Departing slightly from the question of what Dustin Martin did to a woman in a restaurant last weekend, it would appear the AFL have once again tripped themselves up in doing what they do: attempting to gain control of a situation and engineer an outcome.
3AW Drive host Tom Elliott spoke to the woman at the centre of the allegation before his Friday program, later relaying to listeners that “it’s safe to say she’s not happy with the AFL”.
Elliott was told that the woman in question “feels aggrieved and undermined” by the AFL’s handling of the situation, in which she says the league “encouraged her to water down her version of events”, and most damningly, that “somebody senior in the AFL has leaked information to journalists in an attempt to discredit her”.
It’s only one side of the story – the AFL is yet to respond – but let’s be honest: this sort of thing would hardly be a departure from type.
When faced with scandal, it’s long been the AFL’s modus operandi to get their arms around the issue, and not let go until the oxygen is gone.
Problem is, their grip isn’t that strong these days.
This one comes on the heels of another example, as a new book on the life and career of late AFL coach Dean Bailey was launched last week. Amongst much else, the book details the behaviour of the AFL during its ‘investigation’ into allegations that Melbourne tanked for draft picks. That’s the investigation where all were found not guilty, but punished anyway.
The book alleges that Bailey accepted his sanction, a 16-week suspension from the game, only after none other than Gillon McLachlan – now AFL CEO – told him his other option was to “never work in football again”.
And at the risk of wading into the god-forsaken Essendon drugs saga, it’s due in considerable part to the AFL’s interference and ‘management’ that what started as a sordid affair has become a never-ending horror story.
Crisis management AFL-style damns pithy notions of truth, transparency and process, opting instead to draw parties together on the story of least damage – usually a twisted one that insults the intelligence of anybody listening – and repeat it until the siren sounds. Or doesn’t sound, in the Essendon case.
The issues with this approach are three-fold.
First, it’s irresponsible toward the parties in question, guilty or innocent. Normally that’s unfair; when it’s a woman who’s allegedly been subjected to threats of violence, it’s downright ugly.
Second, it takes the piss out of the very people who own the game – the supporters. The AFL shamelessly insults people’s intelligence as it explains these conclusions with a straight face. While that mightn’t seem to matter here and there, it builds up a bank of ill will which isn’t forgotten.
It’s about the long term. Chipping away at people’s faith in the game has consequences when they’re so spoiled for sporting choice.
Last but certainly not least, it doesn’t work anyway.
The AFL is the most media-saturated industry in town, sporting or otherwise. As perfectly illustrated by Elliott’s comments, anybody in this game is spoiled for choice of a media conduit to make their feelings public. Whatever the AFL was trying to hide in the first place, it not only surfaces with ease, it’s accompanied and compounded by ugly accounts of the AFL’s attempts at thought control.
As noted philosopher Tony Soprano once said, “You can’t put shit back in the donkey”. If the AFL want to continue to run things like the mob, maybe they should listen to somebody who knows the game better than them. It’s hard to look good on your hands and knees with a fistful of manure.
Aransan
Guest
Jax, I don't think the BS detector needs to be that good apart from the volume of "information" that it has to deal with. We can all relax somewhat when we understand that the media creates the news.
jax
Guest
It's easier to fool people than it is to convince them that they have been fooled - Mark Twain
jax
Guest
Yep, the mud does stick and these types of stories are often run on the front/back page for maximum exposure, damage and sensationalism. Then when they are forced to retract a story it's a 1-2 sentence retraction on an inside page. The damage has already been done which was the purpose. The media are dogs. You need a really good BS detector if you're going to consume anything mainstream. Did you see that Rupert Murdoch had British PM David Cameron and Rebekah Brooks over for Xmas drinks the other day? He only had 12 guests over and these were two of them. How cosy, Murdoch has been running a massive anti-Corbyn (Labor leader) propaganda campaign for months and it's escalating. The Sun was recently forced to issue a retraction after making false claims against Corbyn because he is anti-war and anti-EU. We can't have a dissenting voice in a western democracy going up against the establishment now can we and God-forbid ever giving the public two sides of a story. Did you know that the Daily Telegraph (UK) was just fined £30,000 for emailing their subscribers and urging them to vote conservative? They should have been fined £1billion for trying to sway the outcome of an election. What sort of deterrent is a 30k fine to a media conglomerate and what message does that send? Govt, big business and the media (media is big business) are in bed together working hard to ensure that their interests remain protected. The interests of the people aren't important to any of them, they just want your vote and then they want you to be quiet and obedient until the next election where they will do another rinse and repeat on you. Obama's 2008 presidential campaign won an award for the best marketing campaign of 2008. That's all an election is.
