised Cricket Australia for mismanaging the situation.

“The hard option was not taken and now Symonds’s Australian career is over because of a series of minor misdemeanours.”

Lalor reckons that Cricket Australia should have torn up Symonds’s contract years ago, when he first hit the spotlight for all the wrong, boozy reasons. Instead, the organisation opted to suspend him. More recently, they’ve paid for counselling and attempted to support Symonds through rehabilitation. All, it now seems, to no avail.

Lalor’s frustration is understandable, given the heights Symonds’s performance could reach when he was in form. However, good form is not what has characterised Symonds of late.

Of the many difficulties alcohol poses in the workplace (and there’s no reason to suppose that the cricket field is an exception), one of the most commonly acknowledged is its detrimental impact on productivity and performance. Over the 08/09 summer, Symonds averaged 15 runs

an innings in his games with the Queensland Bulls: this from a player with a one day international runs rate of over 90.

Sounds like presenteeism rearing its ugly head, doesn’t it?

As you would expect, Symonds has also had problems with absenteeism, most memorably when he went fishing instead of attending a team meeting with the Australian squad. This kind of behaviour has led several commentators to suggest that Symonds has simply lost his passion for the game, which is certainly one possibility. It’s also possible, however, that depression or other mental health difficulties could be a factor in Symonds’s perceived lack of commitment to cricket.

The underlying cause of problem drinking is often personal factors, such as grief or family stresses. Symonds’ infamous 2004 bender, after which he showed up drunk to a game against Bangladesh, was apparently prompted by the break-up of his marriage to childhood sweetheart Brooke Marshall. His current difficulties are being linked to huge financial losses he and his family sustained in the collapse of the Storm Financial Group.

Another potential contributor to Symonds’ drinking is work related factors. While the current generation of Australian cricket lacks the drinking culture that was once prevalent, according to some reports it also lacks the camaraderie and social support that once characterised the Aussie team. Add to this the pressures of constant media attention and public scrutiny of his performance, and hitting the bottle solo might start to look like a pretty good option.

Rather than having lost his passion for the sport, Symonds could be struggling emotionally in a work environment that increases the likelihood of his developing a drinking problem. If this is the case, Cricket Australia’s patience with him starts to look understandable, even commendable.

People with drinking problems have a better chance of recovery if they stay employed. The difficulty for employers like Cricket Australia is that achieving an appropriate balance between promoting rehabilitation and protecting organisational interests can be really tough.

Andrew Symonds might be a boofhead, and Cricket Australia might have taken the soft option once too often, but the more research I did for this article, the more sympathy I felt for both the man and the organisation.

Managing alcohol and return to work isn’t easy. If your organisation struggles with this problem, WorkSafe's guidelines for developing a workplace alcohol policy may be of use. Hopefully, it will help you achieve a better outcome than the one Cricket Australia and Andrew Symonds have ended up with.