by John Atchison

Created on: March 11, 2010

Does anyone else think that an invention can be both one of the greatest as well as worst things ever invented?  Many might file the cell phone camera into this particular category.  It can be great for getting that one time shot when you forgot to tote along your camera to an outing.  It can also be the worst if used in the wrong circumstance.  Such is the plight of Lara Bingle, Australian supermodel and fiancée or perhaps not, of national cricket team co-captain Michael Clarke.  In the United States, this type of story would probably be on the back page of the style section, but in Australia where cricket is as big a sport as the National Football League is in this country; it is a big time scandal.  What is this uproar all being caused by you say?  You guessed it, a cell phone photo.

Break ups can be one of the hardest things to endure for some folks and that seems to be where this whole thing gets started.  According to the magazine Womans Day, It seems as though before Miss Bingle became the princess of the ball and the future wife of the star Australian cricket player Clarke, she had a very brief fling with an Australian Football League player by the name of Brendan Fevola.  During their rather brief period together, it appears the aforementioned Fevola pulled out the old cell phone clicker and snapped off a shot of the model sans clothing in a bit of a shower scene.  That is obviously one of those pictures that the boyfriend likes to take and keep for occasionally viewing.  Alas, that's of course why he is the flavor of the month.  After that it appears all bets were off.  The important thing to remember though is that this was three years ago when he took the pic!

Fast forward to March of this year and Womans Day uncovering (pardon the pun) this story.  It appears as though Mr. Fevola, for reasons unknown, kept the picture and decided that this would be a wonderful time to forward the snappy snapshot to cronies both in the AFL as well as cricket team members.  Was it because she was now super famous and about to marry the future captain of the Australian cricket team?  Perhaps a wee bit of the little green envy/jealousy bug?  One cannot really know without directly talking to the source but that speculation is out there.

Since the release of the story things have only gotten worse for all parties involved.  For Bingle it has caused a halt in her career aspirations as all of this is being sorted out.  It is also being reported that the couple is also now on the outs as a result of this and other things.  Brendan Fevola is now being warned by powerful friends of Bingle to stop forwarding the message in question, including Kings Cross nightclub owner John Ibrahim.  As for the golden boy of the cricket world Mr Clarke, he has not only lost a fiancée, but as well had his future captaincy of the national cricket team called into question until this whole shady story has run it’s course.  In fact he even had to leave the club at one point to come back home and try to handle matters related to it.

The moral of the story.  Lock the door when you go to take a shower and whatever you do, before you breakup with someone, snatch that phone and make sure to delete anything incriminating first.

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