Manly Eagles Angels have been ‘useful idiots.’
Columnist
By Spiro Zavos, 13 Mar 2009 Spiro Zavos is a Roar Expert
- Tagged:
- Brett Stewart, Eagles Angels, Manly, NRL, Rugby League
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When the Brett Stewart affair blasted its way on to the radio airwaves, the television screens and the newspaper front and back pages, the immediate reaction was what did the self-styled Eagles Angels, a group of prominent women in Sydney, make of it all.
The Angels include Johanna Griggs, Sarah Murdoch (who is often photographed in a Manly jersey), Louise Sauvage, Layne Beachley, Brooke Hanson, Melinda Gainsford-Taylor, triathlete Nici Andronicus, and Wendy Harmer, the no-nonsense comedian.
Many of the Angels are mothers.
All of them, one would guess, have come up against objectionable male macho behaviour in their private and public lives. All of them, too, have passion for rugby league generally and the Manly club in particular.
Their Angels support group for the club reflects that passion and also a PR attempt to match the ‘soccer mum’ syndrome that has helped football to spread throughout the suburbs of Sydney.
The day the Stewart affair broke in the Sydney Morning Herald, Jacquelin Magnay, an award-winning sports writer, ran an article which was headlined: Angels give their vote of support.
The vote of support, amazingly, was for Stewart and not the teenager who was allegedly harassed by the Manly star.
Harmer was quoted as saying that many of the Angels would be very pleased to provide a reference for Stewart: “On a personal basis, we have found him very respectful, well-mannered and a humble person.”
My wife (who was a founder of the Women’s Electoral Lobby in New Zealand) could not believe this statement when she read it: “Where is the concern for the young women in all of this?”, she asked.
Magnay also reported that many of the Angels were too distressed about the allegation to comment.
Again, the emphasis seemed to be on protecting Stewart rather than showing even a shred of solidarity or concern for a teenager who was put through an experience that the Angels would surely not wish any of their daughters to have to go through.
Even after Stewart was charged by the police, we are still waiting for the Eagles Angels to express their outrage at what has happened to the teenager.
For that matter, we are waiting still for them to apologise to the young woman whose father (a Manly sponsor) was hit by Anthony Watmough when he tried to stop the player from pestering his daughter at the now infamous Manly 2009 season launch.
Lenin knew a thing or two about propaganda and he used the phrase the ‘useful idiots’ to describe true believers who were prepared to put the cause ahead of the any other consideration.
The Eagles Angels have been ‘useful idiots’ for the Manly Eagles club.They had stood by their man, Stewart, despite the allegations and the court charge.
Their credibility is destroyed.
Their reason for existing, which was to show how women-friendly the rugby league code really is, has been destroyed. Their judgment is appalling.
How they could defend Stewart, before the facts of the matter had been established and later by their silence after he has been charged, defies all understanding.
How can anyone take seriously what Harmer has to say about social issues, or sports matters, when she puts forward the notion that “we found him (Stewart) very respectful, well-mannered and a humble person” as an argument against him doing what he was alleged to have done to a teenager who had none of the prestige or standing in the community that she and the other Eagles Angels had.
The point about thuggish behaviour by drunken players is that it is invariably inflicted on people who do not have the power to stop it. Even the ‘useful idiots’ should have known this.
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Mark said | March 13th 2009 @ 1:02am | Report comment
Your right on that one. I fail to understand why battered women stand by their man. These self called ‘Angels’ are a battered wives club.
Billo said | March 13th 2009 @ 1:09am | Report comment
Spiro,
The Manly Angels know Brett Stewart far more, I assume, than you do, so what they have said about him is confirmed by their own experience of him.
On the other hand, we know of one incident in his life where he has clearly acted foolishly. I doubt that he will ever repeat that foolishness.
Whether he was guilty of criminal behaviour will be discovered in due course. At the moment we don’t know one way or the other.
On the other hand, I do know, from reading your various articles, that you don’t like rugby league much, and would much prefer to see rugby union take over rugby league’s place as the media’s favourite in the Sydney market place.
I think we should all stop being holier than thou about Stewart, and let the law take its course. The lack of DNA evidence, which is normally present in a sexual assault case, has to raise serious doubts about his guilt. Until we know how he and the girl interacted on that particular night we can’t draw any firm conclusions, and it is supremely arrogant, therefore, to label the Manly Angels as ‘useful idiots’.
It says more about you than about them.
Steffy said | March 13th 2009 @ 3:17am | Report comment
A huge over reaction to a very small article. Clearly the anti rugby league media are keen to squeeze every last drop out of this tale. The Marigny article is nothing like Zavos portrays it.
Crosscoder said | March 13th 2009 @ 7:09am | Report comment
Spiro.
For heaven’s sake,your anti rugby league bias( known to many),criticising the Eagles Angels for offering to give references to Stewart is laughable.Any upstanding citizen can and does offer verbal or written references to people at the centre of allegations.Watmough is another case ,and needs anger management or counselling and fining.
They know the character of the gent(Stewart) involved,and suggest you have had little or anything to do with him ,or his work with the Diabetes assoc.
Yes I do have feelings for the alleged victim,as would any person.
Your article appears to be judge ,jury and executioner in tone.
All of us have stuffed up at least once in our lifetime,some under the influence of drink(some Wallaby and other rugby union shock horror).
