Shane Warne demystified, one tweet at a time

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/23/shane-warne-instagram

Version 0 of 1.

In his deft and authoritative account of Shane Warne’s life, cricket writer and historian Gideon Haigh suggested, “That [Warne] wandered into mishap and misadventure as often as he did sometimes suggested an unconscious relish for it – a curiosity about what would happen if he pressed this button, pressed this point, pressed this flesh.” Now that he’s beyond the control of Cricket Australia, the only buttons Warne seems to be pressing are those on his smartphone. He certainly hasn’t lost that effortless ability to generate headlines though.

This week he’s got the tabloids churning out a new variation of the exact same “Warnie tweets something sappy at Liz” story they’ve been regurgitating on an almost weekly basis for the past two years. Romance with Hurley rekindled, Warnie has also made sure that every one of his 1.3 million Twitter followers is in on the scoop.

You can’t totally blame the media outlets actually (well I can’t anyway, given I’m writing about it myself); Warne is now a self-sustained content mine for gossip rags, talkback radio and internet memes. Fortunate are those who can primarily remember Warne for the “ball of the century” or any of his other 707 Test wickets, because these days it’s more likely you’ll come across images like his famous Instagram “selfie” when you Google his name.

Does Shane Warne really owe us anything else though? Upon his retirement he was well positioned to evolve into a statesman of the game and he certainly possesses a level of technical knowledge that could be of assistance to Australian cricket, but between commentary stints and poker matches, Warnie appears pretty happy to act the court jester most of the time. If his elongated retirement via Twenty20 leagues proved anything, it was his reluctance to step away from the limelight completely, a lingering thirst for attention even.

But what do the public really think of the tweeting, Instagramming, 2013 model Shane Warne? Is he already eroding the public goodwill that seemed to be in eternal supply when he stepped away from national duty? Warne’s recent forays into feline-appreciation have fallen foul of some of more macho sections of his fan base though, with “danwilcher” noting, “Most teenage girls wouldn’t post this, whats (sic) happened to you warnie?” (Judging by his own photographic array of cliff faces, cartoon skulls and middle fingers, danwilcher certainly knows his stuff.)

But for every teenage emo yearning or photoshopped cat carrying a dog I guess the world would be a less entertaining place if Shane Warne wasn’t posting photos of himself and Gerard Depardieu. Also, if Warnie hadn’t turned his spinning finger into his tweeting finger, I would never have experienced the simple pleasure of he and Boris Johnson being photo-bombed by Thomas Keneally. That’s something , right?

If you’re a firm believer in the theory that it’s best not to meet your heroes lest they fail to meet your high expectations, it might also pay to add “and don’t follow them on twitter” to that list. Even to a casual observer it would appear that Warne’s prolific and sustained foray into the world of social media might have had diminishing effect on his aura and mystique. At the very least it has shattered the beer-stained alpha male stereotypes that have long exemplified Australian cricketers.

But what are we to read into all this, really? Warne’s playing career was defined by a total and utter command of his craft, which rarely faltered even when his personal life had descended into periods of chaos. Now he’s a kind of walking, talking and tweeting punchline. What is interesting about this period of Warne’s life is that a large portion of his public image is being created by the man himself, rather than constructed by the cricket administration and media that surrounded him for so much of his playing career. The veil of celebrity is still strong but it is now propelled and shaped by Warne himself, for better or (more often) worse.

Where old media seemed to amplify Warne’s larger-than-life persona and establish him as a kind of folk hero, his new self-scripted identity often has the opposite effect, infantilizing him but also painting him as a daggy Dad and a cornball romantic. Maybe these things just humanize athletes a little too much for comfort and we’re being selfish to wish for anything else.

The tabloid headlines of days gone by were not always flattering to Warne but he tended to wear them with good humour. But even at their gaudiest, they fostered a Warne-narrative that was winningly detached from the inane realities of lives like our own. In this respect the media ended up serving as a kind of gatekeeper for Warne’s public image. Looking back you’d have to say that this was a net win for the man himself. The most salacious of headlines in during his playing pomp were surely still better for “the brand” than knowing what Warnie had for dinner.

As great as Shane Warne has been and can be, I don’t think I’m alone in thinking it’s better to remember him for the LBWs than the OMGs.

Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning.