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The suspension of Tom Hawkins for his jumper ‘punch’ on Matt Crouch is a disgrace.
An absolute disgrace.
If a suspension was to come out of it, it should have been Crouch missing a game for staging.
As we have seen many times in the past, the Match Review Panel (MRP) uses doctor’s reports to determine how highly to grade an impact after what is deemed an illegal act.
Yet, for reasons beyond understanding, we see them target Hawkins after his incident with Crouch.
No doctor’s report. How could there be, given the victim would do more harm brushing his hair than what he received from Hawkins? Not illegal, according to the umpire, who was standing, at most, one metre away, with a second umpire only a few metres further back.
It could not be classified as a punch, given that a blown kiss has more force. But somehow it was determined as a strike, that if unsuccessfully challenged would see Hawkins miss two games of football. Instead, Geelong has felt they have no recourse but to accept a one-match ban.
(AAP Image/Joe Castro)
It’s sadly laughable.
Oh, but it’s a bad look, I hear you say. Ah yes, the interminable ‘optics’. What about the kids, is another catch-cry.
A bad look for who, exactly? I’d love to hear it. Crowds are breaking records. The TV rights are only going one way because more people than ever are watching the game.
Are people disengaging from the sport because of jumper punches? I’ve never met one, nor heard of one. Isn’t it more likely that people are drawn to the AFL because of the physicality that sometimes tips over into violence? Some of the most celebrated moments in the history of the game have been when blood was shed by unruly means.
How many of the adults that love the game today are the kids that grew up with the game in the 70s, 80s and 90s, when oftentimes the fists were more flowing than the football? Yes, the game has moved on from those times, and fair enough. But the Hawkins suspension is a step too far.
As for the kids, I’ve got no time for that argument, and nor should any sane person. Should a professional sport bow to the whims of six year olds? If so, it would be Fanta and Sprite at quarter-time instead of Gatorade, a sand-pit as the centre square, and monkey-bars instead of goal-posts.
Let’s not forget what set Hawkins off in the first place. Matt Crouch and Jake Lever tackled Joel Selwood to the ground, and followed through with knees and elbows where they could. It was great, and the sort of punishment that gets routinely dished out in the rough and tumble of a fierce contest. But they needed to be held to account, and Hawkins rightfully joined the fray.
(AAP Image/Joe Castro)
Selwood took off after the ball (he knows no other way), and then it became three on one, with Brad Crouch joining in to stand up for his brother.
Matt Crouch started it, and then took a dive to finish it. It was weak and unbecoming of him given the traits he usually displays on the field.
Australian Rules football is the most popular sport in the country, and the AFL is the professional embodiment of it. It is clearly the most popular professional sport in Australia, and stands up on the world stage on a per capita basis.
AFL is a code of high skill, daring and 360 degree movement, a game of physicality and courage. But intimidation is also an element at the very core of its popularity.
Crouch tried to rough up Selwood. Hawkins responded with his own brand.
If a free kick was paid against Hawkins at the time, it would have been outrageous that something so soft was changing the shape of the game. And yet we’re supposed to accept that it is now worth missing two matches?
It’s beyond a joke.