The backlash was immediate. As the waves of online abuse turned into a tsunami, I was in tears before breakfast. By lunchtime, I was physically afraid to go outside. Cyber-bullying is like that. The anonymity makes you paranoid and fearful because you don't know who your abusers are.

Seeing how shaken I was, some suggested I turn off my computer for a few days and wait for it all to die down. As a website publisher however, the online world is my workplace so I don't have the luxury of walking away.

The responses fell into a few categories, including many who agreed with me and many who politely didn't. But the overwhelming majority hurled outright abuse. I was called every name you can think of - bitch, dog, skank, mole, idiot, loser, cow, slut - and many you can't. Hundreds and hundreds of times. They denigrated my parents, my children, my appearance, my voice, my weight, my religion … it was endless and still hasn't stopped.

My point was simply this: why do we place such a disproportionate emphasis on sporting achievement in Australia? Why doesn't success in other fields receive similar attention? And what about the kids who don't like playing sport or even watching it? The ones whose dreams, ambitions and interests lie in other areas? Where are their national heroes? Sport has never been a big part of my life. My family love it but I watch a bit of the Olympics and that's about it. I don't barrack for a team. I don't follow a code. The sporting victory of an individual or group has no particular impact on my life. Apparently though, this makes me un-Australian, an insult hurled at me endlessly on Twitter, Facebook and talkback radio.

The correlation between sport and national identity was highlighted to me last week. Loudly. But are you intrinsically more Australian because you love cricket or cycling or swimming? Nobody told me it was a prerequisite of citizenship (I thought it preposterous to have questions about Don Bradman as part of the test for new migrants). Nor did I realise it was a competition - who can be the most Aussie. I didn't even realise it was something you could measure. I thought you just were Australian. The end.