Ellyse Perry is a freak, and I mean that in the absolute nicest way possible. She has been representing Australia on the international stage in both cricket and football for more than 5 years, and she’s still only 21. When she’s not turning out for the Southern Stars or the Matilda’s, she also plays for Canberra United in the W-League. But that might not be that case for much longer.

Today the chief executive of Canberra United, Heather Reid, has come out and said that they have given Ellyse an ultimatum. Ditch cricket and ‘commit’ to the Canberra United, or find another team. I can understand Canberra United’s stance, they want Ellyse all to themselves, but an “ultimatum”, really? Surely its better to have her for part of the season than not at all.

But its really just this one quote that I simply don’t understand

Ellyse needs to choose whether she wants to be a full-time Canberra United player and commit to training every day like everyone else does.

Heather Reid
Canberra United chief executive

Um… First thought when I read it was that the comment was out of context or misquoted, but every news outlet seems to be including the same quote. So is Reid actually suggesting that Ellyse, who has been a dual international for the past 5+ years (and is also studying a degree in economics and social sciences) isn’t as committed to training as “everyone else”. Wow. In that case imagine what she could do if she was ‘committed’, maybe she could take up water polo too?

The decision is ultimately Ellyse’s to make, but it sounds like she wants to continue pursuing both. And can you blame her? Canberra United’s loss is someone else’s gain, if they don’t want her I’m sure one of the other 7 teams will gladly welcome her… as long as she doesn’t give up cricket.