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Australian Greg Inglis leaves a English defenders in his wake.4. AAP Image/Julian Smith
A quick search at the Google News feed reveals there are no less than 1,000 links to articles on the Tahu/Johns racial slur since the story broke last Monday.
What should be an opportunity for understanding, learning and appreciation has descended into a journalistic free-for-all of one-upmanship from several different angles.
The larger majority of the rugby league sporting media, armed with the convenient cannon of ‘public interest’, have taken it upon themselves to offer a comment, or a quote from some quasi-relevant source.
We’ve had every man and his dog have their say or express their view. You’d be forgiven for thinking people are falling over in the rush to be heard.
The longer it goes on, the murkier the waters get as commentators see fit to continue.
Sol Bellear, Tony Currie, Arthur Beetson, Anthony Mundine, Ricky Walford, Mal Meninga, Greg Inglis, Matthew Johns, Gordon Tallis, Paul Vautin, Phil Gould, The Daily Telegraph staff, The Sydney Morning Herald staff, The Australian staff, Sky News “guests” … just some of the voices to have been given free reign since it all began.
Coverage is one thing. Clearly, this is something all together different.
With recent reports that Inglis will not forgive Johns, and Johns himself in hiding from media exposure, there appears to be no end in sight to the constant barrage of imbalance from the media.
In their absence we hear Gallop isn’t doing enough, NSW continues to be a racist populus, Inglis is sure to defect to AFL as a result and Johns should just be forgotten about for the sake of everyone involved.
I ask you: What relevance does this have to repairing race-relations in rugby league ?
The media needs to pull their collective heads in and realise they are not moral crusaders on this issue wading through waist high waters of discrimination.
They are the gumboots at the bottom of the silt disturbing everything and creating a thick cloud of inaccuracy.
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