All may be fair in love and war, but what about on the footy field?
Exactly what can we say before we’ve crossed the line? Once upon a time it was declared that whatever happened on the footy field should stay on the footy field.
That included what was said as much as what was done. There was a time when many a player with a busted nose or bloodied eye would also astonishingly suffer a hazy memory in the post-match wash up while trying to recollect what the hell happened to them.
They were simpler times where everyone and everything was fair game. Anything went.
But surely we’ve moved on from that. Clearly not ‘everything goes’ anymore. The game and its coverage simply doesn’t allow it.
We know Josh Kennedy was sat on his backside on the weekend because Stevie J ran past the ball and knocked him over. We know Kennedy was dazed and confused. We know this because the cameras told us so.
No longer can Kennedy ‘pretend’ that nothing happened. We wouldn’t expect him to. And no longer can officials simply turn the other way. We demand they don’t.
Yet when it comes to the spoken word, things seem to become more complicated. Perhaps it’s true that actions speak louder than words, but it’s also true that words can hurt.
Last weekend Shane Mumford reportedly said to Buddy Franklin “it’s great to see you’re not on holidays this year.” Last year, Buddy Franklin missed the finals series to due mental health issues.
Mumford has since rang to apologise. Debate rages about whether he should have had to. Some current day players who have spoken publically seem to think Mumford was out of line.
However, some retired players just can’t see what the fuss is about. Wayne Carey reckons the world has gone mad.
It appears there is a generational divide at play, and it’s time the current day AFL players took the lead in outlining what’s acceptable, and what’s not.
Tim Watson was right. They need to step forward with their own code of conduct to clearly state what’s acceptable and what’s not in 2016.
You see while many debate the world going mad, one thing’s for sure – the times they are a changin’, and generally, they are changing for the good.
There was a time when men suffered with mental illness alone and in silence because it was simply unmanly to talk about how you were feeling. It’s ruined lives and broken up families. Today we encourage men to step forward and talk about their mental health issues in the hope that by them sharing their feelings, others will step forward too.
In Buddy’s case he stepped forward to tell not just tell his family and friends, but the whole football world.
The point is, if we encourage our sports stars to talk openly about their mental illness, it is then fair to use it against them when sledging? Sledging, after all, is designed to gain a mental edge.
I don’t think it is.
Just as we’ve gone past the days of being able to whack a bloke behind play and get away with it, we’ve also reached a point where whacking a bloke about his mental health is no longer fair game.
Some simply won’t be able to come to terms with that. They’ll decree it their right to say whatever they want and encourage those who disagree to ‘toughen up.’
Progress, it seems, doesn’t suit everyone.
But it’s those who play the game that need to take the lead and outline to the rest of us what is fair in the game they play.
The rest of us can debate it until the cows come home, but those who can act, must also lead.
Just how far we progress is up to the players.
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