- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Sledging opponents in the AFL could be headed the same way as the flick pass, the drop kick and the whack behind play. Do it at your peril.
More AFL
Swans prepared to win without Goodes
Pies consider going tall against Swans
It’s doubtful Western Bulldogs ruckman Will Minson will let go a gobful towards an opponent in future without thinking it through beforehand, and his stony-faced apology to Port Adelaide’s Kane Cornes this week is likely to make other players re-consider their stance on dishing out personal barbs.
Minson said sorry to Cornes for remarks he made in last Saturday night’s game.
Neither player has confirmed the details of the incident, but it is understood that Minson made reference to Cornes’ older son, Eddy Jack, who was born with a heart problem.
The two clubs and players appear to have moved on, but the incident highlights the need for players to mind their tongues and consider the repercussions in 2008, where social diversity has never been greater and public scrutiny has never been higher.
Minson is most likely fortunate that Cornes decided not to take the matter to the AFL.
Where anything went decades ago and what was said often `stayed on the field’, times have changed.
It is unacceptable to racially abuse an opponent or to make disparaging comments about their religious or cultural beliefs.
Given the AFL’s major appeal to families and female supporters, many other sledges – comments about women, players’ families and off-field controversies – are also rapidly becoming inappropriate as well.
West Coast’s Adam Selwood was widely criticised after it was alleged he made a slur to Des Headland about the Fremantle player’s daughter in a game last year.
Similarly, many thought St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt had overstepped the mark by targeting Andrew Lovett this year with comments about domestic violence towards the Essendon player, who had a court appearance last year.
Sledging might work on the field, but really, at what cost does it come to players’ reputations and the image of the game?
Players can talk about dishing out comments `in the heat of battle’, but aren’t elite sportsmen revered for their ability to maintain composure in a competitive situation under enormous physical and mental pressure?
Minson was considered to have overstepped the line by many, and in Adelaide, one radio commentator reportedly claimed that his remarks were worse than racial vilification.
Not so, many would argue.
But only the person on the end of personal abuse can truly say what impact those words have.
Ironically, if sledging is designed as a verbal tactic aimed at unsettling an opponent, then Minson’s remarks appeared futile.
Although the Bulldogs won convincingly, Cornes was one of Port’s better players even though he flew to Darwin the day of the game, after he spent the night before with his wife, who gave birth to the couple’s second son.
If Cornes felt Minson’s words were offensive, so be it.
Just as it was Andrew Symonds’ right to be offended when branded a monkey by Indian cricket fans last year and allegedly by Indian player Harbhajan Singh last summer.
Some fans thought Symonds had little right to be offended by what they considered a minor insult, but the fall-out was massive.
After Harbhajan was charged by the International Cricket Council for making offensive remarks, India nearly abandoned their tour.
Cricket is a sport famed for its witty, memorable sledges, but, like the AFL, also had to confront the problem and establish a code of conduct.
To avoid all trouble, maybe footballers should follow the example offered by North Melbourne great Glenn Archer, as tough and as brave a player as there ever will be.
Archer said recently there was more mystique in opponents who said nothing.
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.