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Jason Akermanis looks on during the AFL 2nd Qualifying Final between the Geelong Cats and the Western Bulldogs at the MCG. Slattery Images
It’s time Jason Akermanis put his attention grabbing and unnecessary opinions back where they belong – in the closet. Aker is, of course, paid to give his opinion, right or wrong. But this to me stinks of hypocrisy from a bloke who often takes a moral high ground.
He supposedly has no problem with men being gay but bizarrely is still against homosexuals being a part of AFL football. Or at least admitting they are to the public anyway.
The most disappointing and worrying suggestion from Aker’s article in the Herald Sun on Thursday was that a gay player ‘coming out’ would actually hurt the fabric of an AFL football club.
Please! That’s an insult to his teammates and to the entire AFL playing group. Did rugby league player Ian Roberts ‘coming out’ break the fabric of his club? I don’t think so.
If I was an AFL player I would be horrified to think Aker is representing me through the media and rubbishing my credibility with such backward thinking and out of date opinions.
Paul Roos said it best on the Swans website yesterday: “If it had been written in 1943 or something like that, you could have been forgiven. But to hear it in 2010, to hear something like that, is just bizarre.”
The exact reasoning for the article was in response to rumours circulating that an AFL player was close to becoming the first to openly admit being gay. So what?
Akermanis claims the rumours are baseless, but how would he know? And more importantly, if they are untrue, what’s the point of writing of the article in the first place?
Apparently the AFL players’ association was fully aware of the article and even searched out Akermanis to help broaden awareness of homosexuality.
Who knows. Was he simply hung out to dry by the article? Have we taken him completely out of context?
I don’t think so. To say the AFL and an AFL club isn’t ready for a gay footballer is a seriously sad indictment on the entire code.
And the AFL chief Andrew Demetriou felt compelled to respond in a statement released by the league yesterday
“Jason Akermanis is entitled to express his opinion but I don’t believe it reflects the views of clubs, players and officials involved in the AFL an the broader football community.”
Akermains says he hopes one day the ‘lonely road’ he believes gay men travel on can be ‘hopefully made easier,’ but I’ve got news for you Aker, you just made it considerably harder.
Surely living a lie and concealing the truth would be unbearable for anyone?
The Bulldogs went into damage control and sensing the widespread backlash, quickly removed itself from any association with the article.
“Jason Akermanis’ article is based on his opinion and by no means does he speak for the club or AFL players as a whole, the club does not agree with the views expressed by Jason”
The Bulldogs were internally fuming as well after they subbed the article but it was subsequently changed by the Herald-Sun before print.
Can the Bulldogs now ban him from such media commitments?
Either way, Akermanis should start worrying more about his on field playing issues rather than creating off field headlines.
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