There is much to the culture of sport, particularly Australian sport, to like. In many ways it is the heart of "mateship". To share a kick, to rehash the most recent match over a brew, to yell at the "telly" when the umpire rules against your club, and so on. For those fans so far removed from Australia, it is through our families, local clubs and organizations like AFANA that we participate in this.
There is also much not to like about the culture of Australian sport. A quick of the newspapers and other blogs will bring front and center the current scandals of the NRL's Canterbury and Melbourne clubs. If the allegations have a shread of truth to them, for some individuals and clubs non-consensual sex and violence are just what you do after a good night of footy. (I'll skip recanting the stories of where some rugby players place their fingers or the Kobe Bryant, Univ of Colorado, and English soccer affairs.)
In this writer's opinion none of this has any place in modern sport. Violence toward others is not to be tolerated or ignored. It's one thing to give an opposing player a hard shirtfront on the ground, it's entirely different one to force a woman to engage in sexual activity without consent. I hope that the legal authorities and the involved clubs and leagues take the appropriate action, including criminal prosecution where warranted, for the alleged behavior. If the AFL and it's member clubs are paying attention, they'll lay down some tough guidelines for their players and staff so the next story in the newspapers isn't one about the AFL.
If you are a parent as I am, talk to your children. Teach them not just how to play sport but how to behave on and off the field, and how to avoid situations that could turn dangerous, particularly for women. Practice what you preach by behaving appropriately yourself.
Several related commentaries we think are relevant to this are:
The Supermercado Project: When Sportsmen attack
Ubersportingpundit: What on Earth is going on?
Patrick Smith in the Australian
-Rob (who is disgusted and offended by all of this)
Related Blog Entries:
Naturally, I totally agree mate.
I'm dreading the day that a story similar to what we've heard in the NRL comes out in Victoria relating to an AFL club. Hopefully with common sense, it wont happen.
It's very interesting to read your thoughts on the AFL and the TV coverage. Keep up your great work with your blog, I'll be back.
Posted by: Luke at March 6, 2004 11:29 PMI'm with you on that, Luke. If the AFL has half a brain, they'll be passing the word down the line on this one to every club and every player. If they don't, it'll be just a matter of time.
Thanks for the words of support. Hope to see you again.
Posted by: Rob de Santos at March 6, 2004 11:47 PMYes mate, I'll be checking your blog frequently, don't worry about that. I like your content here, it's excellent.
Heard on the news today about an AFL star in a "drunken incident" or something? Not sure if you've heard what's going on there? Guess I'll find out on tonight's news!
Posted by: Luke at March 8, 2004 01:01 AMGuess I don't have to wonder much more about what would happen if similar developments hit the AFL scene, with a spate of ugly news headlines splashed across the newspapers concerning the AFL and several different sex scandals. As I said in my last post, I was dreading the day this happened, but I guess it was just a matter of time, sadly.
Posted by: Luke at March 19, 2004 04:17 PMAnd unfortunately when networks show totally inappropriate s*xual commercials, while they may not be condoning such behavior, it seems to me that they are at least contributing to the negative effects of sports and connecting sports=unrestrained s+x in peoples' minds. Two terrible examples being FSW's showing of the Girls Gone Wild/We're 18 girls commercial (which caused me to switch off last year's Grand Final) and the recent Brumbies game where they showed the same commercials right after the halftime break.
And the recent Canterbury Bulldogs problems have caused my son and I to tentatively switch allegiance from them to the Broncos. We have talked about it, and agreed that if they did what they're accused of, they're not worth our support. Gordon Tallis may be a lot of things, but he's never (that I know of) been accused of this.
It strikes me that one good thing about ESPN coverage of this year's Grand Final, if it happens, is that we may have a chance of no inappropriate commercials. At least, maybe they'll listen to fans asking them not to show them. Who knows, it's worth a shot - FSW certainly doesn't seem to be listening.
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Posted by: Gary Bisaga at March 24, 2004 12:28 PM