Gill Woolmer: 1st Interview since Bob's death

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sp...icle1620731.ece

Bob’s death hasn’t hit me yet, says the widow who is still awaiting answers
Exclusively in her first interview since the death of her husband, Gill Woolmer tells Ivo Tennant that the enormity of her loss has yet to hit home
Gill Woolmer is no closer now to knowing how or why her husband, Bob, died in mysterious circumstances in Jamaica nearly three weeks ago. She spoke for the first time about the handling of the inquiry and the future she faces the day after his memorial service, when old cricketing friends had returned to Joh-annesburg, England or the World Cup.

While Professor Tim Noakes and other speakers were unable to mask their emotions during the service, Mrs Woolmer, flanked by her sons, Dale and Russell, remained composed. She had done, too, when television cameras were trained on her in the after her husband’s death.

“I was shaking like a leaf underneath,” she said yesterday at her home in Cape Town. “So much has been happening since Bob died. When everything becomes quieter, that will be when this will hit me.”

The television crews and police have moved away now from her attractive thatched home, with its swimming pool and a garden cottage, in a quiet street in the suburb of Pinelands, but the telephone continues to ring. Friends have offered her sanctuary at seaside retreats in the Cape, but she does not want to leave home, or, indeed, move in the future. In her husband’s study, the cricketing paraphernalia he accumulated remains undisturbed.


Mrs Woolmer has no intention of travelling to Jamaica. She has not been told when her husband’s body will be returned for a private family cremation, but is in regular contact with the police in Kingston.

“Obviously I have not met Mark Shields [who is leading the investigation], but he seems to be doing a good job. It is not the case that Scotland Yard are being called in because he is incompetent. He is under stress and is tired and requires help because there are so many things to look into. We need to bring this to a speedy conclusion.”

The police have returned Woolmer’s mobile phone and personal possessions that were in the Pegasus Hotel where he died, but still have his laptop. “They have looked at the e-mails he sent me and others, but there is not even a hint in them of his being scared, or of anything to do with match-fixing. It is only personal stuff, and there is no way on God’s earth that I am going to let the public read this.”

Mrs Woolmer was not keen for him to take on coaching Pakistan in the first place. “Bob told me he would never coach another international side after finishing with Dr Ali Bacher and South Africa. I said to him, ‘I cannot believe you are thinking of doing this’. He knew the Pakistan side fluctuated in form, but he liked a challenge and no one else tried to prevent him taking the job. If he had been offered the sort of salary Duncan Fletcher [the England coach] is on, much more than he was receiving from the Pakistan Cricket Board, he would probably not have been able to turn down the England job, either.

“The players treated him like a father, calling him ‘Dad’ or ‘Bubbly’, which apparently means ‘soft and cuddly’ in Urdu. Danish Kaneria, Younis Khan, Kamran Akmal and Asif Mahmood all telephoned me when Bob died. We called our garden ‘the prayer lawn’ after all the Pakistan side prayed before eating with us during their tour of South Africa earlier this year.

“Bob had his differences with one or two players, but that would be the same in any dressing room. It annoyed him that Shoaib Akhtar was such a good cricketer and yet would always have a niggling injury. Bob made a comment at Port Elizabeth in January and Shoaib went off at him.

“Bob got on with Inzamam ul-Haq, whom he did not dislike, but there could be moods. Inzamam would not speak to him for a few days but then would be OK again. The captain had a presence about him when he walked into a room and the younger members of the side revered him and would tread on eggshells around him,” she said.

The executors of Woolmer’s will now have the task of ensuring his contract with Pakistan, due to have expired in June, will be paid in full. Mrs Woolmer will have need of an income — the family is not especially well off — and there is a possibility that fundraising dinners will be organised. A trust has been formed to ensure that the Bob Woolmer Cricket Academy goes ahead.

“Something positive will come out of this,” she said.

Since Woolmer’s death, Dale, the elder son who works in England as a promotions and party planner, has got engaged to Pippa Thornley, a schoolteacher at Epsom College in Surrey. “Bob knew this was going to happen,” Mrs Woolmer said. “A ring has been bought here in Pinelands, but the wedding will not take place for another year.”

Among the many messages, as well as flowers, received by the family was one from Woolmer’s old nanny when he was growing up in Kanpur, India. “We had not heard from Susheela Karintikal for ten years, and she said how sad she was to hear of the death of ‘my Bobby’. ”

In addition to the calls from old cricketing friends — Mike Denness, the former England captain, telephoned yesterday before returning home after his visit for the memorial service — there have been ones from people Mrs Woolmer hardly knows.

