I was sitting in a pub last Saturday evening with my mate, Richard. We were watching the Mariners – Roar final on the telly. After watching the end of another typically fluent Brisbane Roar move, I turned to Richard and told him about, my partner’s friend, Nicole.
Like the great majority of Melbourne’s population, Nicole has never attended an A-League game, or even watched a game as she does not have pay TV.
Not being a football fan, the only information Nicole has ever received in regards to football is when it makes it to the news section of the papers or when it appears on TV news services.
My partner, I told Richard, invited Nicole to an A-League game last month. This was her response.
“Is it safe?”
Yes, you heard correctly. “Is it safe?” was the very first thing Nicole asked my partner. Richard chuckled and then reminded me of the famous scene in The Marathon Man.
In the scene, Dustin Hoffman plays an A-League fan. Laurence Olivier, with an uncanny resemblance to our ex-PM, John Howard, represents….well… I’ll leave it up to you to decide.
Please watch the clip below. You won’t regret it. It goes for 3 minutes and 36 seconds.
“Is it safe?”
Last Friday, Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper tried to answer the question.
You didn’t need to open up the paper to find the answer.
In fact, you did not even need to buy the paper. All you needed was to take a cursory glance at the front page. For example, on the morning commute to work, or waiting to make a payment at the petrol station or convenience store.
On the front page in big, bold tabloid letters the headline screamed out “SOCCER FANS” are the most “VIOLENT”.
The Herald Sun sells around half a million copies a day. Its readership would be close to a million. The headline would have been seen by most of the adult population of Melbourne.
Taken in this context, Nicole’s response last month was perfectly understandable.
“Is it safe?”
The Herald Sun could not present any facts to substantiate the alarming headline. In an editorial, the following day I read the following -“This newspaper stands by its story, just as it stands up for soccer”
The damage was done.
In July 2006, Americans were asked in a poll if it was true or not true that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when the U.S invaded in 2003 – 50% answered TRUE.
Again, the damage was done.
Who needs facts to shape perceptions and opinions? In both these cases, George Orwell’s observation rings true.
“To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed….” (1984)
Fortunately, I am just bemused football fan in Australia and not a victim of war.
“Is it safe?”
P.S Nicole did agree to come to a game. The Melbourne Heart v Mariners match. Flash flooding in Melbourne that night stopped her from attending. Well, there’s always next season.
Art Sapphire is the pseudonym for Athas Zafiris and he can be found on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/ArtSapphire
AL
Guest
Stop blaming the press?? When the AFL mafia stop printing and reporting. AGENDAS and pass them as opinions.Then we will stop blaming the press. When a new brand is soiled (A-League), it is difficult to take the next step. As the AFL has thrown so much mud that some, as always, sticks. Make no mistake this is a AFL strategy. As I have said of others in the past 'EGGBALL STOOGE ALERT, EGGBALL STOOGE ALERT".
AL
Guest
Gents, for me the bigger picture is Vic polices statments on Football fans. This is not the first incident. If I didnt know any better you would think that the AFL & Vic police have some kind of "arrangment". Much like the then VicFL had with councils and schools to shut out football pre and post WW2.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
NAB Quarter Final: Coll v Syd FTA tv ratings in Sydney: 5k (and BRI: 3k!) And, this is after over $100m has been granted to the Sydney AFL club to assist its development over the past 25 years! Perhaps, Sydneysiders were all watching the game on Foxtel? Source: http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2011/02/week-9-4.html
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Allegations are surfacing that VicPol cannot be trusted in relation the way they report the level of criminal activity in Victoria. This casts further doubt on anything VicPol says about alleged violence at football matches. Supt Wilson made unsubstantiated allegations about MVFC fans and did not provide a single FACT to add weight to his opinions - a sure sign that he is being "loose with the truth" and is a sad reflection on the level of integrity we now come to expect from senior VicPol. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/police-deny-fudging-crime-figures-to-make-melbourne-appear-safer/story-e6frf7kx-1226013415185
Roger
Guest
Rob, one of the issues is the reserved seating at AAMI Park, as you can't bring your friends because you can't sit with them. AxelV is a a MV supporter, and went to a Heart home game, so he was technically an "away fan". Hence, he could get seats with his friends. I actually did not get a MV membership this year because I want to be able to sit with my friends. It's a catch 22 - you can either support your club by getting a membership, or you can bring your friends. Unfortunately, you can't have both.
Moonface
Roar Guru
Read your own post - " pro-soccer folk wishing to be sporting ‘main stream’" I think you've had a few too many Sherrins.
Tortion
Guest
I am sorry but I can't take anyone seriously who considers CNN as being a decent news service. There is good reason why its market share is plummeting. Whenever meeting someone who primarily reads or watches Australian/American news it is best to keep the discussion as simple as possible. ARF? I do have an interest in a number of world sports and no real interest in AFL (much to the dismay of my English colleagues). I have better things to do than watch CNN though.
