Too many years ago to remember, I “attended” a party in one of Brisbane’s wealthier inner city suburbs. When I say attended, I really mean “gatecrashed” – but gatecrashing was okay back then, as long as you brought your own beer, smiled a lot, and didn’t cause trouble.
The party was being hosted by a well-to-do Brisbane professional man – not that he knew it. He and his wife were away. So in their absence their son generously stepped into the fray.
Terrific night. Hilarious.
Try as might I still can’t get out of my mind the sight of the host, shirtless, leaping from the roof of the double-storied house, into the pool, all while clutching a bottle of Bundy Rum. The dare-devil deed (dangerous in the extreme) brought wild applause from the poolside gathering, many of whom I suspect had seen the stunt before.
Funnily enough, that same rum swilling hooligan is now running one of Australia’s largest accountancy practices. Doing an outstanding job.
Across town, there’s another bloke I know who occupies a very senior executive seat in huge insurance company. I still have a photo of him, on a boy’s fishing trip, with a small bonfire on his head. A human torch. Twenty years on, the same bloke is responsible for billions of dollars and hundreds of people.
Very successful. Very good. Even respectable.
Which brings us to the latest “scandal” surrounding the St Kilda Saints AFL club, and the four young “criminals” who broke the team code by sneaking out, getting on the drink and munching on some sleeping tablets.
Can you believe it? Just shocking. Where on earth will these hooligans be in 15 years time?
Probably retired and running something substantial would be my guess.
Memo to sports administrators, immaculately behaved media representatives, and the thousands of perfect people clogging up blog sites with their pious ramblings: young blokes grow up. Their decision making improves, and in turn their behavior, generally in time to save their careers. Let’s all pop a chill pill.
Footballers are not contracted because they are smart, charismatic, mature, well rounded, and community minded. They are contracted because they can kick, catch, run and pass. In that order. Anything else is a bonus.
The sages above who have never made a mistake in their life will of course cite the athletes’ role model status, the changing times, the new levels of responsibility, the fat pay packets etc.
Blah blah blah.
I get all that stuff, and acknowledge the Saints haven’t exactly had the best of off seasons, but we are now at the point where young blokes simply cannot have a bad moment, let alone a bad day.
And guess what? They are going to.
Poor discipline? Absolutely. Smart? Absolutely not. But we need to remind those banging the drum on this latest “scandal” – there’s a distinct difference between negatively impacting yourself, and violating the rights of others.
When it comes to the impetuosity of youth – youth with access, temptation, time and probably a bit too much money – maybe it’s time for the public to tweak its expectations.
Maybe we should get the now proud parents of the ‘Rum Hooligan’ and ‘Bonfire Head’ to address the clubs. Reassure them that things are probably going to be okay.
Aussie Rules
Guest
The Whistle has gone about this story like a kid too, these AFL players are not kids they were stupid adults who interfered with people going about their business, and player(s) hoping on a car(s) interrupting traffic etc. Being the AFL there will be more bad episode's on the AFL this year too, just like the many bad reports that fed the media last year in this 'kickball' code and the year before that too, and the year before that aswell.
amazonfan
Roar Guru
"Its simple & you completely missed the point.." Really? Then what is the point? "When players do wrong its aww they’re only kids . When the players wrong people,when those people are still classed as kids ….suddenly they are adults.." Well, how about when these players do what any other person of a similar age does, they are classifed as criminals by people like you. Additionally, when a 16-year-old makes the decision to sleep with a few footballers, aww she must be a victim. "You will never ever admit to the double standards when it comes to your code" Perhaps I don't agree with you on the particular double standards. "A perfect fan ,thats why the players continue to make headlines for the wrong reason,& never learn from their mistakes." Right, whatever you say. First, you don't know what kind of fan I am. But also, I would take what you say more seriously if it weren't for the fact that you would go after football if it was shown that some player had jay-walked.
db swannie
Guest
Its simple & you completely missed the point.. When players do wrong its aww they're only kids . When the players wrong people,when those people are still classed as kids ....suddenly they are adults.. You will never ever admit to the double standards when it comes to your code. A perfect fan ,thats why the players continue to make headlines for the wrong reason,& never learn from their mistakes.
amazonfan
Roar Guru
If there is a double standard, it is only that footballers are held to a different standards that of the rest of the community. Whether you want to call them kids or adults or young men, what they are doing is not unusual for 'fill in the blanks' their age. As for the 16-year old, I definitely don't think that any excuses or apologies need to be made by anyone. BTW, why aren't I shocked that you would issue such a comment on an AFL story?
db swannie
Guest
So when the players get into trouble they are only KIDS,yet when the scandal with the then 16 yr old was news ..she was called a WOMAN..not a kid , Double standards much? As long as people keep making excuses & apologising for stupidity,idiocy or criminal behaviour,of players ,the players themselves will never learn that that behaviour is unacceptable.
