\u201cBut to be perfectly honest if it was that many, how the hell would I know.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do know the exercise was initiated by Terry Alderman, and he was the one that initially gathered information and was in charge of the whole thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen my mate \u2026 Geoffrey Robert \u2026 egged me on \u2026 I had drinking partners throughout.<\/p>\n
\u201cTerry didn\u2019t drop out that many before I managed to do whatever it was.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut mate I\u2019ve got to be brutally honest here, I won\u2019t deny it happened. We all do stupid things in our lives and I\u2019ll finish by just being serious.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have fun, you do something and then you think \u2018Shit, what about the ramifications to everything else\u2019, to your family, to your children.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
David Boon is now an ICC match referee and chair of Cricket Tasmania.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cIt caused some crap over the years, and it\u2019s something that I regret a lot. Can\u2019t deny it but I do regret it. And I was stupid to be able to do that when you\u2019re in the public eye.\u201d<\/p>\n Airborne beer-drinking records were a long-celebrated part of the \u201clarrikin\u201d culture of the Australian team.<\/p>\n Countless books and sportsman\u2019s nights have heard about how Doug Walters drank 44 cans of lager on a flight from Sydney to London\u2019s Heathrow Airport in 1977.<\/p>\n According to the reported folklore, the team\u2019s long-serving wicket-keeper, the late Rod Marsh, served as Walters\u2019 \u201cpacemaker\u201d on that flight and believed he had matched his teammate \u201ccan for can\u201d.<\/p>\n David Boon batting for Tasmania during his playing days.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Ken Irwin<\/cite><\/p>\n When the team flew to London for the 1983 World Cup, Marsh set his sights on claiming the record outright.<\/p>\n His great mate, legendary fast bowler Dennis Lillee, dedicated an entire chapter of his autobiography Lillee: Over and Out<\/em> to Marsh\u2019s record attempt.<\/p>\n Lillee detailed how the team appointed separate pacemakers to chaperone Marsh and keep his tally through each leg of the flight from Sydney to London, with stopovers in Singapore and Bahrain.<\/p>\n \u201cThe other passengers were urging him on and his teammates were behind him to a man. Even the [plane\u2019s] captain chimed in with an announcement that not only was the flight on schedule but so, too, was Australia\u2019s vice-captain Rodney Marsh, who was attempting to break a world drinking record,\u201d Lilllee wrote.<\/p>\n With the plane descending towards Heathrow, Lillee recalled Marsh struggling to polish off the record-breaking 45th can.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t make it,\u201d Marsh reportedly told his teammates.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Bullshit,\u2019 we chorused. This challenge had by now assumed almost the significance of winning the Ashes series. There would be no capitulation,\u201d Lillee wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cWe tilted Rodney\u2019s head back and literally force-fed him. He gurgled, he gasped and he groaned. But, by God, he drank it.\u201d<\/p>\n In more recent times, the team has toned down its drinking culture, at least publicly.<\/p>\n Carlton & United Breweries pulled up stumps on its 20-year sponsorship of the Australian cricket team in 2017, and the VB logo no longer adorns Australian playing shirts.<\/p>\n Last month\u2019s World Cup final between Australia and India was played in the Indian state of Gujurat \u2013 home of the prime minister Narendra Modi \u2013 where alcohol is illegal. However, foreigners are able to obtain it with a permit, which some of the Australian squad did before the game preparing for their post-match celebrations or commiserations.<\/p>\n Despite some social media posts that suggested members of the team celebrated their win with vigour, they were careful to avoid posting images that showed alcohol.<\/p>\n Last year, captain Pat Cummins was praised \u2013 and criticised by some \u2013 for insisting the team temper the use of alcohol in its celebrations so that Muslim teammate Usman Khawaja could share the victory dais with them after their home Ashes win.<\/p>\n Despite his regret over his actions on the 1989 flight, Boon has featured in promotions for Victoria Bitter, including a TV ad in 2005. Around the same time, VB\u2019s parent company Foster\u2019s ran a \u201cBoonie\u201d figurine promotion, which it later apologised for because it glorified binge-drinking.<\/p>\n Boon retired from international cricket in 1996 but has not been lost to the sport since then. Now 62, he was an Australian selector from 2000-11 and is an ICC match referee. He has also held a variety of roles for Cricket Tasmania, and is currently the chair.<\/p>\n News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. <\/i><\/b>Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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