I know your kind well enough.
You’re the one sitting there shaking your head because your afternoon has been interrupted by another parcel of reactionary, pinko print designed to extract an apology from the guiltless.
You’re the one who thinks it’s all a beat up. The one who thinks people need to get out more. The one for whom it’s all just banter in the heat of battle.
The one who’s ‘not racist, but…’.
By the time you read this perhaps last week’s hoopla will have died down. The issue will have filled a spinnaker, tootled off, and any new breeze will be devoted to a new round upon which so much rests for you and your proud club.
But problem is the wind always picks up again and the same the issue keeps sailing back on it.
Why? Because perpetrators don’t change. In their heart they’re never wrong. Instead they’re momentarily stung, inconvenienced into a mealy-mouthed apology forced upon them by a painfully pompous intellectual elite.
We’ve tried making things hurt a little, of course. Player racism has been leapt upon by rule makers.
But is the tail struggling to wag a stubborn, deaf hound?
Think of it this way.
If a player is accused of racial abuse, he is lambasted, subjected to mediation, suspended and/or fined, and then counselled before being thrust back into a peer environment in which there is every chance he will work closely with a teammate whose genetics inspired his original idiocy. His foolishness will follow him around. It is probable he’ll learn a hard lesson. It is unlikely he will reoffend.
But if a member of Joe or Joanne Public is accused of racial abuse, they’ll remain pretty much anonymous unless outed by social media or by a grainy image in some rag. A membership may be torn up (doesn’t that represent a cost saving to the guilty party? Discuss). And that’s about the extent of it until the next similar incident deems the last relatively redundant.
Meanwhile, Joe or Joanne will resume life in a peer environment that no doubt had a significant say in what carried abuse from head to mouth unimpeded by brain and uncensored by heart. Perhaps they’ll be comforted by sympathetic friends and family. Besides, footballers are paid a fortune and need to have a thicker skin. White footballers cop it every week, so black footballers shouldn’t be treated any different. Nick Riewoldt doesn’t complain about being called a weak albino. Gary Ablett doesn’t whine about being a called a Biblebasher. Hayden Ballantyne doesn’t moan about being called a midget pest.
No. The perpetrator will be reassured that they are the victim, that there was nothing in it, that the world’s gone mad around them, or that – as one Twitter user attempted to argue – it’s all just racism in reverse:
‘If Goodes kicks a goal next game and a Sydney supporter yells out, “Magilla, you f*cking ripper” will he be evicted and lose his membership?’
You know it makes sense.
For years we have heard of the unacceptability of racism at any level, but still it exists.
The AFL has done what it can to manage its own. But what of those who exist in the outer?
Those weekend warriors who douse themselves in merch and pump themselves full of overpriced mid-strength until they’re brave enough to spit vitriol?
Who really polices their behaviour?
Mothers? Fathers? Friends?
Birds of a feather flock together do they not?
Something is deadest rotten out there.
It is only you, dear apologist, who is impervious to the stench.
The Essendon member who dobbed in the latest racist dunce deserves the highest praise.
But what would have happened had that supporter not piped up?
What of the dozens of others within earshot not only then but every other time something like it happened? What inspired their silence? Fear? Or did they think it was funny? Did they think nothing of it at all? Had they heard it all before?
Is there a subculture within certain clubs that allows this sort of thing to fester? Booing an injured umpire is horribly ugly. Is that kind of mob cowardice indicative?
I remember only too well the bile heaped upon the under-equipped Gold Coast Suns when back in 2011, the Bombers had raced to near enough to 100 ahead at quarter time. The Suns kids – and mostly they were actual, real kids – were ‘weak c-nts’. Ablett was a ‘weak, scab dog’. Do I put two and two together as far as the Bombers are concerned? Is this just how that club is?
What aspersions should I cast on the Bulldogs in the wake of allegations of racism levelled at one of its members? Who inhabits that particular clan?
Troubled by my broad brushstrokes?
