- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
I suppose this question has been around for as long as sport has been played. There have always been those who were willing to bend the rules to win. Professionals in amateur sports, drugs, manipulation of the rules, dives, blood sacs in the mouth, salary cap rorts – the list appears endless.
But we don’t really sit up and take notice until it happens in our own back yard.
All of this is “alleged” and alleged only from media reports and whispers. However, it is time to look at just what we do in sport to win.
Over the past months we have seen the once mighty Essendon Football Club, allegedly, enact a number of interesting, if somewhat morally dubious, management decisions.
For those who may have been in a coma we need to go back a bit to 2009 when Essendon, in a kneejerk reaction to making the finals for the first time in five years, prematurely extended Matthew Knights’ contract.
To be totally fair here, I admit I had no time for Knights as a coach and could not fathom his alleged game plan. As a person Matthew Knights may be a great bloke but, not having met him, I cannot comment and in any case, it is totally irrelevant.
What is relevant is the way the Essendon Football Club handled the whole fiasco after allegations were made in the press that he was about to be sacked.
First we had the Essendon Management saying he still had time to go on his contract and his coaching position was not in jeopardy. Admittedly this is par for the course for any Football Club about to sack a coach.
Next we had total silence and a refusal to answer the question. In the meantime we had James Hird, a person for whom I had the greatest respect, continually refuting claims, on Fox Sports, that he would be the next Essendon coach.
He was asked the question so often that, in the end, he said that he had already answered the question and would not do so again. Anyone out there not know who was appointed Essendon Coach?
The next chapter involves another person I also had great respect for, Mark “Bomber” Thompson. First he says he is “burnt out” and resigns from Geelong with a year to go on his contract. There’s nothing wrong with this in the environment of high scrutiny, and high pressure coaching. Coaches are fired by Clubs when they no longer want them so why can’t coaches resign if they wish?
However, rumours abounded that Bomber was going to Essendon as Assistant Coach and that talks had been going on since July 2010. It is also rumoured James Hird will step down mid-season and Thompson take over.
A revitalised Bomber has subsequently joined Essendon, and we wait to see if the second part of the prediction is forthcoming.
So, finally we get to the point of my question.
Is it okay for a Club, in this day and age, to attempt to win a premiership using methods that would seem to leave them on the verge of moral bankruptcy and, if so, should the Club supporters stand idly by and let it happen?
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.