Source: Channel 9
Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke is at it again.
The former Australian leader has made a tradition of sculling a beer at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
He did the deed again today at the famous ground where Australia is facing Pakistan in the third test of the series.
It was a repeat of the feat Hawke performed in 2012 when Australia hosted Sri Lanka.
Bob Hawke may have changed the Australian political landscape forever, but we will also remember him for how often — and how quickly — he could drink a beer.
Before, during, and after his prime ministership, the lager-loving larrikin leader was frequently photographed necking the froth, or videoed downing the liquid amber in one fluid movement, reports news.com.au.
Mr Hawke even once held the world record for shotting a yard glass at university. But what impact did his uniquely Australian reputation as a big drinker have on his political career?
Bob Hawke (R) tackles a yardglass at the official opening of the Bob Hawke Hotel. Photo / Supplied
Bob Hawke had been pegged as a fans of the hops since he joined the ACTU in the 1950s, and helped to cement his image as a man of the people, an ally of the working class.
But after sculling beer at the cricket for the amusement of the media and hundreds of fans at the SCG in 2012 and 2014, this image was thrown into question and he was accused of setting a bad example for young Australians.
"They sure don't make politicians like they used to," posted one YouTuber. "Every Aussie should go and get a beer, and thank this great man for everything that he did for this country."
His display in 2014 on day two of the 5th Ashes Test — in which he sank a schooner in front of the Richie Benaud impersonators — attracted criticism because it coincided with a time in which Australian cities were experiencing an upsurge in alcohol-related violence such as coward-punching, with critics citing Hawke's favourite habit as an example of "binge drinking" and drinking irresponsibly.
At the time, Ita Buttrose defended Mr Hawke's antics on TV show Studio 10, saying, "I think you're all getting your knickers in a knot over nothing. … He downed a beer. He's one of the guys. Good on Bob Hawke for still being a man of the people. It's got nothing to do with the issue of teenage drinking."
"Doesn't sip it. He gets it down," said the cricket commentator as the camera captured Mr Hawke in the VIP box downing a pint. "Go on Bobby, show us your technique. Look how quick he is!"
Well into his 80s, Mr Hawke was still known to drop in to the local pub and participate in beer sculling competitions.
It reinforced his image as a man of the people. As one comment noted, "Bob Hawke is a legend and a representative of the working Aussie who did well." Another added, "Should be part of the Citizenship ceremony imo … Scull a beer like Bob!"
Mr Hawke was part of a generation of Australian men who ended their working days by going to the pub with their mates — a custom that many have since found problematic, leading to habits of alcohol abuse and domestic violence.
But Mr Hawke's reputation as a tippler has also been celebrated, and began during his years as a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University where he made the Guinness world record in 1955 by downing two 1/2 pints of beer in 11 seconds.
"This feat was to endear me to some of my fellow Australians more than anything else I ever achieved," wrote Mr Hawke in his autobiography.
But even Mr Hawke saw the dark side to his image as a lager-loving larrikin.
In 1980, he publicly swore off alcohol after admitting that he had taken "too much refuge" in booze and said he would abstain from drinking in favour of pursuing a career in parliamentary politics.
"I just said to myself, 'If you're going to become prime minister of this country you can't afford ever to be in a position where you can make a fool of yourself or of your country', and I never had a drop for the whole period I was in parliament," he said.
Throughout his marriage to his first wife, Hazel, Mr Hawke had drank heavily and suffered from alcohol poisoning after grief-drinking over the death of their infant son.
Only in his post-parliament days did he take up the grog again, but never to excess.
But his beer-sculling prowess was indivisble from the charmisma that gave the man near folk hero status in Australia, and in 2017, as if to commemorate that fact, he put his name and face to microbrewery startup Hawke's Brewing Co., which pledged to uphold "the values of a national icon — the great former Prime Minister Bob Hawke."