“Someone who used to see Bob walking the dog called, as did the manager of our local supermarket.” Unlike most professional sportsmen, Woolmer’s home number was not ex-directory. He did not hide it from the media or cricket supporters.

As to his plans for the future, Woolmer, in addition to his hopes of acquiring sponsorship for his proposed cricket academy near the Kruger Park, had been offered a consultancy role at Dubai Sports City, where Abdul Rahman Bukhatir has been planning a stadium. His coaching manual with Professor Noakes of Cape Town University will still go ahead.

“But he was not keeping a World Cup diary. He used to work away on his computer every day, but I did not even know he had started to update his autobiography. I was aware Bob was planning to write an account of his time with Pakistan, but that was intended to be after he had finished coaching them,” Mrs Woolmer said. “It is best if that book never appears now. If it is going to cause upset, it is not worth publishing.” She reiterated that he was not intending to write anything about match-fixing or bookmakers.

Mrs Woolmer had hoped that her husband’s memorial service on Wednesday would be a form of “closure”. But she is all too aware that, even though the memorial service is over and the assorted gawpers have left her locked garden gate, she will not find any sort of peace her husband’s death has been resolved and any perpetrators are brought to justice.

"Inzamam would not speak to him for a few days ....."
Is this behaviour worthy of a captain? What kind of example is this setting for the rest of the team? especially as "The captain had a presence about him when he walked into a room and the younger members of the side revered him and would tread on eggshells around him,” she said."
If the players listened to BW, would Inzi get upset?

shabaash, Inzimam.

you behaved like any mature 37 year old man would have by not speaking to your coach and throwing childish tantrums. never mind that you were captain of the side. never mind that you start every sentence with Bismillah and end it with Alhamdolillah. never mind that now that you have a beard, everybody is supposed to forget what kind of shadiness you were involved with in the 90s. shabaash indeed!

I am thoroughly disgusted by your immaturity, unprofessionalism and reckless exploitation of religion. and as usual, the hypocrisy of yours only heightens my disdain for religious types like you.

“The players treated him like a father, calling him ‘Dad’ or ‘Bubbly’, which apparently means ‘soft and cuddly’ in Urdu. Danish Kaneria, Younis Khan, Kamran Akmal and Asif Mahmood all telephoned me when Bob died. We called our garden ‘the prayer lawn’ after all the Pakistan side prayed before eating with us during their tour of South Africa earlier this year. "

I think that should be Azhar Mahmood

"Bob got on with Inzamam ul-Haq, whom he did not dislike, but there could be moods. Inzamam would not speak to him for a few days but then would be OK again"


"The captain had a presence about him when he walked into a room and the younger members of the side revered him and would tread on eggshells around him."


Mrs Woolmer also revealed she had not been keen for her husband to become Pakistan coach in the first place.

"Bob told me he would never coach another international side after finishing with Dr Ali Bacher and South Africa. I said to him, 'I cannot believe you are thinking of doing this'.


she further added:"He was not keeping a World Cup diary. I was aware Bob was planning to write an account of his time with Pakistan, but that was intended to be after he had finished coaching them.

"It is best if that book never appears now. If it is going to cause upset, it is not worth publishing."

the full article:http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cri...tan/6532405.stm

so inzi wasnt a down to earth, kind relegious angel,tht we thought of him,after all!

or tell me tht even bob's wife has started attacking pakistan as we are a muslim nation![;)]

She didnt mention 'beards' or 'religion' - you did...

ya ...but tht was because we hardly thought tht a pious and bearded inzi would show his moods and presence in the team..as it is very unlike a relegious person!

actually my point was tht, all tht crap tht was said about how relegion brought a unity,team spirit to this team was ******** when the reality is tht ,inzi was acting typically like any previous captain of pak would do!

inshort he was more of a "peer sahab" in the team rather thn a team man!

oh god ,when would we get out of all this "peeri muridi & relegious culture" and become a team where even a new commer calls his captain by his nick name & cracks jokes with him (i.e australian team where even nathen bracken calls ricky punter) but becomes a professional once the team takes the field!

we need no "so-called-jazba","ramzan","fake-inshallah's" to win worldcups ,if only we become professionals!

now come on call my post a blasphemy and delete it as soon as u can!;)

The vultures are circling.

Bakwaas - you arent Sarfraz in disguise are you?

i kinda agree with usher...there was a factioning in the side- maulvies vs moderates.... inzy was carryin this out....my guess is without even realising...maybe tableeghi jamaat influence

Are you saying its OK to doubt someone 'sincerity' e.g 'fake inshallahs' etc

You are a completely ignorant clown. Your hatred of religion is completely evident by your trashy anti-islamic posts and your hypocrisy only heightens my disdain for liberal secularists like you

I love my brother we have literally shared a room for 20 year now even though we have our own rooms. I said something to him day before yesterday and he hasn't said a word to me since than...this also happens with friends and family where if anything is said or done some of us get upset and don't say much.

