Hello dear reader,
I’m excited to announce The BB Store, the online retail outlet of the Building Blocks newsletter.
The first product in the store is a range of caps by Bob’s Athletic Co., my side hustle cap brand. They’re perfect for:
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…and overall, looking cool AF.
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After all of that excitement, on to today’s story.
At 03 AM on 11 April 2000, Dr Ali Bacher’s phone rang. There’s never good news at the opposite end of a phone ringing in the dead of night.
In the late 90s, no South African besides Mandela, was as loved as the national cricket captain, Hansie Cronje.
In January 2000, the fifth test match between South Africa and England was destined for a draw after days two, three and four had been rained out. But on the final day, Cronje did something unprecedented in test cricket. He proposed to England Captain Nasser Hussein that both teams forfeit an innings, thus turning the last day of the test into a one-innings spectacle. The England captain agreed, but only once the terms of the deal were very much in England’s favour, having to score only 249 runs in 76 overs to win. The game went down to the wire, and South Africa lost. But despite losing, Cronje was celebrated by the commentators and the media for turning a stone-dead game into a thrilling encounter. True sportsmanship.
But in the South African dressing room, most players were upset and confused by the favourable terms Cronje had given England. Why would Cronje give this old foe as much as a whiff of victory?
Three months later, adulation turned to scandal.
On 7 April, news broke that Cronje was being investigated in India for match-fixing. Dr Ali Bacher, then head of South African cricket, immediately contacted Cronje, who denied the allegations. “Complete rubbish!” Cronje proclaimed. Based on Cronje’s denials, Bacher released a press statement supporting Cronje:
“A man of unquestionable integrity and honesty…I’m absolutely certain not one of our players would even contemplate being involved in match-fixing…It’s libellous…defamatory!”
Bob Woolmer, the South African coach, echoed Bacher’s views.
But after days of staunch denials and public support, Cronje cracked. In the early morning of 11 April, he phoned Bacher in tears and confessed his dishonesty - a revelation that would shock the cricketing world and nation.
Later that day, Cronje was suspended as captain. “Let us say that unequivocally, we are shattered,” said Bacher.
So serious was the story that South African President Thabo Mbeki appointed a commission of enquiry chaired by Judge Edwin King. The King Commission started in June 2000, and the revelations were startling:
In the controversial test against England, Cronje received R50k from a sports bettor to “make a game” of it.
During a series against India between December 1996 and January 1997, Cronje received $110k to provide inside information such as team selection and pitch reports.
In the same series against India in 1996, Cronje was offered $250k to lose a one-day game. Cronje presented this offer to the entire South African team during a team meeting. After the offer was rejected, Cronje returned to the bookmaker to see if he could squeeze out another $100k. The bookmaker agreed, but the team still couldn’t be swayed. (Side note: I’m baffled that this incident involved the entire team, but was only revealed years later.)
A few years later, in 2000, Cronje offered rising talent Herschell Gibbs, and Henry Williams $15k each to underperform in a game against India. Although both players agreed to participate, neither followed through on game day. In the same series, Cronje offered Pieter Strydom R70k to help ensure South Africa scored less than 250 runs in the first test match. It was only Strydom’s second test match for his country, and his captain, one of the most esteemed people in the country, was asking him to fix the game. Strydom rejected Cronje’s offer.
Cronje also approached senior players like Lance Klusener, Mark Boucher and Jacques Kallis to throw matches. All three senior players thought he was joking and rejected his offer. Approaching players with a smile and in a joking way was Cronje’s modus operandi.
A middle-class Afrikaans boy from a religious home in the Free State (a rural part of South Africa), Cronje had been a leader all his life. By all accounts, he was a stand-up guy - a good person, revered by his teammates.
“I had a great passion for the game, my teammates and my country,” Cronje said, “but the problem is the unfortunate love I have for money.”
I started my career as a forensic auditor, and a big part of my job was confronting fraudsters with evidence of their wrongdoing. During these discussions, I was often surprised at how my explicit explanations (supported by evidence) led to what seemed to be the perpetrator's first sincere recognition of their misconduct. No crook goes from 0 straight to 100, good employee to bank robber. It always started with one minor act of dishonesty that led to another. Each time they crossed that ethical boundary, it eroded.
The same happened to Hansie. He first tipped his toes over his ethical line in 1995, mere weeks into his captaincy, when he met with a bookie who offered him $10k to throw the Mandela Cup final against Pakistan. Although he never went through with it, he seriously considered the offer. The next time, he accepted money to provide information. The next, he fixed games. Ultimately, Hansie was in over his head, caught in a web of gamblers, bookies, and crooks.
Following the inquiry, Cronje was banned from playing or coaching cricket for life. With his life and career in tatters, he died two years later, in 2002, in a plane crash. He was 32 years old.
The moral of the story:
Everyone has an ethical or moral line, and crossing the line can be fun and rewarding in the short term. But it is a dark playground tinged with shame.
If there’s something to be learned from the tragic demise of Hansie Cronje, it’s this:
Respect the line.
**Today’s article was more serious than usual, so to lighten the mood, here’s a gif that captures the moral of today’s story: