Fingleton: Jack of many trades

CANBERRA, January 13: The first thing that strikes you as you enter the Manuka Oval is the big, old-fashioned, manual scoreboard named after Jack Fingleton.
It’s odd, really as the former Australian opening batsman was never a much-admired person in cricket circles - all because of his differences with Donald Bradman.
Fingleton may have considered himself unlucky not to have cemented his place in the Australian side after making his Test debut at the MCG in 1931-32 against England as he had to compete against the likes of Ponsford, McCabe and Woodfull, however it is no secret that his differences with Bradman had little to do more with their respective religious beliefs rather than cricket.
Fingleton, who turned into a renowned journalist after ending his playing career, was an Irish Catholic, while Bradman was a Protestant. "The Irish Cathlolics used to look down on the Protestants as renegades in those days and Bradman was very very English which is probably why Fingleton and Bradman never got along," reasoned Peter Louge, a former political journalist, who was mentored by Fingleton.
A little research into Australia’s cricket history reveals that their national team in the 1930s was indeed divided on religious lines. "There were very few Catholics in Bradman’s team," Louge, who is now associated with the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, observed.
In fact, four Catholic players, Bill O’Reilly, Stan McCabe, Leo O’Brien and Chuck Fleetwood-Smith were once hauled up by the Australian Cricket Board for allegedly undermining Bradman’s authority. "Fingleton perhaps escaped the summons because of his political connections, but he and O’Reilly never got along with Bradman after that," said Louge, who feels perhaps that’s why Australians, who revere Bradman, could never appreciate Fingleton, who was a very "sophisticated character".