These days, on any given issue, it’s hard to work out what is a media beat-up and what is reflective of the wider public mindset.
How have we come to the position as a football watching public where the Sam Mitchell banter from the weekend is something that he is hounded into apologising for?
For those that missed it, Hawthorn’s Mitchell was engaging in some age-old footy sledging with Essendon’s Michael Hibberd, and in doing so mimed injecting something into his forearm. It was a clear reference to the supplements program that has been a black cloud over the Essendon Football Club and the AFL in general for the best part of three years.
The Essendon and Hawthorn football clubs don’t like each other. The history is long and storied, from three violent and spiteful grand finals in a row from 1983-1985, to the infamous 2004 ‘line in the sand’ game where the Richie Vandenberg-led Hawks came out swinging after half time, to 2009, when Matthew Lloyd, in the last game of his career, lined up Brad Sewell and knocked him out with a brutal shirtfront.
Footy is all the better for it when there’s some genuine dislike and spite involved. But Mitchell’s actions have to be at the lowest possible end of the scale.
Social media lit up after the incident, and immediately there was talk of unsportsmanlike behaviour, a please explain, demanding contrition from Mitchell, and it was clear that it would be the number one talking point out of the game.
There is even speculation that Mitchell may be charged with bringing the game into disrepute by the AFL. Seriously.
What a joke.
When did we become so precious?
It is even possible that people could take such an action to heart, let alone find it deeply offensive? Who is doing anything but having a bit of a laugh?
Unsportsmanlike? Give me a bloody spell.
Even James Hird felt the need to chirp up, weighed down by the massive chip on his shoulder, talking about Mitchell’s action being “naïve and idiotic” and a product of media propaganda.
It takes a special kind of deluded arrogance for him to try and claim the moral high ground on this one.
We saw similar ridiculous over-reactions to Adam Goodes doing a tribal war dance during Indigenous round earlier in the year.
Can’t the reaction ever be ‘who really cares, let’s just watch the footy’?
The biggest shame of all is that Sam Mitchell felt the need to apologise, either because he has been around long enough to read the off-field play, or because the Hawthorn officials asked it of him. I’ll run to China if he was actually remorseful.
On the field, Hawthorn players ask for no quarter, and give none. They’re known for being uncompromising and unsociable. It’s an attitude that’s played its part in winning them back-to-back premierships.
Whether it’s Jordan Lewis and Luke Hodge giving some Kangaroos a whack, Alastair Clarkson throating the drunk Adelaide fan, or Mitchell here, they should also own their actions when asked about them off the field. Such is the world we live in I suppose.
I enjoyed Roar colleague Ryan O’Connell’s take on proceedings over the weekend, when he tweeted me with, “I hope you’re writing a piece titled ‘Why Sam Mitchell’s gesture is a big deal’ which then has no words underneath the headline.”
Hopefully that sums up the attitude of anyone reading this too. If not, I just can’t fathom you.
Jason H
Roar Rookie
If the last you heard was the Bombers were innocent, then clearly you haven't been listening. I also question your ability to assess an AFL players level of dirtiness if you consider Mitchell one of the dirtiest in the AFL.
J.S
Guest
Sam Mitchell is a grub. That's the bottom line. Friendly banter is fine and welcome, this crap is not. Last I heard Bombers were innocent. Mitchell is one of the dirtiest players in the AFL and shouldn't be respected or looked up to. This is coming from a AFL supporter, not a Bombers or Hawks supported. And half the comments too are ridiculous, going right off track.
BigAl
Guest
Always been a bit of an admirer of Mitchell - thought he handled the situation well when he lost the captaincy to Hodge a couple of years ago. That's why it's disappointing to see him let himself down in such a childish, foolish and unnecessary way. And Heather, I accept Hird and his antics are in a totally different league - also, I am not a "people from Essendon" !
Living in the Past
Guest
How dare you criticise Goodes Macca. Don't you know the squirrel grip is and ancient and well known indigenous greeting ;) And Momentbymoment, why do you keep showing your Adult prejudices, by insisting people should be treated differently according to the colour their skin. It was an obvious squirrel grip/strike at the genitals, and yet you prefer to remain blind to that fact just because he's an indigenous player. I wait for the excuses for Goodes from such people as yourself if he ever got caught drink driving or something similar. I got a good bet though it would be something along the lines of "White Man" drove him to do it and that he shouldn't be punished because of it. So please, keep putting a person colour first when judging someone, as its shows where the true prejudices lie.