Maybe you should be. Maybe you couldn’t give a toss.
Or maybe it’s time to peel off the scarf and beanie we wear as armour and question what’s really in play.
It is not right to go on the way we are.
It is not good enough to rest upon the fact that the occasional bad egg exists in the odd pre-packaged dozen.
That is no defence. That is a total cop out.
We should be better than this muck.
As far as racism is concerned, a shredded membership card alone will not clean the soiled bedding.
Time instead to start tossing a genuinely heavy book at those pathetic few who can’t be told.
And while we’re at it perhaps it’s time for the rest of us to take a wander down a hall of mirrors and ponder what we want our kids to remember when we bring them with us to the footy.
Passion is bedrock in this game. But what have we let it become?
That is a question that needs some serious thought.
Knightblues
Roar Guru
If we are not brave enough to shut the big mouths up around us, who courageously scream obscenity's at the players from the safety of the crowd, then the law will do it for us. Unfortunately this outcome has the effect of continuing our gradual descent into a big brother security state, that takes care of all our problems, real or imagined.
AdamS
Roar Guru
i think he is waiting for someone to disagree so he can out them. Well, I'm neither racist nor a victim of racism and rarely see genuine racist acts. Same with being gay, old, fat or being a ginger. I do hate News South Welshmen at Origin time though, is that ok? or am I being an intolerant stateist? It's the nature of people to be tribal and that will always breed a level of intolerance in some, for some. Can it be ugly at times? Sure, but the answer is not thought police and witch trails..... The lack of tolerance for others intolerance in this piece is way over the top.
Chris Murray
Guest
Good stuff. Can't imagine the crap Bachar Houli must cop. As the slogan says "it stops with us". Takes real courage to stand up to your mates.
BigAl
Guest
I will accept that the author means well, but I personally am steeling myself for what seems the inevitable, where some little kid is proudly trawled up by A Current Affair et al, for having denounced to the relevant authorities, his bogan dad for making racist comments in front of the tele in the lounge room.
SportsFingers
Roar Pro
I fully agree.
Banana Bob
Guest
Storm in a pea cup. Get a life Princess (Yeah I'm one of them Champ)
bryan
Guest
I thought the Bombers fans booing the hurt umpire was just as bad. But, if we stop to think about it, this is a very hard problem. We all attend the game for the experience... god knows you get a better view on telly, don't have 30mins of sitting in traffic or have to pay $50 for a beer. Part of that experience involves cheering, which can be positive or negative. Positive cheering is well and good, but lets be honest, there is 10% of the human race who are straight out D%$kheads. Those type of people love abusing the opposition, and we even market to that crowd (who does hate the pies) Anyway, this is a round about way of getting to the point. The point of negative cheering is to "get to" an opposition player, and put them off their game. Normally it is stupid, moronic, and bad manners. But for the majority of negative cheering, the person doing the cheering doesn't really care what they are saying, its more how they are saying it, and who they are saying it at. I'd almost call the racism a sideline, which is people who just don't know where the line is. I personally have been involve with 2 very memorable versions of negative cheering. 1 was at suncorp, for a tahs vs Reds game, just after Wendell changed from the reds to the tahs. The crowd was singing Wendell's a W#$ker for the entire game, including half time. The feeling the ground was electric, an amazing experience, and definitely put big Dell off his game. The words we were singing was almost an aside, the crowd just wanted Dell to know they were very unhappy about the betrayal. In thinking back about it, I would call this incident almost as bad as any racism, because if the first person who started the chant happened to yell out something racist, I'm sure the crowd wouldn't of cared. The 2nd incident was the Australia vs Serbia game in the world cup, with the Aussies needing to win by 3. I don't even remember who it was, but their right winger was carving our boys up, and it was looking like a bad night for the roos. But then, he made a mistake, and took a dive right in front of the fanatics. This is when the fanactics kicked into gear, and next time the game quietened down a bit, one of the guides stood up, and yelled to us that we were to boo that player anytime he got the ball. That was it, no words to be spoken. After 2-3 incidents, the entire crowd took it up, and the player lost his marbles. He ended up being subbed off about 15 minutes later. This incident showed me that negative cheering can be ok, but it must be managed, and you need the leaders of the crowd to be mature. But as anyone Copper will tell you, managing a crowd/mob is almost impossible. So as bad as these incidents are, I do not think much will change for awhile.
