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These days, on any given issue, it’s hard to work out what is a media beat-up and what is reflective of the wider public mindset.
How have we come to the position as a football watching public where the Sam Mitchell banter from the weekend is something that he is hounded into apologising for?
For those that missed it, Hawthorn’s Mitchell was engaging in some age-old footy sledging with Essendon’s Michael Hibberd, and in doing so mimed injecting something into his forearm. It was a clear reference to the supplements program that has been a black cloud over the Essendon Football Club and the AFL in general for the best part of three years.
The Essendon and Hawthorn football clubs don’t like each other. The history is long and storied, from three violent and spiteful grand finals in a row from 1983-1985, to the infamous 2004 ‘line in the sand’ game where the Richie Vandenberg-led Hawks came out swinging after half time, to 2009, when Matthew Lloyd, in the last game of his career, lined up Brad Sewell and knocked him out with a brutal shirtfront.
Footy is all the better for it when there’s some genuine dislike and spite involved. But Mitchell’s actions have to be at the lowest possible end of the scale.
Social media lit up after the incident, and immediately there was talk of unsportsmanlike behaviour, a please explain, demanding contrition from Mitchell, and it was clear that it would be the number one talking point out of the game.
There is even speculation that Mitchell may be charged with bringing the game into disrepute by the AFL. Seriously.
What a joke.
When did we become so precious?
It is even possible that people could take such an action to heart, let alone find it deeply offensive? Who is doing anything but having a bit of a laugh?
Unsportsmanlike? Give me a bloody spell.
Even James Hird felt the need to chirp up, weighed down by the massive chip on his shoulder, talking about Mitchell’s action being “naïve and idiotic” and a product of media propaganda.
It takes a special kind of deluded arrogance for him to try and claim the moral high ground on this one.
We saw similar ridiculous over-reactions to Adam Goodes doing a tribal war dance during Indigenous round earlier in the year.
Can’t the reaction ever be ‘who really cares, let’s just watch the footy’?
The biggest shame of all is that Sam Mitchell felt the need to apologise, either because he has been around long enough to read the off-field play, or because the Hawthorn officials asked it of him. I’ll run to China if he was actually remorseful.
On the field, Hawthorn players ask for no quarter, and give none. They’re known for being uncompromising and unsociable. It’s an attitude that’s played its part in winning them back-to-back premierships.
Whether it’s Jordan Lewis and Luke Hodge giving some Kangaroos a whack, Alastair Clarkson throating the drunk Adelaide fan, or Mitchell here, they should also own their actions when asked about them off the field. Such is the world we live in I suppose.
I enjoyed Roar colleague Ryan O’Connell’s take on proceedings over the weekend, when he tweeted me with, “I hope you’re writing a piece titled ‘Why Sam Mitchell’s gesture is a big deal’ which then has no words underneath the headline.”
Hopefully that sums up the attitude of anyone reading this too. If not, I just can’t fathom you.