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A Brisbane support celebrates after the AFL Round 21 match between the Brisbane Lions and Port Adelaide Power
Australia is a sports loving nation. We have an affinity with all forms of competitive activity from horse racing to golf to AFL. However, lurking deep beneath this love of sport is a dangerous illness that undermines our image as a sports loving nation.
Our illness is our paranoia of other sports not mainstream in our area. With our nation split in terms of the southern AFL heartland and the northern rugby country, the populous of these areas love their football codes. But they are paranoid about the outsiders and hate anything not to do with their codes.
If we for example use Melbourne, there are too many people that are AFL in the winter and cricket in the summer with a sprinkling of tennis. Other than that, in many people eyes, the rest of the sporting world can go to hell. It is unhealthy and really is a serious problem.
I came from a family that wasn’t born in Australia who moved to South Australia in the 1990s. They had been brought up on sports such as rugby union, association football (sports outside the realm of mainstream in SA) and horse racing. I was grateful for this as my pallet for sport extended. Unfortunately, even with the advent of the Internet and Pay TV, the pallets are too restricted for most Australians.
For this abomination I lay the blame squarely at the media, especially the newspapers. If you look at Phil Rothfield, Rebecca Wilson and Paul Kent in the Daily Telegraph, the way they treat sports other than rugby league is nothing short of disgraceful. It makes other sports look like outsiders and treats them with contempt. This is despite on the same page, ads promoting the new GWS side being very prominent in the Tele.
Also, media disregard major events held in Australia. Events like the Australian golf and tennis Opens and the F1 Grand Prix were once major sports events. Now they have been relegated to also-ran status as our media’s insular attitude to sports with AFL and NRL leading the back page in January. It seems only the Olympics can knock off the big two and even then it has to be a big story.
It’s time for this to stop. We love our sports but most Australians lack an open mind when it comes to sports. It’s like racism in a way as we disregard other sports simply because of where they come from.
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