OzFootballSherrin
Roar Pro
of course, a lot of respondants, depending what state - - think of 'football (outdoor)' quite differently to the pro-soccer lobby......... btw - where did I say it wasn't (main stream)? Did you actually read what I said or did you just want to waving a flag in my face?
Its not about what you or I read Rellum. As I said in the piece its about mass media and shaping perceptions without basis in fact. Which is why I used the U.S WMD poll as an analogy. You and I know WMDs were not found in Iraq, but half the population of the U.S think otherwise. Mass media had a role to play in that survey result. The Herald Sun headline was seen by a over million people and then this non-story snowballed into a tabloid storm where Ben Buckley by the end of the day had to come out and defend the honour football fans. What a farce.
Rob McLean
Guest
You're probably not actually going because it's sold out.
Rob McLean
Guest
This is an interesting comment, given that Con has continually said he is unable to bring his family and mates to the game because of the ticketing structure. I'm interested in the different perception presented, not the personalities of the posters. On one hand, we have a poster saying they were able to bring a friend to experience a great game (something the game needs in order to build revenue and atmosphere and break stereotypes), while on the other hand we have a poster saying he is unable to bring soccer supporters who love the game. Axel, where was this game? I'm still trying to understand the issues that MV supporters are facing in regards to their claims.
Moonface
Roar Guru
Read this too: http://www.ausport.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/377069/ERASS_Report_2009.pdf
Moonface
Roar Guru
Soccer is already mainstream - its the most popular played sport in the country - about 1 in 10 Australians play or watch soccer regularly. http://www.ausport.gov.au/participating It is the most popular sport in the world by a long way too. I think Art is saying that we need truth in journalism - not more brainwashing with 19th century stereoptypes. Surely we deserve better than that.
Moonface
Roar Guru
Great story about Langerak and he did well in his debut in a 3-1 win against Bayern, one of the biggest clubs in Europe. In front of a sell out crowd of 66K - obviously people not too afraid to watch soccer in "fascist" Germany. Great writing Art, Soccer knocking has being going on for years from the AFL and NRL press and the "soccer violence" headline always sells a couple more newspapers. The facts or truth are not important - maximising profits is. The good thing was that the Sydney and NSW press didn't pay any heed to what was a typical Melbourne AFL story. They are not so paranoid about soccer up here, as Demetriou and the AFL are.
Fussball ist unser leben
Roar Guru
Well if you actually want to watch a decent news service that explores issues beyond "motor vehicle accidents in the suburbs" or "animals being rescued by firemen" you need a decent news service like CNN or SBS's World News. Yesterday, Channel 7's news items featured rubbish about Ricky Nixon, a guy walking his dogs getting into a fight and a family who can't get to their rural property b/c a bridge had fallen down! Only after these momentous stories were aired did they have a brief update on the crisis in Libya!! PS: When you follow a global sport, a program like CNN's World Sport provides valuable insights that are beyond the comprehension of the Aussie commercial networks ... funnily enough, I don't recall seeing any stories on CNN's World Sport relating to ARF ... even though ARF is, alleged, "the greatest sport in the world". http://edition.cnn.com/SPORT/
Tortion
Guest
There were probably more than 8000 there though.
Tortion
Guest
You really watch CNN? Wow we are more americanised than I thought. I quite clearly meant the Australian commercial media - the usual scape goat.
Roger
Guest
Hahaha. Nice one JVGO. I was there, with my wife, and my friends from work (who are largely AFL supporters). We were "caught" in the "middle of it". It was awesome and we had a blast. At no time did we ever feel "unsafe", except for maybe the police on horseback behind us pushing the crowd.
Australian Football
Roar Guru
Good read Art----I don't think anyone is surprised with what the Sun Herald write anymore---they are an AFL propaganda machine trying to destroy Australian Football as we know it.
pike64
Guest
to make AFL fans happy i guess what football should do is copy th AFL game. that way they can be popular in the southern states of Australia and be ignored in the rest of the world...including northern australia. lets get real. football is the most popular game in the world for a reason (whether afl fans can see it or not) and it or its fans don't need to change their style to appease southern australians. in fact southern australians are so miniscule in number that their favourite sport doesn't even rate as one of the world's greatest sports. why would you risk losing billions of fans to win over a few hundred thousand victorians, south australians and west australians? it is a dead set no brainer!!!!! here we are 150 years after afl was codified and it's still trying to win over australia and let's not forget it was kicked out of sydney by rugby league. the herald sun may support afl now, but as the sporting tastes change with the internet generations so the herald sun will change its sporting focus to represent it's more open minded readers.