Swine Flu hysteria shouldn’t impact on NRL
By Steve Kaless, 16 Jun 2009 Steve Kaless is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- NRL, Rugby League, Swine Flu

Anthony Tupou tackled by Darren Lockyer and Justin Hodges during the NRL Round 27, Sydney Roosters v Brisbane Broncos match at Sydney Football Stadium, AAP Image/Action Photographics, Colin Whelan
If swine flu sends you mad, then maybe we all have it. If not, then it is possibly the biggest media beat up of all time. All this talk of games getting called of because what is essentially a case of the sniffles just shows you have far down the path our society has gone to becoming a giant lunatic asylum.
What the hell is the big fuss about Swine Flu? Given the mass hysteria in the media, you’d think with minutes of exposure people were turning into brain eating zombies.
I mean, I know people have often said rugby league will eat itself, but I didn’t think they meant literally.
Maybe it is just a continuation of the nightmare scenario that journalists have been working on about rugby league all season.
First, it is unsafe to be near any rugby league player after they have had a few tinnies. But now any exposure to rugby league may pass on this deadly virus.
The city of Melbourne doesn’t resemble some sort of post apocalyptic dystopian nightmare (well, no more than usual), Kevin Rudd is not talking about sealing the border or dropping a bomb on St Kilda for the good of the country as a whole, so why the big fuss about calling off games.
So a few players have had to be in isolation. Well, given the Broncos’ management of Joel Clinton the other week, that clearly shows how they like their players spending their free time.
I’m surprised they weren’t saying the past week or so was ideal preparation.
Get on with it!
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The Crowd Says (5) | Page 1 of Comments
Have Your Say
- Explore:
- NRL, Rugby League, Swine Flu

Alan Nicolea said | June 16th 2009 @ 6:19am | Report comment
Steve
Indeed i wrote an article about this last week and the first comment i recieved related to how not informed i was about the detrimental effects of Swine-flu. I still think it is a media build up and it is good to see that there are people out there that share my views on this. Unfortunetly others think that you and i are both crazy. Yes, prevention is better than cure but this is taking it too far. Even Cowboys coach Neil Henry says it is an over the top reaction.
Russell Bussian said | June 16th 2009 @ 9:40am | Report comment
I suspect in the future we will look back on this swine flu episode and file it in the same basket as the Y2K bug. Admittedly I didn’t see as many people stocking up their campervans and heading to the hills this time around. Some people just get very scared.
You have to wonder about what sort of doctors work for the government. Surely if they were any good at their profession they’d be in private practise earning the big bucks. I’ve spoken to doctors I know who can’t understand what all the fuss is about.
onside said | June 16th 2009 @ 2:41pm | Report comment
To put swine flu in perspective,airline pilots and flight crew visit Melbourne several times a day.
They are not quarantined , even though having to breath the same air as any potential carrier.
Same with interstate bus drivers .These people transport passengers all over the nation and
yet authorities do nothing.There’s a message in doing nothing.
The man said | June 19th 2009 @ 1:36pm | Report comment
Sealing the border or dropping a bomb on St Kilda for the good of the country as a whole – now that is a good idea Stevo
Pippinu said | June 19th 2009 @ 1:52pm | Report comment
If we are going to drop a bomb anywhere, please drop it in the vicinity of Abbotsford.
This is by the way, but just in the interests of accuracy, I followed the link to St Kilda (I was sort of curious where it would take, and it wasn’t nearly as exciting a place as I had first hoped).
It says St Kilda joined the VFL/AFL in 1873, but that is clearly inaccurate because the VFL didn’t exist in 1873.
That should probably read that it joined the VFA in 1873, and was a founding member of the VFL in 1897.