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The Robbie Farah-Gorden Tallis dispute is a bore

Roar Guru
8th August, 2014
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Robbie Farah, always one to court controversy. (Image courtesy FoxSports)
Roar Guru
8th August, 2014
7
1013 Reads

The Robbie Farah-Gorden Tallis controversy is now well into its second week, and I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll ever stop hearing about it.

Now, before I kick off, yes I realise there’s an inherent irony in writing an article and giving air time to something you’re sick of hearing about. But this is one of those cases where it’s gotten to the point where I feel like it doesn’t matter anymore, so I’m just going to vent my spleen on this one.

The story just seems so straightforward that its longevity almost defies belief.

It began when we heard a couple weeks ago that Robbie Farah told Gorden Tallis that Potter can’t coach at some point last year. It was obviously told in confidence, but because Gorden Tallis’s elevator apparently doesn’t go all the way to the top floor, he blurted it out onto the airwaves after someone suggested he was lying.

For some reason it just didn’t occur to Gordon that he could just say “I’m not about to betray anyone’s confidence just because you don’t believe me”. But we’ve already established that Tallis may well have still lost the debate if it was with a door knob, so let’s try not to be too surprised.

For Farah it’s pretty embarrassing and irritating, but beyond that can someone explain to me why there have been several stories on this every day since it happened?

I feel like I’m missing something here, because to me it seems like there’s a few paragraphs max to write about a controversy like this. Yet, by the time Fairfax, News Ltd, Triple M and even The Roar are done with it, there’ll be enough content to fill a season of The Bachelor, only more contrived and repetitive.

So why is generating so much interest? Is it that there just aren’t enough genuinely interesting news stories in the NRL right now to push it out of the sports section? Surely that can’t be right – the finals are about a month out and there are plenty of mouth watering clashes on the horizon.

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Heck, the papers could even talk about the qualification process that has been underway for the next Rugby League World Cup, something which has ensured places for the Pacific nations but leaves the import-heavy minnows like Italy and the US on the outer.

But no, there’s not a whisper about any of that.

Case in point, this morning I turn on Triple M and hear excerpts from Gus Gould’s interview with Farah yesterday.

Now, to be fair I didn’t listen, opting instead to just push shuffle on iTunes and turn the Triple M app off, so I can’t be sure what shocking revelations about Farah’s feelings on having the opinions you held about your boss a year ago awkwardly blurted out by someone who’d have to speed up to stop if he were any slower.

But I have a feeling I know roughly the sentiment he expressed – he was pissed off. Fair enough. I would be pissed off too, but does that warrant two weeks of news stories.

We have heard opinions of players on how they would have felt, stories on why Tallis doesn’t understand basic human social norms, speculation on how Farah feels, interviews with Farah and Tallis, replays of those interviews and people like me writing about how boring it all is.

The story is simple. Man tells friend he hates his boss. Friend blurts this out for all the world to hear. Man gets angry at friend and embarrassed that everyone now knows he doesn’t like his boss.

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So now I’ve summed it all up for everyone, can we please move on? The Bachelor is on in a minute and I don’t want to miss this week’s episode.

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