From Sir Elton to the UN: Top five moments from Shane Warne’s memorial
“Warnie would have loved it,” was the common refrain after spin king Shane Warne’s state memorial service at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday night.
Wednesday’s state memorial service, the first ever at the MCG, was celebrated as a success.Credit:Eddie Jim
It featured panel discussions among friends and teammates, live and recorded musical performances by international stars and emotional speeches by the cricket great’s father, brother and three children. Here are five memorable moments from the 2½ hour service.
Warne’s Peaky Blinders audition
Four of Warne’s close friends took the stage towards the end of the night with a series of tales that lifted spirits at the MCG.
Over the past two years, Warne had taken to wearing a flat cap, similar to the style worn by the Shelby family in Peaky Blinders, set in 1930s England.
Aaron Hamill, former AFL player with St Kilda and Carlton, joked that the flat cap style was horrendous but “there’s not too many who could get away with it, let’s be honest”.
Hamill revealed Warne took it further than a fashion statement as he hunted down contact details for the producers of Peaky Blinders.
“He got the email of the producer up there and off he sent the email, ‘look I’d love to be part of your show, I’m a keen viewer’.
“So, he did all that then he rang back, he goes ‘mate, I got the email back’. I said can you read it out for me? Please, because I’m intrigued,” Hamill recalled.
Warne became fond of wearing a Thomas Shelby-style flat cap over the past two years.
“[The producer] goes ‘Dear Shane, thanks very much, we love your enthusiasm. But unfortunately porcelain veneers weren’t around in Birmingham in 1931. But we love your support, so thanks very much’.
“But that’s what he was like, he was ambitious, he was driven, and he wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
Daughter Summer’s moving speech
Warne’s children Summer, Jackson and Brooke delivered emotional speeches that struck the balance between poignant and amusing.
Summer, the youngest, encapsulated the many sides of her father’s personality in her four minutes at the microphone. She started by saying he had saved her life.
“When I was struggling and I didn’t know how to go on with life because I was dealing with my own demons, he showed me how to fall in love with life again,” the 20-year-old said through tears.
“He told me that I could either live with these demons or fight them and come out the other end stronger because you believed in me, and that was all I needed.
“You saved me, Dad. You truly did.”
After the trio walked on stage to the Bryan Adams song Summer of ’69, Summer gave a vivid recount of the final time she saw her father; two days before he flew to Thailand where he died from a heart attack, aged 52.
“You were coming to pick up your bag you needed for Thailand. As I opened the door, you came inside and had your car door wide open, blaring that song [Summer of ’69],” she said.
“You started dancing and singing … with a smile that lit up the whole room. We started dancing with not a care in the world and both started laughing at each other.”
‘He wrote me letters to ask how I was’
Wurundjeri man Alex Kerr helped launch proceedings with a Welcome to Country. But he set the tone of a deeply personal night with an unexpected story of meeting Warne at an MCG Test as an eight-year-old.
The leg-spinner went out to bat during an Australian batting collapse and came walking back to the dressing room – and past Kerr – after being dismissed just minutes later.
“What happened when he got back was just amazing. It was dead silent. As Warnie walked up the race, I stood up on my chair and within earshot I said, ‘well batted, Warnie’. The crowd giggled. Warnie came up to me, rubbed my hair and said ‘cheers little man’.”
Warne returned to Kerr’s seat 10 minutes later.
“He asked ‘how would you like to spend the rest of the day with the team?’ Of course I said yes,” Kerr continued.
“That was an experience I’ll never forget. But that wasn’t the best part. For the next two years, Warne would write me letters for nothing other than just to see how I was going.
“This man was an outright rock star, so for him to do that just goes to show no matter who you are and no matter what you’ve achieved in your life, it’s important to always stay humble and care for everyone.
“This is a life lesson I’ve carried ever since that moment.”
Elton John’s dedication from Los Angeles
Sir Elton John’s Los Angeles crowd must have been utterly bemused when the superstar performer started to speak about Shane Warne, “probably one of the greatest sportsmen ever, and certainly one of the most amazing Australian cricketers of all time”. Or, given Warne’s star power, perhaps it all made sense the American music lovers.
“It’s a sad day today, but it’s not in some other ways because his legacy lives on. And he will live on through future generations because he was mesmerising, he was brilliant, and he loved to play cricket. And he loved life,” Sir Elton told the audience.
Seated in front of a grand piano and wearing a harlequin jacket, he dedicated a rendition of the aptly titled Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me to Warne’s children. A photo montage of Sir Elton and Warne together adorned the big screen in Los Angeles.
They became friends when Warne was in a relationship with former partner Liz Hurley.
Wednesday’s service also featured pre-recorded dedications by Ed Sheeran, Robbie Williams and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, who sang Yellow from the fringes of a Central American jungle.
Shane Warne, United Nations sponsor
Perhaps most unexpected was an appearance by Andrea Egan from the United Nations Development Program.
She revealed that Warne had joined the UN’s wildlife fund, Lion’s Share, last year as part of a wish to “rewrite the future and protect animals and their habitat”.
Ms Egan announced the creation of Shane Warne conservation grants, saying the UN body would “work to honour his memory in a manner that does justice to the person he was”.
“The last time I spoke with [Warne], he expressed his passion for our work, his connections to Sri Lanka and desire to be something bigger than him. He was a man of his word. He was generous. He used his fame to lean into the cause at this most pivotal time for the planet,” Egan told the MCG crowd.
“His legacy extends beyond the hearts of people today. It lives on in the people of Sri Lanka, promoting sea conservation in an anti-poaching unit and the team of the Byron Bay hospital who were supported in the wake of the bushfires. All this work and more Shane helped to make possible.”
TV personality and friend of Warne, Sam Newman, wasn’t alone in asking: “What can’t the man do?”
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