Justin Thighm
Roar Guru
The AFL have a right to protect their investments and they are well positioned to do it with over 100 professionals in their media department and a foothold in the general media and every level of government. I'm sure every judge in Melbourne is probably an ex-player or ex-official and has no problem doing favours. I'm surprised at the level of surprise and indignation that the AFL would behave like this. :)
Don Freo
Guest
Ah...well this is probably for another forum but I have long argued that the press should not name names until a charge is proven in court. Shock jock stations, like 3AW, never retract or apologize. They just carry on with the next rumour. Mud sticks...which is why slander is so wrong.
Dean
Guest
There's a lot of obfuscation coming out of the Richmond end, people saying it's been blown out of proportion, but nobody has questioned what he did or what he said. And he says he can't remember it. So it's her word against some random's probably Richmond supporter. If what she said Dustin said is true, that's enough in the court of the AFL. Brought the game into disrepute.
Don Freo
Guest
Your channels are elsewhere. Not here. If a club tries to silence a misdemeanour, you need not accept the silencing. You have rights and power. Report it. Don't resign into silence and bitterness. That way, it explodes into what you have done. It is not healthy and sounds unhealthy.
Karma Miranda
Guest
Yeah, sure it is. Every other drunken thug from another walk of life who finds themselves the subject of media reports deserves all the attention heaped upon them. But if it's a Footballer, then it must be a beat-up. Because AFL players are such a persecuted group of the general community, aren't they Don?
Karma Miranda
Guest
If you follow that logic... then so should Dustin Martin.
Karma Miranda
Guest
On the contrary Don... I expect exactly the same treatment as any member of the public were I to commit common assault on an innocent bystander. However I'm almost certain that the Brisbane Lions football club wouldn't send people down to get me released from Police custody and have it all hushed up were I to do so. And for what it's worth... my Wife was the croupier at the table when it happened.
Don Freo
Guest
I guess relative anonymity allows you to just chuck out an accusation like that...but it says more about you. That's just a horrible comment. Surely you don't demand less of yourself than you do of Martin or Fevola? Why should they have to operate at a moral and behavioural level higher than yours?
Karma Miranda
Guest
The AFL (and Richmond) would do well to ask Voss about the Fevola debacle. The Lions had to drag him from the Brisbane Casino before he'd played a game up North, after he touched up a female patron, and had the whole thing hushed up. Look what good that did them. Martin seems to be cut from the same cloth.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
If what has come out is true, I would say being threatened by the player then said player punching the wall next to her head would hardly be trivial.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
I liked Bartlett's comments on a penalty.
Penster
Guest
A mirror - I wish. Can't find anyone to pay me $500k per year doing anything, let alone something I enjoy. Get told to go home a lot tho.
Aransan
Guest
Good one Don!
Don Freo
Guest
There may well be a puff of smoke a a glimmer of a mirror in all this but I like this comment a lot Penster. "Go home"...or better still, go to a mate's or mum and dad's for a barbie. Get a girlfriend or a boyfriend and settle down.
Penster
Guest
This comment is to Wayne Stringer, not the author of the piece. Won't allow me to edit.
Penster
Guest
Poor Dusty. Has no one explained to him (and you), that police and employers take a dim view of aggressive drunken death threats? Your comments are all pointing towards Dusty the hard done by, but he's actually an undisciplined deekhead with form, earning more than $500k pa playing footy courtesy of ........... the media. Next time, Dusty, check that the person you're attacking isn't employed by a media organisation, or better still GO HOME!
Peter McConvill
Roar Rookie
Utter Rubbish. ´Tracey´knew all the details of the incident on Saturday night and didnt report it to the cops. ´Tracey knew all the details on Sunday and Channel 7 (her employer) but not the cops. On Monday morning the ´Tracey, Channel 7, the AFL, the club and Dustin all knew about the incident and done some level of thinking - no one decided to call the cops. By midday Monday EVERYONE knew about the incident it was on every news site, TV station and radio spot. No one thought to call the cops but even they would have know something was up. Tues, Wed, Thurs and the AFL is publically announcing every step thay are taking, they are publically announcing their intention to investigate, they named their investigators. The cops, unless they have a self imposed media blackout knew all this and elected to do nothing, Tracey knew all this and elected to talk to Channel 7 and other mates in the media BUT NOT THE COPS. Finally, the AFL finishes a prelim investigation, so far the only people actually interested in doing anything and basically says "there´s nothing much to see" but realize they cant say that and formally ask the cops to investigate (something ANYONE ELSE could have done AT ANY TIME). And yet the AFL is the bad guy. Despite doing everything in the open, saying exactly what they were doing they are the ones hiding information and suppressing the truth. Rubbish, lunatic conspiracy theory.