News and magazine articles regarding Wayne Carey seem to be popping up in the news media at an ever increasing rate these days. No matter what you might think of the guy, his name must still be good for selling a lot of newspapers and magazines. As Wayne is my cousin I do have a personal interest. Some of the stories may be true, some are full of unfounded or unproven accusations, some are just plain untrue.
Yes, Wayne did come from a broken home. Yes there are still tensions between the family members. Some of his siblings are closer to their mother, some are closer to their father. The latest news stories and the upcoming Andrew Denton interview on ABC TV, try to illicit opinions from “close” family members. Of course, what the interviewers seem to ignore, is that siblings closer to his mother, Lynette, would be expected to put Kevin down. On the other side of the coin, those close to Kevin, would be expected to side with him. This is hardly news.
Some of the latest stories from the past few days revolve around Wayne’s father, my Uncle Kevin. It seems that a journalist happened to come across Kevin while he was in a pub with his mates. To me this hardly seems to be a crime. When I am 67 I hope to be able to spend some time doing the same.
As often happens in such situations, after a few beers, he was quite vocal and freely gave his opinion of the whole Wayne saga and some of his other family members to boot. He stated that he is proud of his son but that lately Wayne has been acting like an idiot and a dickhead. I’m sure that most familiar with recent events would agree with that sentiment. He probably had a lot more to say on a lot of other matters too, but the journo’s would, of course, select just a few choice comments to build a story around.
Kevin Carey is no saint and he will tell you that himself. He does have a criminal history of minor offences. He will not deny it. He has been tried and convicted, he served his time. He has always enjoyed having a drink. He is a former boxer and footballer. He’s a larrikin by nature. When he gives you his word, you can be sure he means it. He is a tough character, it’s the way he grew up, it’s just the way he is. He tells it like it is, often in colourful language. Even more colourful after a few beers with his mates.
He raised his three youngest children. When the family was first seperated, Lynnette moved to Adelaide with 4 of their 5 children, the oldest son remained in Wagga Wagga, NSW. Wayne was 6 years old at the time. Later, the three younger children Karen, Wayne and Sammy were returned to their father because they wanted to be with him. Wayne’s football career began in Wagga, representing his region and state several times at the junior level. Around the age of 14, he returned to Adelaide to play football.
I have seen these simple facts stated incorrectly so many times in news stories that I have to question the depth of the research actually being done by the journalists. I have seen claims from people who supposedly knew Wayne when he was a 10 year old boy living in homeless shelters with his mother in Adelaide. It’s a nice story, too bad it isn’t true. Wayne was in Wagga Wagga with his father at the time. If his mother was still homeless after 3 years in Adelaide, it’s no wonder he wanted to be with his father. In todays news, the claim has been made that Kevin moved to Adelaide with the children when the family first seperated. Wrong again. It was many years later that he moved to Adelaide.
If the journo’s can’t get these simple facts right, it raises questions about the quality of the reporting. The saga has been dragging on so long it hardly seems newsworthy anymore. It’s certainly not new. There has to be a certain amount of dramatising, of sensationalising or the public is going to lose interest. The media is out to make some money, and the name Wayne Carey is obviously still selling newspapers.