Guy Smiley
Roar Pro
Having crossed paths with a number of footballers on nights out in Perth my opinion of them just keeps getting lower and lower. Self-entitled, self aggrandising, socially limited metrosexuals. And the media give these guys a free ride when things are going well. How many more pointless, scripted, empty-headed press conferences in front of an advertiser's banner must we endure? No hard questions are ever asked and no intelligent/insightful answers are required. So when the proverbial hits the fan, it's time to pay up in spades.
THE WHISTLE
Guest
as I said Jed, pious ramblings. And can I please borrow some coasters???
Richard
Roar Guru
If I read the news on this latest event correctly, one of the players, Zac Dawson, is a senior player. He had a couple of glasses of wine with a meal with his friends. He then went back to the hotel and took a prescription sleeping pill. His mates, some junior players, kicked on. Stupid selfish behaviour by silly young men, agreed. The team had imposed a drink free policy. These players let their team mates down. Their team mates have taken punitive action for the offence. But what's the crime? There's no crime here, no-one has been killed, raped, assaulted. Some young men have let their mates down and have been punished for it, yes. But what's that got to do with code wars, AFL hypocrisy, or any of you obviously sainted people who think they've been offended. Get some sense of proportion. That's what's needed here. Not belly aching by a bunch of verbose puritans. Have you heard the advice "let he who is without sin cast the first stone". Or "why do you comment on the splinter in another's eye when you fail to see the plank in your own". Let's get some sense of proportion into this shall we?
Qlder
Guest
I think you have missed the point. This was not just some young fellas on a Saturday night bender. This was a group of professional athletes on serious pre-season training camp. They deliberately ignored team rules and got caught. End of story. Secondary to that is the very public Saints story over the past few months. These players behaved in a way that was stupid, arrogant and disrespectful of their team mates. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
Phil Osopher
Guest
Give them a break? I say give them a kilo of cocaine, 1000 ecstacy tablets, all the prescription drugs they want, 1000 litres of red bull, open spirit cabinet, 1 keg of beer, 20 red hot girls and 5 video cameras, and 1 dog - just as a kind of experiment.
sbb
Guest
Couldn't agree more, Whistle. Your point on the hypocrisy of journalists is one of my pet hates. Paul Kent, for example, can't even refrain from "bragging" about boozy exploits while on national tv yet in an accompanying breath, he's happy to plug the next day's paper in which he's reported on a footballer caught urinating in public, for example. And the only difference between media reps and the corporates is that the latter are more cunning about where there behaviour plays out (so to speak). Obviously in a perfect world ... but half of these players are so young their brains are not fully developed. Coupled with raging testosterone and gushing endorphins ... the only two real changes in the past 20 years and more are the publicity and the corporate influence. That so many do-gooders are being dragged along astounds me (a little) -- ' course, it shouldn't. Your point on how these men will turn out is key; somehow this is where the emphasis should lay. Cheers. I look forward to the pea being on the move. PS: Did I "attend" either party??
Les Argen
Guest
These young hooligans let down themselves, their club, their parents, the pantheon of past greats of the game and society as a whole. And what about the chillun? Won't somebody please think of the poor, liitle chillun?! These criminals must repent on national TV - I would suggest A Current Affair - and ask forgiveness from God. Their disgraceful actions in doing stuff that, um, you shouldn't, you know, do was really bad. God it's a long time between footy seasons.
jed
Guest
So you're comparing teenage parties and boozy fishing trips to what was an official training camp, paid for by the club? All these meagre links attempting to join A to S forget something - young or not, these guys are already in a professional capacity and have already scaled their Matterhorn; in terms of their lives, playing AFL will be probably be as significant as running an investment bank or BHP's Iron Ore division. If they were off on their annual holiday you may be on some firm ground, but they were representing their employer on a training camp. Next time you write one of these, give yourself more than one drink coaster to sketch it out. Ill conceived crap.
Richard
Roar Guru
Yes, well said. The amount of oxygen given to this latest Saints "scandal" is ridiculous. The key issue is whether it affected anyone else, and in this latest case it clearly didn't, other than the team itself that is. In this latest indiscretion, the boys broke team rules, they've been dealt with by the team. Fair enough. Very appropriate. There's no need for anyone else to get their knickers in a twist. Caroline Wilson in The Age today did just that however, publishing another holier than thou diatribe. The media should give us all a break. Publishing something worthwhile reading would be a good start.