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Football can rise above: Ignore Jones. Ignore Wilson. Ignore Conn

26th November, 2015
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Football is only just getting started, and some in Australia are worried. (AAP Image/Martin Philbey)
Expert
26th November, 2015
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Connecting the A-League to events in Paris is the biggest example of a crazed imagination in Australia since Bouncer’s dream sequence in Neighbours.

At least that was tongue-in-cheek (at least, you would hope so). Alan Jones’ tongue may not be in his cheek but equally does not seem to be anywhere near a brain.

I wrote before that I feel sorry for Australian football fans. Perhaps some are over-sensitive and paranoid but that does not mean people are not out to get them, or at least so it seems.

Growing up in England in the eighties even the low point really wasn’t that bad. The vast majority of the time the scariest thing were the mullets and the tight shorts.

The non-sporting media was often none too complimentary but despite some revisionist accounts on the life of an English football supporter which would have Ivan Denisovich choosing to stay in his gulag rather than venture into a stadium, football was still easily the number one sport, just not as overwhelmingly dominant as it is now.

Other places I have called home have been different. In India, football – at least local football – was pretty much ignored. In Malaysia it’s a big deal and in South Korea there is some rivalry between football and baseball. Fans of the former believe, with some justification, that baseball enjoys an overly cosy relationship with the heads of the major media companies and especially broadcasting networks but it’s all pretty tame – at least compared to Australia.

Talking to Simon Hill a few weeks ago, he mentioned the Twitter account of Malcolm Conn, communication manager for Cricket Australia NSW.

I usually like people called Malcolm, and I like cricket, but he does have a penchant for tweets that, it can only be assumed, try to show football in a negative light. To me, it just comes across as unprofessional and is surely counter-productive. Cricket, a game with a rich history, deserves better than to be made to look so petty and small-minded.

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And perhaps that is the solace to take from these episodes. People who are obviously out to put football down don’t do themselves any favours, at least with those that don’t already have a beef with the beautiful game.

I don’t really see the point in getting involved. It must be hard to take but surely at least some of the point of such articles as the one printed in the Daily Telegraph are to stir things up, be controversial and get football fans frothing at the mouth. And then the headlines become self-fulfilling prophecies when the FFA is issuing media releases asking fans not to issue death threats.

I see talk of code wars. If so, then they say in war that you should usually do the very thing that the enemy doesn’t want. Don’t engage. Otherwise it’s a counter-productive cycle of a critical article, a furious response, comparisons with other sports and then endless bickering during which few emerge looking good.

It’s a little contradictory to write an article saying that the best policy is to ignore the attacks – at least the ones that are obviously attacks – but there is a saying in China that a dog doesn’t turn around when a chicken squawks. Football can rise above.

If there are inaccuracies, lies or libelous material, these should be dealt with but other than that why give them the satisfaction? That doesn’t mean there should not be an alternative message put forward and it is important that the football media and the fans do exactly that but that does not need to involve getting involved with those who are obviously itching to get involved.

So when people say truly mad things like linking the A-League to Paris then they are either beyond help, stirring the pot or both. Whatever, they deserved to be ignored.

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