My point is rather simple...how many of you never have arguements with your friends and family? What matters is Inzi got along fine when things were calm...unlike someone who had a go at Bob but some people forgot to highlight that part of the interview.

well.. religion seems to have certainly done a lot for your personality...

but I'll stay in my completely ignorant clown and therefore, liberal secularist skin. that way at least I won't go around blaming God for my failures, unprofessionalism and immaturity.

despite the funky spelling, this seems like a pretty accurate description of the state of the team...

S Akhtar would be missing him now.

havent u seen how he attacked poor pakistani media(who havent written anything major against pakistan either) in the press confrence just because an "oppurtunist" like him knew tht a "timely" death OF BOB has given him licence to kill!

did he ever look ashamed of losing to crappest team like ireland? and tht also at a point in time when he knew tht the match was do or die for him!

2 match hi har gaie thay na...!!!..all rite mr.inzi ..so those matches were just
two matches for u?

FEATHER there is a difference between being annoyed by some 1 as close as ur brother and on the other hand to some 1 like bob ,who was a complete stranger,was just doing his job,and just had professional relationship with inzi!

u know 1 can understand if some 1 get annoyed with other on personal matters,but at the same time, getting annoyed on professional matters is a serious thing!..especially with a person like inzi ..who, with his disability to speak english and having a laid back attitude ,would be the last 1 to get annoyed with bob on personal matters...infact i highly doubt it tht he would have ever talked to woolmer on non-cricketing issues

[MOD EDIT] - Please stop bashing Islam where its not an issue. Just discuss it in the same way everyone else is doing.

Unless you have proof that any player had been actively and forcibly trying to convert Bob Woolmer to Islam

Usher

When you live and work with someone for so long they cease to be a stranger to you. Bob was like Family to them and that is apparent from the way you see the guys laughing and bantering together. It is very normal for people to distance themselves after an argument.

People who have an axe to grind against Inzimam or the religious are always quick at jumping on general observations made by someone who may not have ever been in the dressing room.

Interesting read.

I won't read much into "Inzy not speaking to him for days". When you share dressing room these things are pretty much normal and not a big deal as they are made out to be.

I don't expect coach/ captain to agree on everything, everyone is entitled to have an opinion and if you find someone not agreeing with you, it's bound to give way to disappointment. Some can label that disappointment with plastic smile (euphemism for which is "professional attitude") some can't.

This somehow reminded me of last US presidential elections. They used to telecast live presidential debates involving John Kerry and George Bush. During those discussion Kerry was close to perfection as one could be. In his speeches, in his body language and in handling sensitive topics he was just perfect and diplomatic. However, George Bush was always full of emotions, whenever there was a disagreement he never hide his anger/ emotions. He smacked table, talked in high pitch and what not. He just acted what he was.

After a initial few rounds some people actually started wondering who the real Kerry is. They wondered whether what they see is real or there's something else which they can't see. This was not the case with Bush since he was always true as he was.

I won't dig more detail over this sensitive political topic, but just like to highlight that not everyone can handle pressure situation in same way. Personally I would prefer a person not talking to me if he disagrees than a person looking at whom I just can't make out what is going in his mind.

ok how about the fact tht woolmer himself was worried about all this "too much religious element" in the team and talked about it with his freind sharyar khan,who told him not to say anything about it as pakistan is a conservative and religious country?

and how about the fact tht sharyar admited himself tht woolmer wanted a bit of more authority on the team??

dint u already read tht ??..tell me y is tht when it comes to our own religion, most of us start pretending as a 2 year kid ,who,is more hell bent on thinking of reasons like "a fight on ludo" being the cause of inzi not speaking to woolmer for days ,rather thn blaming serious matters like sharyar pointed out?

(or tell me tht u still want me to paste a link to shayrar's column at cricinifo?)


besides ,had u ben observant thn u would noticed tht i was just talking about inzi in my last message,not the whole team!..i know for a fact tht "happy go lucky" kind of guys like younis,kamran,afridi can make an effort to joke with a foreigner even if they dont know his language very much ..but iam afraid tht can't be said about inzi!

also,points like being family members,father figure etc are formal things which came into being once woolmer died and once player had to give formal messages while condoling his death!

even if we ignore all wht bob's wife said for a while,we just cant simply ignore wht sharyar told us in his column, where he admitted tht woolmer did want to have a bit of more authority on the team which was difficult in the presence of inzi !

What do you mean by "religious type"?