Lives in Cricket No 12 - Ric Charlesworth

its unsuccessful defence in Fremantle in 1987: both eventually went to prison, though for reasons unconnected with their sponsorship of a rich man’s sport. ‘Merchant banker’ Laurie Connell, whose sporting enthusiasm involved fixing horse races with the help of a jockey unable to stay in the saddle, avoided the same fate by dying. With premier Brian Burke and his deputy, David Parker, also imprisoned after falling foul of the law, there was much to be said for avoiding intimacy with the local body politic. Deciding – long before the scandals of WA Inc. had emerged – that the federal scene was the political ‘A grade’, Charlesworth responded positively to suggestions he might have a chance of being a candidate for the seat of Perth. As a newcomer to a party in which different factions often seem more at odds with each other than their conservative opponents, he was well aware he would have no chance of pre-selection without the high profile in sport that was maintained when he led Australia to a bronze medal (behind winners Pakistan and silver medallists West Germany) in the hockey World Championships in Bombay in January 1982. Even so, the process of direct confrontation with an interrogating committee – rather than being chosen by spectating selectors – ‘was one of the most exhausting and stressful experiences’ of his life so far. He continued his locum work through 1982, while doorknocking the electorate and trying to raise funds, but abandoned it when Fraser called the election in February 1983. A landslide national victory under former trade union leader, Bob Hawke, who had snatched the ALP leadership after a relatively short time in parliament, helped ensure that Charlesworth became the MP for Perth on 8 March 1983. Seeing on television a tearful Malcolm Fraser concede victory made it a ‘joyous’ occasion. Ric – with the strong support of his campaign manager, David Hatt – had defeated the Liberal candidate Ross McLean, who had held the seat since 1975. In a manner typical of the traditional Perth establishment – rather than the high-flying, long-lunching nouveau riche of WA Inc. – Hatt was a Charlesworth friend from the state hockey team in the 1970s. In the distant future, the three men were to find themselves in a polite, but uneasy relationship in an embattled Fremantle Dockers football club: McLean as chairman, Hatt as chief executive and Charlesworth as coaching ‘consultant’. In the shorter term, the friendship with Hatt alienated 54 1981-1993