Casper
Guest
didn't Sam get his script. "I've let down my club, I've let down my teammates, I've let down my family and I've let down the game". Guess he then just wants to put this behind him and move on as a better person.
Jason H
Roar Rookie
That would be excellent :)
Macca
Guest
I did look at the video momentbymoment - Goodes deliberately swung his hand up and struck Hunt in the nuts. Should he have been reported or rubbed out - no but that doesn't change the fact he did it.
Momentbymoment
Guest
Couldn't agree more. I felt the same faux outrage for Sam's invisible needle as I felt for Adam's invisible spear. These comments are amusing.
Momentbymoment
Guest
Macca take the tin foil hat off and have a look at the video. Then perhaps check out Stevie J's effort against McVeigh earlier in the year, which was treated as a bit of a laugh. Then if you want to get an insight into your own school boy prejudices, you can ask why the two were treated differently.
Brian
Roar Rookie
I think that Sam Mitchell may (or may not) wish he'd slagged Essendon a bit less noticeably in the middle of a hotly contested match, considering the furor his gesture has created. On the other hand, I'm completely with you, at the time I thought nothing of it, that Essendon's players seemed a bit chagrined as a result actually appeared to indicate their complicity in the whole "performance enhancment" episode. James Hird sure has a short memory, doesn't he? To be brutally honest, if that whole scandal had occurred in one of the major US sports leagues Hird would still be in exile perhaps forever, with no one paying attention to him, maybe tending roses in his garden instead of foolishly tweeking that he hates (Hawthorn) most of all. Giving the Hawks extra incentive to beat the Bombers, yeah, that was smart!
Brian
Roar Rookie
While I agree that players that duck the head should not be rewarded, I feel that some players getting high contact calls are doing it artfully enough that it would be hard on umpires to be asked to discern intent. However, I MIGHT like to see a rule that bans the "Selwood move" (my term) where the player in question raises the opponents arm with his own to CREATE high contact, I see instituting that rule as eliminating a fair chunk of undeserved high contact calls... it's an obvious action and would be easy to eliminate from the game. As for Puopolo's "lean" I feel a lot less antagonized by that particular move because it takes a skilled player to carry it off, otherwise it's simply a matter of the player going to ground... and as I mentioned before it would be very hard for the Umps to call
Spooky
Guest
It was like the school bully getting told to say sorry to the kid he hit.
Jano
Guest
The mental health concerns mean those players who are suffering should be given as much leave as they need, with full pay, and all the counselling they need.
Jano
Guest
No-one on the field had a problem with the sledge. No-one. The 'apology' was patently ordered from higher up - either within Hawthorn or the AFL hierarchy. Mitchell verbalised regret, but there was zero remorse.
Spooky
Guest
I'm not sure what is and isn't acceptable standards for sledging the other team. But I do feel sorry for the players of Essendon, and the Dark cloud that continues to hover over there careers. They would all be concerned with potentially career ending/damaging sanctions coming there way. Do the mental health concerns make this topic of sledging off limits?
Cameron Rose
Expert
I was being a bit facetious there Perry, but more referring to his staging and blatant playing for free kicks. There's a fine line between the way a Selwood and Thomas go about it in my opinion. He wasn't in the wrong for either of the Rohan or Reid incidents in my opinion. I 100% agree with you, I'm sick of rule changes that try and make up for lack of awareness of players (as you refer to with Reid and Kosi).
Cameron Rose
Expert
Thanks Alanna, and well said yourself. Perfectly summed up.
Cameron Rose
Expert
Wow, I didn't hear that Billy, that's confounding if true. Professional sports people are basically trying to end each others careers each time they step out there. For every one that thrives, there has to be at least that many that fail.
Cameron Rose
Expert
Excellent comment Dave, great perspective.
Gecko
Guest
I still think Mitchell is a decent and sophisticated adult human being. If this is his biggest 'blemish' in well over a decade of footy, he's an angel.