Candice Warner “We paid the ultimate price”
She was a champion ironwoman who married Australia’s most divisive cricketer, now branded a cheat. Candice Warner tells Lizzie Wilson about past mistakes and how, just when she thought she’d hit rock bottom, life sent another blow.
Stripped bare, broken, humiliated, Candice Warner stares at the big screen and doubts there could be a more gut-wrenchingly low point in her life. It was March 10, and before a sell-out crowd of 19,000 and a global TV audience of millions, the former ironwoman champion and wife of Australian cricketer Dave Warner felt her knees buckle, terrified she might collapse.
Live coverage from day one of the second Test between Australia and
South Africa in Port Elizabeth had shifted its focus to a rowdy bunch of fans wearing masks of New Zealand rugby legend, Sonny Bill Williams. For the heartless pranksters, it was just a cheap shot, a bit of fun. Normally resilient, the mum-of-two didn’t see the funny side. Candice describes the moment when she crumbled, crushed by their cruel attempt to publicly disgrace her for that infamous bathroom encounter with Williams back in 2007. “I felt like a dirty, horrible person – it was like I cracked in half. It was a deliberate and very personal attack and I felt so ashamed of my past. People were staring and pointing at me, but I had to put on a brave face for our girls.
“I was completely exposed. I’d become an unwanted distraction. I saw myself on the big screen, the victim of a sick prank, and without notice, rock bottom hit me like a brick. Nothing could have prepared me for what was about to happen.”
In this exclusive and often intimate interview, Candice, 33, speaks openly about the moment she learnt of the infamous ball-tampering incident, about what really went on behind the scenes, and for the first time, she reveals her heartbreaking news: that the Warners suffered a tragic miscarriage in the aftermath of cricket’s cheating scandal.
“I don’t think either of us realised how much we longed for this baby. We had been trying since last July and I did a test when we first got to Cape Town. I’ve had robust pregnancies with both our girls, and the timing was perfect – Ivy Mae is three and Indi Rae just turned two – we were over the moon.”
What came next no one saw coming – least of all Candice. Her rock, the father of her children, the man who serves and protects her every day, was about to bring the very game he loves and lives for into the deepest disrepute. Shockingly, the already polarising, hard-hitting cricketer was about to become one of the most hated men in Australian sport. Pinned as the chief instigator in the ball-tampering scandal, Warner and his two co-conspirators, disgraced captain Steve Smith and budding rookie Cameron Bancroft, were all sent packing.
“I was feeling so happy that day,” Candice remembers. “I hoped the terrible stuff was behind us. We love Cape Town and it’s where Dave proposed to me in 2014. I was
beginning to feel that first stage of being pregnant – the subtle changes to my body were kicking in. We couldn’t contain ourselves. We were so overwhelmed, knowing another little Warner was on the way.
“I was watching the cricket on the TV and the girls were waking up from their nap. I was getting them ready to go to the afternoon session and out of the corner of my eye on the screen I could see something going on. That was the first I knew of the ball tampering. I sat slumped on the bed and wondered if I could take any more – I’d had enough.”
Looking back, Candice couldn’t help feeling the tour was cursed from the get-go. “That attack during the first test in Durban when Quinton [de Kock] called me [terrible, shameful] names – I should’ve known it wasn’t going to end well. We are the epicentre of Dave’s existence, so, if you come after me, you have to expect he will crack,” Candice says.
The taunting, the public humiliation of Candice, was designed to undermine Dave’s performance, and it may have added a sense of urgency to the Australian team’s desire to win.
“I was raised much like Dave, to cop it on the chin,” she says, “but there’s no denying I was a target right from the start of the tour and I’d have to be bulletproof for the taunting not to have affected me. It rocked my very foundation and I paid the ultimate price, losing our baby. It was the final blow. I wonder how all those who came after me feel now?”
Both Dave and Candice agreed whatever came from the ball-tampering scandal, regardless of the punishment, he was to tell the truth, and no matter the outcome, they made a pact they’d do everything to protect their little girls.
Candice now knows the whole story – every gritty detail of the scandal that brought Australian cricket to its knees for now remains “in the vault”. She chooses her words carefully, resolute and measured, and will only say that, when the details of what really went on behind those heavily guarded doors are made public, no one will be surprised.
“When we found out we were being sent home, Dave insisted on returning on the same flight as his two teammates, to stand united and cop the brunt of their punishment together. Instead, they sent each player home on a separate route. It was very strategic, and I knew the writing was on the wall when we got the longest and toughest route. No one knew I was pregnant and Dave did everything to get me home safely, fearing any more strain could affect our unborn child. I was a complete mess.
“I don’t do fragile, but I was in a bad state. We were criticised for bringing our girls through that media scrum at the airport, but we’d been assured that was a private exit and we’d managed to leave quietly, with no fanfare, from Johannesburg. I was completely gutted when I saw the media – especially after 23 hours flying, knowing the world had no idea I was carrying our third child.
