CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
A recent study released by the Australian Institute of Sport has found that the use of the word ‘King’ in nicknames for high-performing athletes should be limited to one per professional code.
Following on from the music industries careful use of the word to only name one person per genre (King Of Pop – Michael Jackson, King Of Rock ‘n’ Roll – Elvis Presley) – The Government department say they are lucky that the existing ‘kings’ have been rightly appointed to the greatest players in each code.
Professor Howe Goodmaite from the AIS believes that there can only be one ‘King’ in the honour boards of each sport, meaning that once a nickname has been handed down, there can never be another.
“Wally Lewis retired in the mid nineties. There will never be another ‘King’ in rugby league”
“We are aware that he also went by the nickname of ‘The Emperor Of Lang Park’ – so the same goes for similar royalty-themed titles”
“Shane Warne’s nickname as ‘The King Of Spin’ will be the only King-related nickname in cricket, although it appears niche, it would be too confusing for us to now nickname another cricketer as ‘The King Of Pace’ or similarly, ‘The King Of Reverse-Sweeps'”.
This report comes after confusion arose surrounding the nickname of former Fremantle player Dean Solomon in the AFL.
Solomon was often nicknamed ‘King Solomon’ – in tribute to the now deceased Jerusalem-based King of Israel from 1010 BCE.
Professor Goodmaite says the fact that there is two usages of the name King Solomon over the last two millenniums is confusing enough for the AFL community, let alone the fact that Wayne Carey was also nicknamed ‘The King’.
“Dean Solomon was a great player, but even he will tell you that he didn’t have the same career that King Carey did”
“It has been very confusing for all involved. From this point out, Dean Solomon will be referred to as only Dean Solomon”
Other sporting nicknames that have now been allocated include Andrew Joey ‘The 8th’ Johns, nicknamed after his BIG LEAGUE knighthood as the eighth rugby league immortal, and Steve ‘The Black Pearl’ Renouf – named after the fact that he is Aboriginal and was fucking good at footy.
