One side-splitting moment made crowd lose it at Shane Warne’s memorial
Amid feelings of joy and teary despair, there was one moment at Shane Warne’s memorial service that saw the crowd erupt with laughter, per news.com.au.
A panel of Warnie’s good friends - including former St Kilda player Aaron Hamill - were asked about his fashion choices, including the Peaky Blinders inspired hats he had been wearing in recent years.
Hamill explained how the late cricketer’s love of old school hats led to him making an unusual request.
“[Shane] said, ‘I’ve got this great idea’, as he always did,” Hamill recalled.
Warne decided to email the producers of Peaky Blinders, which follows a family of gangsters in 1900s England, to say that he was a keen fan of the show and ask if he could be on it.
“So he did that and he rang me back and said, ‘I got the email back’,” Hamill continued. “I said, ‘Please, read it out to me’.
“‘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. Thank you very much.’”
With many fans likely picturing Warne’s great big smile in their minds, they burst out laughing.
“But that’s what he was like,” Hamill said. “He was ambitious. He was driven. He wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
The panel, hosted by Andy Lee, attracted the most laughs the whole night, which saw more than 55,000 gather at the MCG while a billion people watched it from around the world.
“He would be gobsmacked by this,” footy great Sam Newman said of the memorial while he appeared on the panel alongside cricketer Dimitri Mascarenhas, and comedian and actor Glenn Robbins.
“I’ll tell you what, I’m finding it hard to get over, the United Nations are a part of this.
“I thought, ‘that is extraordinary. He’s actually infiltrated the United Nations and they are here. That is staggering.’”
A United Nations representative spoke earlier in the service of Warne’s involvement with a wildlife conservation initiative called The Lion’s Share. They also announced a new “Shane Warne conservation grant” to “memorialise his service and catalyse more action”.
As much as there were laughs during the night, there were also plenty of tears and spine-tingling moments.
MC Eddie McGuire read out a letter written by Warne’s brother Jason 30 years ago, in which he predicted the legacy Warne would leave behind.
“Now is the time to put everything, and I mean everything, into it and make it work for you,” the letter said.
“So, come on, make some more sacrifices and give people the opportunity in 20 years’ time to say ‘Remember Shane Warne. We’ll never get another leggie like him. He was the best spinner Australia ever had’.”
Warne’s three children - Summer, Jackson and Brooke - also spoke about their love for their dad and how much they missed him, and fans could be seen wiping away tears.
“It has been exactly 26 days since you went to heaven and I miss you more than anything in the whole world,” Summer said, as the first of the three to speak to the crowd.
“I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that you won’t be able to walk me down the aisle on my special day. You’re not going to meet your grandchildren that you’re going to have someday, but instead you will be someone I will tell my kids about and how much of an amazing father you were to me. How good of a grandfather you would have made and how they would have loved and adored you just like I do.”
The tears were later replaced by cheers as the siblings unveiled the Shane Warne Stand for the first time.
Image: Getty Images