“When I wept uncontrollably at Dave’s press conference, I was called out by the trolls for sitting with my friend Roxy with the suggestion it was a PR stunt [Roxy Jacenko runs a high-profile public relations agency]. Those sobs came from a deep place. Watching my husband, a broken man, tore me apart.”
Candice believed that this was rock bottom – life for the Warners couldn’t get any worse – but she was wrong.
“A week after the press conference,” she remembers, “I woke up feeling pretty ordinary. I called Dave to the bathroom and told him I was bleeding. We knew I was miscarrying and we held one another and cried.
“The miscarriage was a tragic consequence, a heartbreaking end to a horror tour. Like so many families who’ve experienced miscarriage, it’s just really sad. The ordeal from the public humiliations to the ball tampering, had taken its toll and, from that moment, we decided no sport, nothing will impact our lives like that again,” she says.
“At the time, I felt like I had let us down – that my body had let us down – but I’ve come a long way since then. I’m a very spiritual person and I truly believe it wasn’t their time to be with us. Despite our terrible loss, I do know without any doubt that my calling in life is to be a mum.”
Since she was a little girl, the champion ironwoman has always put family first. Candice Ann Falzon was born on March 13, 1985, to Kerry, a western Sydney local, and dad Michael, born in Australia to Maltese immigrants. She has two older brothers, Pat and Tim, whom she adores. The Falzon family have spent much of their lives in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra where, as a youngster, Candice fell for her first love, the beach. In stark contrast, a year later, a young nuggetty lad by the name of David Andrew Warner was born and grew up at the tough end of town in the working-class suburb of neighbouring Matraville. Neither could have predicted that, years later, they would meet, fall in love, get married and start a family.
“Dave and I could not have had more contrasting lives, yet we share similar values. My mum is my biggest support and Dad – we call him Mickey – has always been a hard worker. He’s 74 and works for the local council. He’ll never retire and he trains every morning at Maroubra Surf Club. They’ve backed me throughout my professional sports career and continue to be there for us.
“The first time I met Dave, through a mutual friend, to be honest, I thought he was a bit of a tosser. A couple of years later, in 2013, I saw a documentary about him in India, and I thought, this is a very different Dave Warner. We married in April 2015 and that decision, despite some shockers I’ve made over the years, will remain one of my best.
“My father was always a provider, our protector, and Dave and my dad are similar. My parents were with us when it went down in South Africa, they stood proudly at my side throughout the Sonny Bill ordeal and have been there for us through the miscarriage. I finally received a weak apology from Cricket South Africa – I realised they’re the ones to feel ashamed, not me.
“I’d like to extend that apology to Sonny Bill. He’s a husband and father, so imagine how his wife would feel – and his kids. It’s been 11 years since that happened, it’s time to put it to rest and get on with things that matter,” she says.
Back home and the Warners remain true to their word – they’ve copped the punishment and are utilising their time on the bench to reflect on the past and look ahead for what might be next.
“When it first happened, there was this terrible fear of the unknown. Dave has lost all his sponsorship deals but I’m confident that, as time heals, he will earn back the respect of everyone …There’s been more criticism that the WAGS [wives and girlfriends] should not be allowed to tour in future. I don’t agree. I think Dave plays best and is at his best on and off the field when his family is around. This was just a very ugly tour and you’d hope a one-off.
“He’s been doing a lot of soulsearching during this period, before he decides what’s next. He just returned from a life-changing trip up in Arnhem Land, where he worked with locals on community projects ... just Dave the top bloke.
“He loves being home and the girls adore their time with him. We’re living with my parents while we build our new home. We want our girls to have a childhood like mine, with nippers and beach in a good, solid, working-class neighbourhood with locals who continue to be welcoming and kind to us. They know their daddy has been naughty. They also know, when you do something wrong, you accept the punishment.”
Dave Warner is currently serving a 12-month ban for his role in the ball-tampering scandal. After weighing up his options, he decided not to challenge the ban and according to a former teammate, his fierce loyalty likely put a stop to that.
“He didn’t appeal for fear he might implicate some of his mates who were involved but not named,” the teammate explains. “There’s a strong feeling in the cricket world that the entire team and head coach and coaching staff were in on it. Dave would never ‘dob’ on his mates – that’s just who he is.”
There’s no telling whether Dave Warner will ever play test cricket for Australia again but Candice has a hunch he will be back.
“There’s a burning desire to wear that baggy green again. To earn back the respect of the Australian public is top of his game plan. Dave loves coach Justin Langer and believes he’s the man to sweep out the debris and inject new confidence into the team. Dave will want to be a part of that transformation.
“This could be one of the great blessings in disguise – what’s happened to us. With his girls at his side, I know he can do anything. I was asked recently if I love cricket. I answered, ‘no, I don’t, but I love Dave’.”
The Weekly has made a donation on Candice’s behalf to the Dolly Everett Foundation, Dolly’s Dream. “I was touched by Dolly’s story,” says Candice, “and felt saddened for her family. I know first-hand how devastating bullying can be.”
“He’s been doing a lot of soul-searching during this period.”