72 The Australian Women’s Weekly | JUNE 2018
Exclusive
THIS PAGE: GETTY IMAGES. OPPOSITE PAGE: PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALANA LANDSBERRY.beginning to feel that irst 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 irst 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 irst
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 bullet-
proof 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 inal 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 light 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 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 irst. 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 irst 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. →
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 lying, 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-proile
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.The Warners were
accused of parading
their children through
the media pack on
their return to Sydney.
RIGHT: Dave’s emotional
press conference.