TomC
Roar Guru
No, Matt. No it is not. Even your explanation is vague and imprecise.
TomC
Roar Guru
I suspect you're right, Patrick. I'm struggling to figure out what the audience is, to be honest. Maybe it's just totally off my wavelength but I'm not sure who it's meant to convince. For that matter, I'm not sure what it's meant to convince them of.
Matt
Guest
My argument is pretty clear. At least I think it is! Racist players get educated. Perpetrators outside the playing arena scurry off into safe houses and little changes. I'm merely suggesting that the hotbed of vitriol that exists in the stands each week under the guise of passion is not as innocent as we've let ourselves think it is.
Patrick Effeney
Editor
I would say it's a technique he's employing, more than a dig at your general reader, but I'll leave that for Matt to clear up.
ciudadmarron
Guest
Punishment leads to a victim mentality in the abuser. Education is the key. Goodes did exactly the right thing in working with the girl last time (from memory this is what he did). Regardless of what her understanding was at the time, this is the way to go about it. Force the person dishing out the abuse to actually engage with the person abused and try and get them to see the other side of what they are doing. But everyone should be willing to call the person out as it's happening, as the fans did in this most recent case and as they have in others.
Paul D
Roar Guru
I think he’s picked the wrong audience, to be honest. I haven’t ever encountered racism on the roar, and yet he comes in here, jumps on the soapbox and proceeds to scream what a bunch of appalling enablers of racism we all are. I found it rather offputting. Shameless moral preening, intended only for the author’s own nourishment of his ego, while at the same time unloading entirely unjustified accusations at his audience.
Paul D
Roar Guru
Well, I realise I'm going to invite brickbats, but I'm not going to slavishly agree with you - at least not totally. For one thing, what’s your solution – what is contained within your genuinely heavy book? The nub of the problem is, as you say, that certain people can never be told, and will never be convinced. It only takes a few seconds for some Neanderthal to open their mouth and spray racial abuse – I don’t see how any reasonable member of the public can be expected to anticipate something like that, which is always totally unpredicted. It’s not like a flashing light pops up above people who are about to unload with something offensive. These incidents always provoke much wailing and gnashing of teeth, but I think what is often lost is that the perpetrators are always condemned by those around them – I don’t see members of the public lining up to defend these people when they’re exposed for the racists that they are. So what’s your beef? That not everyone around them lined up to put the boot into this person? That the crowd around this person didn’t all desperately try to outdo each other in reaching new heights of outrage and condemnation? I think you're marking the crowd way too harshly. Were you there when it happened? Or merely wishing you were there so you could have led the choir of outraged, appalled sensibilities? I firmly believe that condemnation from peers around them will always go a long way further towards silencing these people than amount of blather or imposition from the morally outraged brigade. That condemnation occurs every time one of these incidents happens. What you’re demanding is total abolition, the weeding out of every racist heart in the country. It’s not going to happen, I can tell you that now. Plenty of ignorant people out there, always has been, always will. But provided racism continues received with the contempt it deserves – and it is – then I feel that we are putting our best step forward. I make no apology for preferring realistic solutions over utopian ones.
TomC
Roar Guru
I'm just really confused, to be honest. I agree that racism in sport is abhorrent and we should punish those guilty of it. Those ideas are implicit in the article (I think). Beyond that I'm struggling to understand Matt's point.
TomC
Roar Guru
I've only made it through the first four lines so far and already it feels like Matt is on the defensive. I'm a bit nervous about what comes next.