Hey…Jonathan Brown…buy your own damn cycling jersey!
Back on 24 October 2012 I had the temerity to question the Safe Cycling Australia campaign (via Dave Sharp’s Facebook) to get his and SCA Facebook followers to stump up $$ for the “Jonathon Brown Fund (Seeing as big JB is apparently hard to see when riding his bike, we’re going to get him into a new SCA cycling kit. Please help)”.
A metre really does matter…especially if you aren’t wearing one of these!
My stance was why should us followers donate towards the $500 target so a bloke who earns heaps more than us can get a free cycling jersey?
Now, don’t get me wrong – even though I barrack for St Kilda – I’m sorry he got hit by a car. Truly, I am. But there are likely to be many more cyclists out there that have been on the receiving end of some poor driving and who would spend many more hours in the saddle than ol’ JB (and therefore provide more scope for free advertising for SCA). And I bet they don’t earn the moolah he does!
I received some robust argument against my stance from the SCA “CEO”, Dave Sharp, and being in a democracy that is what I would expect. So imagine my surprise (just now) when checking stuff I missed on FB (since I was overseas) and found a post from SCA: “Please try not to run this down mate. BCC are in Bq’s pocket so the option is closed to us…(edited).
I appreciate all Dave has been doing to raise the issue of motorists not giving sufficient space to cyclists when passing at normal speeds (or higher) – that Venturi effect is a PITA! – but stand by my comments, and so am surprised to see Dave/SCA have censored my comments critical of his/their stance on this issue, comments I hasten to add were neither crude, vulgar or defamatory. So much for freedom of speech…
However, I also feel vindicated in that the campaign to get Browny a SCA jersey has not been well supported. One solitary donation of $20 ain’t going to buy him much more than a zip. Maybe he can use it to curb his on-field sledging of opponents when AFL season 2013 starts in March…
I cannot believe that you have used a personal comment regarding Dave and his wife’s private lives away from Cycling Safe, made in strict confidence for a headline. If SCA chose to delete a post it would probably have been deserved, and they don’t seem to censor their site in any way.
What a low act.
November 5, 2012 at 7:24 pm
As a party to that conversation I am entitled to do with it as I so wish but concede in my haste I maybe should have edited it accordingly and so have done so.
Meanwhile, I cannot believe that you are referring to Dave and his wife in the third person since your contact email address is that used by Dave’s wife. Or do you have a vested interest in hiding?
November 5, 2012 at 7:38 pm