Innocent until proven guilty,and for quoting Lenin whose idealism treated humans,as merely tools of the state and numbers,is ironic.Communism old school was to execute and ask quesions later.
Just as well Stewart wasn’t a rl player in the Tsars X111,during the revolution in Russia.
LeftArmSpinner said | March 13th 2009 @ 7:47am | Report comment
Spiro, I agree, but woudl add that the only matter on which we can comment is the the bringing of the game into disrepute by Stewart, Watmough and Manly. The Angels should be supporting the code first and foremost. No code, No Eagles. The issue of the Girl is in dispute and will be heard in court. The angels should have expressed their concern for her and Stewart, (as Fatty Vautin did) due to the media attention and pressure she is having to bear.
Old Pig said | March 13th 2009 @ 8:02am | Report comment
Crossdresser, Stuffy & Bilko
Seems like the ‘useful idiots’ aren’t just confined to a few middle aged women………
You need to take the rose coloured glasses off boys and see it for what it was, its not the sport its the product of it that is causing the problems. Too much time, too little real world experience and too big an ego on a very immature person.
And for the record i prefer rugby, league lost me years ago……..but that’s a whole other conversation.
Cheers
Steffy said | March 13th 2009 @ 8:26am | Report comment
Old pig, I prefer rugby too, union never had me.
Spiro’s article has nothing to do with the Magnay article but if he is so upset about what they haven’t said in a small article then he should ask them himself instead of attempting to read between the lines and getting upset about he thinks he has found.
oikee said | March 13th 2009 @ 9:19am | Report comment
I find their credibility very strong Spiro, they are sticking by there own as any mother would do for their child, and as any person would do for their own until proven guilty. Even if found guilty they should continue to support and contribute for the future. All i see from you is doing as the press do, causing trouble and worse, you are now attacking women by calling them “idiots”.
As for your own wifes statement, there is concern, but let us not judge until we have all the facts on the table and let the system do its work. Whether your President of the united states or, run a womens lobby group we all have to control our emotions and not attack others because someone has made a mistake. And certainly not attack other women for standing behind their own. I call that courage. If they did not stand behind Stewart i would be concerned.
Knives Out said | March 13th 2009 @ 9:34am | Report comment
Well Oikee, it was either attacking a group of middle aged women or analysing why there was only 23 tries in the 4th week of the Super 14.
Thank you for the measured, eloquent response. It’s refreshing to see some common sense, especially in the context of Old Pig’s contribution.
Farmer said | March 13th 2009 @ 9:46am | Report comment
I would agree with you Spiro.
But the warped loyalty shown by the Angels is just one of the several examples of conflicts of interest in this whole saga.
Immediately after the story broke, Manly Board came out denying the claim. How could they do this apart from trying to protect their “brand” at all costs. They lose all credibility. Stewart claims he was so drunk he didn’t know what happened. This didn’t stop Manly issuing the blanket denial.
The problem the sport has is that the NRL (presumably in an attempt to keep the many infringeemnts behind the closed doors of clubs) lets clubs handle their own disciplinary issues for in “inappropriate” behaviour. The NRL only get involved when it becomes a PR disaster. This is like letting the alcoholic decide how much grog is enough. Clubs have a clear conflict of interest. The last thing they want is a player being kept off the field – no value in shooting yourself in the foot and giving the opposition a leg up, is there? Instead , they prefer to fine the offenders – which has minimal effect to someone on six figure salaries.
You only have to listen to the club speak referring to the offenders as “only boys” , the NRL saying they need constant education of what is right and wrong, put through endless programs on how to treat women etc. These guys are not boys ! They are grown men. In previous times they could have been at war for 5 years at their age.
Where is the reponsibility? If you have a club mentality that ” boys will be boys” , and those exercising judgement at club level are products of the same school , and if the overriding aim is to not harm the performance of the team on the field, then what chance do we have that things will change.
One conclusion is that the players are not a very smart group. They are identified at an early age, made to feel “special” , RL becomes their main focus, intellectual pursuits take a back seat. They have have poorly developed notions of responsibility and right from wrong. They are very slow learners. A generalisation I agree, but it is a recurring theme for RL players. Sure 90% might get it but there seems to be a higher number of those in RL that do not get it. They behave like immature, dumb kids.
Until we break this habit of accepting poor behaviour, by overlooking idiot behaviour as ” boys being boys” , by supporting and defending their behaviour irrespective of what the facts may be, then the “boys” will not change.
How can Manly accept one of their star players belting one of their sponsers for harrassing his daughter. Obviously keeping What more? on the field is more important than the contribution of the sponser or the obligation to the woman who was being harrassed. Only after this whole exercise evolved in the press have Manly acted on What more’s behaviour – by you guessed it – a fine of $10,000. Where are the Angels coming out condeming Whatmore’s behaviour. They might as well release a statement saying “No – sorry – there is a conflict of interest we are trying to manage here. Boyswill be boys, and she was probably asking for it”.
Get rid of the conflicts of interest and get real !
If you tolerate poor behaviour, then you will continue to receive poor bahaviour.
This is not a RL bash – it just happens that RL seems to be in the s..t much more often than anyone else.
Cheers
Ted Skinner said | May 3rd 2011 @ 1:09pm | Report comment
hey Farmer see this:
http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/apology-to-brett-stewart/story-e6frep5o-1226047831821