One of Shane Warne’s last text messages proves how classy he was.
The sports world went into mourning over the weekend when news broke that cricketing royalty Warne had died after suffering a heart attack aged just 52.
Tributes poured in as fans, current players and former teammates paid tribute to the “King of Spin”.
A global megastar, Warney has well and truly transcended cricket and people were well aware of his benevolent nature away from sport too.
Since his death, a number of people have come forward to reveal startling stories about the great man – although this last one perhaps sums it up best.
Respected entertainment journalist Peter Ford says he shared “thousands of text messages” with Warney, despite never meeting him in person.
And it was his last text of the cricketing legend that really captures the kind of guy that Warne was.
“Friday afternoon I had one. He contacted me, he had read a tweet I had made about my dog dying and he contacted me and said: ‘ How are you?'” Ford told 2GB’s Ben Fordham.
“I received thousands of text messages from Warney”
showbiz guru @mrpford reveals his unorthodox relationship with late-night cricketing legend Shane Warne and the special message he was asked to pass on to Larry and Kylie. pic.twitter.com/e9HWVRk22q
– The morning show (@morningshowon7) March 6, 2022
“That’s why it became all the more impossible to believe when I heard this news in the middle of the night/in the early hours of Saturday morning.”
It’s no secret that the Australian icon was revered by sports fans around the world, although Warne’s love for cricket was overtaken by something much bigger in his life.
“He was always talking about his kids. Such pride in his kids,” Ford added.
Warnie sent me thousands of text messages. The content will forever be private but they were hysterically funny, many probably defamatory but a great insight into a very decent man. I’ll talk more about it across Australia and New Zealand tomorrow. There is also an interesting tag in the story!
-Peter Ford (@mrpford) March 6, 2022
“In fact, one of those messages said, ‘This is the best thing I’ve ever done in my life, it’s these three kids.
“I definitely got to know him in that rather peculiar way, he was a very decent guy who could be an idiot, a ratbag, a larrikin, all those things that we used. But I have no doubt that he was an absolutely decent guy.
“In those texts, one of the recurring themes whenever there was a new scandal or drama that he was involved in, he was like, ‘Peter, I just want the story to be told well, because I’m afraid it’s embarrassing for my children and my parents.
“It was always on his mind.”
