{"id":848367,"date":"2026-08-08T20:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/848367\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T20:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:56:12","slug":"cricket-fans-call-for-change-after-sad-scenes-during-allan-border-medal-awards-night-travis-head","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/848367\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket fans call for change after sad scenes during Allan Border Medal awards night, Travis Head"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aussie cricket fans have called for immediate action after the Australian men\u2019s player of the year was announced in a Brisbane function room rather than the usual gala extravaganza fitting of cricket\u2019s night of nights.<\/p>\n

Allan Border, 71, presented the medal named in his honour to Travis Head ahead of the Aussie squad\u2019s departure for Darwin on Friday night.<\/p>\n

Head\u2019s back-to-back AB medals see him join an elite group of Aussie cricketers to have won the honour multiple times. Only Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Shane Watson, Steve Smith and David Warner have won the prestigious award more than once.<\/p>\n

However, the awards night has sadly been downgraded from a black-tie gala to an event that more closely resembles a club cricket awards night than cricket\u2019s equivalent of the Dally Ms and Brownlow Medal.<\/p>\n

While Border was dressed to the nines, Head turned up in casual clothes more befitting a team dinner than an awards night. <\/p>\n

\"Travis<\/p>\n

Last year, Head had to receive the award virtually as he was in Sri Lanka. This year at least he was able to collect it in person from Border himself.<\/p>\n

Yet fans felt the ceremony had diminished the award\u2019s value as vision shared to social media showed it was a far cry from what people would expect from cricket\u2019s night of nights.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Allan Border Medal going from a Brownlow-type gala event to being handed out in early August is really sad. While it is tough to find a spot in the crowded cricket calendar, considering who it is named after, it does deserve to be treated with a bit more respect,\u201d Alex Fair wrote on X.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a joke there isn\u2019t a proper event on. Embarrassing,\u201d Reginal Ryder added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs this done at the local bowlo now? What happened to the black tie event? The AB Medal and all awards should be a prestigious event,\u201d another commented on a video shared of Head receiving the award.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow pathetically low-key. It is the top personal award for Australian cricket and should be at a presentation worthy of the honour,\u201d Geoffrey Hodge said.<\/p>\n

It comes after Border himself urged for his eponymous medal to be again awarded at a gala ceremony<\/a> from next year as the medal\u2019s prestige continues to diminish through no fault of his own.<\/p>\n

The awards night has always taken place in February, in a gap between the end of the Test summer and a tour overseas.<\/p>\n

But that slot is no longer available, with the Women\u2019s Premier League \u2013 the female equivalent of the IPL \u2013 shifting into the January-February slot and the Aussie men abroad for the T20 World Cup.<\/p>\n

But Border has urged for that to change moving forward, while acknowledging the scheduling difficulties.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does seem a bit odd to be in the middle of winter, and there\u2019s been no cricket really played, and everyone\u2019s sort of forgotten about who\u2019s done what. Trying to pick the winner will be a bit harder than normal,\u201d Border told Code Sports <\/a>this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut yeah, look, it is what it is. I think the players still rate the fact that it\u2019s a great honour for them to win that medal. So whenever it\u2019s held, it\u2019s highly regarded by the players, and that\u2019s important.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019d like to see it go back to a traditional time and traditional sort of ceremony, where the girls are there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big event down at the Crown Casino at the end of the season, have the big awards night, and then they get on with the winter programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The AB Medal was instituted at the turn of the century, and the awards event was seen as cricket\u2019s night of nights, rivalling the AFL\u2019s Brownlow Medal ceremony and the NRL\u2019s Dally M Awards.<\/p>\n

However, now the prestige has been diminished by the fact it is handed out seemingly wherever it can be squeezed into the calendar, whether or not the players are in the country.<\/p>\n

It had SEN\u2019s Kane Cornes going as far as to say the award has become completely \u201cmeaningless\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like having the Brownlow Medal and the top eight fancies are ineligible,\u201d Cornes said on SEN last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven the rusted-on SEN lovers of cricket, if you asked them \u2018Hey list me off the last five AB medal winners\u2019, I don\u2019t reckon they could do that. \u201cIt is the most meaningless award. It just doesn\u2019t mean anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published as \u2018Embarrassing\u2019: Cricket fans call for change after sad scenes during Allan Border Medal awards night<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aussie cricket fans have called for immediate action after the Australian men\u2019s player of the year was 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