Shane Martin a former State cricketer (much the junior to Justice Lovell) had been convicted of the theft of stealing $50,000 from his former employer, South Australian Farmers Fuel, where he worked as a Group Manager.
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,27574,25919757-2682,00.html
David Lovell decided that he could not be impartial in the sentencing of his state cricketing compatriot, and with integrity, he stood aside. Both Martin and his lawyer stated it was a matter for the Judge alone to decide.
Former Australian Cricket Team chaplain and Baptist minister Mark Tronson says: "This illustrates that first class cricket has a nature of its own. Like a huge family, when someone gets into trouble, there are many hands to help them climb back up."
"Judge David Lovell's decision to step aside from the sentencing process of his fellow State cricketer illustrates just one of the many 'hard places' that retired cricketers, or indeed former professionals of any field, find themselves," M V Tronson noted.
Where retired cricketers or former professionals find themselves in difficult circumstances such as this illustration above, a network of former colleagues can often help them discuss the moral integrity of a situation.
Mark Tronson's ministry 'Life After Cricket' was initiated at the end of 2000 when he moved sideways from the Australian cricket team chaplaincy after 17 years, in order to minister to those who had retired.
In these past nine years, Tronson says, there have been numerous occasions where retired cricketers have discussed a range of 'pastoral' issues with him – in that 'pastoral' includes matters of morality, integrity, anxiety, stress, relationships, directions, the future, the heart, children, spiritual (and many others).
The annual Festival of Cricket held in Bowral has also been ideal to allow former colleagues to compare notes; as has the 'Respite' visits to the Australian Institute of Sport's 'Cricket Centre of Excellence' in Brisbane where retired cricketers are on coaching duties.
As part of the athlete respite offered by Well-Being Australia at 'Basil Sellers Tweed', facilities at the 'Domain Resort' of the Surfing Australia's High Performance Centre at Casaurina on the north coast of New South Wales, was made available to the cricketing fraternity.
"It is in such pastoral circumstances, in the stillness of the oasis of private discussion, that the underlying issues of life come to the fore," M V Tronson noted.
As Tom Hafey, the famous Sydney Swans AFL coach, said on the ABC's Sports Grandstand program during the 1990's, "I said to my players, if you ask the chaplain a question, you might get a good answer."