Football dreams of past
By Mike Hurst
May 25, 2007 12:00
AUSTRALIA’S fastest man, four-time national 100m champion Josh Ross, wonders how life would have turned out had he continued playing rugby league.
As he hurtles off the bend on the Homebush training track this week, silhouetted by the setting sun, the NRL is the furthest thing from the athlete’s mind. He is, through necessity, fully self-absorbed by his art and the need to exercise a subtle discipline over his own raging power.
But in a quieter moment he admits he could have been earning hundreds of thousands of dollars in the NRL instead of skimping to make ends meet on the road to next year’s Beijing Olympics.
After six years playing at junior representative level in the great league nursery of Woy Woy on the NSW Central Coast, the game lost track of Ross. And he’s not sure why.
If he was the fastest man in America or England he would almost certainly have been approached to have a run on the gridiron or the rugby field.
But Ross, 26, who claimed his fourth consecutive Australian 100m title in the world-class time of 10.08sec in March, has been ignored.
"I played league for six years, I played schoolboy reps from 10 to 16,’’ Ross revealed. "I probably would be on easy street if I had gone on with football but even if they did appreciate me and made me an offer, there’s no longer passion for league like there is for athletics.’’
That new-found passion will take him to Europe next Friday where he will compete on the grand prix tour in preparation for the world athletics championships, starting on August 25 in Osaka, Japan.
Then it’s all eyes on the Beijing Olympics next August. "I have my goals on the track but I will keep them to myself for now,’’ said Ross, a semi-finalist at the 2005 world titles.
"However, in relation to league, I’ve got a mad step on me. That’s the black fella in me - the Aboriginal - we’re all talented at any sport.’’
He may be one of the most exciting athletes in Australia but he’s still cash-strapped, although he trains in anticipation of a big pay-day.
Ross’s coach Emil Rizk said the sprint champion might have contemplated league for a rich offer.
"But he’s not going to stop what he’s doing for $200,000 now because if he gets a medal in Beijing he’ll earn way more than that,’’ Rizk said.