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While Australians can sympathise with the frustrations experienced during the recent World Cup campaign, no one saw the ensuing ‘cat-fight’ between former team mates Robbie Slater and Harry Kewell coming.
The infamous article with Slater’s by-line attached to it enraged Aussie football fans and even prompted Kewell to get on the phone to Slater from his home in Turkey to have it out with him on air.
With Simon Hill acting as the mediator, the debate almost boiled over when Kewell started accusing Slater of being a ‘liar’ and ‘jealous’ of him.
Irrelevant questions about if Harry was fit and dredging up how many minutes he had played in the lead up to the World Cup also cropped up, leading the discussion in an awkward direction.
Now in the aftermath, the rest of the Australian football public are left to question: who is to blame for all of this?
With bloggers claiming that Slater should take full responsibility for his actions and name the mystery player accused of telling Kewell to ‘f… off,’ the more appropriate thing to ask is: is there any point?
The damage has already been done, to not only the relationship of former teammates, but to the credibility of Robbie Slater’s reputation as a panellist on Fox Sports.
Furthermore, angry fans are accusing Fox Sports for playing a part in a conversation that should have taken place between Robbie and Harry privately.
From an outsiders perspective, watching what Kewell has so appropriately called a ‘circus’, one can imagine it’s only going to get worse as this continues to unfold.
Media bounty hunters like the Daily Telegraph have offered a list of potential culprits that are said to have been present at the night in question.
Those implicated include Tim Cahill, Scott Chipperfield, Lucas Neil and Craig Moore, none of which have confirmed or denied the claims.
SBS blogger Jesse Fink has also alluded to the fact that he, too, knows the identity of the phantom player, but like Slater, refuses to reveal it.
Additionally, the FFA has declined to intervene, saying they have more pressing issues to confront and it “does not intend to become involved in the matter.”
Throughout it all, what is obvious is that Slater chose to protect the identity of one player and not the other and any further investigation into the matter is only going to damage the image of Australian football.
We already have a poor reputation for attacking our own through the media and at a time when our lads need it the most, we verbally open fire and in effect, belittle everything they have done for this country.
Slater openly came out and said he is entitled to an opinion and that Kewell was ‘overreacting’ but how much of it is opinion and how much of it just bad manners?
Slater has said he will stand by his words and believes that his opinion was bizarrely “balanced.”
He continued to say he hopes he and Kewell can “move on” from this but the only thing that needs moving on from here on out are ‘journalists’ like Slater.
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