As happens every time a person gets recognition, a tidal wave of armchair critics have to wreck the occasion.
Tayla Harris’ now famous kicking style has been immortalised with a bronze statue that will stay at Melbourne’s Federation Square throughout the AFL finals.
And as tends to be the case on social media when the comments outweigh the likes, the public’s view tends to lean towards the negative.
Some labelled the statue a joke, pointing to the fact a lot of iconic footballers do not have their own statues. Some think female footballers have not yet earned statues, and others think getting bullied online does not merit a statue.
Most of the reasons for why such a statue is a positive thing should not require explaining, but I will do so regardless.
Firstly, there is not some committee that sits around deciding who deserves a statue and who does not. The amount of people who list other people they deem worthy of statues more than Tayla Harris is extraordinary. I would be extremely curious to know why such people care.
But given those people evidently think statues mean something, I would point out that this is not just a statue of Tayla Harris, and was never claimed to only be that.
Women’s sports in Australia is in the midst of a revolution, and we move ever closer to a time where a larger number of women can play sport professionally.
Many males who are uncomfortable with this love to take to social media to voice their disapproval of the standards of women’s sports, as if simply not watching them will not suffice.
Online trolling compounds the problem. When the image of Harris’ kick went viral, trolls vilified her.
(Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Media)
It was an extraordinary image due to the level of athleticism on display. An image that should be used as an advertisement for women’s sport was hijacked by quite a large number of disgusting individuals who chose to demean Harris.
What the image will be in 20 years – just as the image of Nicky Winmar pointing to the colour of his skin is now – will be a representation of where society once was, and where it has moved to.
It will – and probably already does – represent a shift in thinking towards proper respect for women, and a celebration of their achievement.
Evidently, society has already made significant steps in addressing this, and is broadly on the improve, but this issue demonstrated we still have a long way to come.
To those who claimed Tayla Harris has not achieved enough on the football field to have earned a statue, it’s obvious the statue transcends sporting achievement.
Statues are about symbolism, and this particular statue does not represent the achievements of one sports person, but the idea that women should be free to achieve without being vilified.
Downsey
Roar Pro
I'm late to this read but thanks for supporting the statue. My main thought for many of the media critics was simply that they weren't the intended audience so they were never going to get it. When you see the photos of all the young girls rallying around Tayla and the statue, you get a better sense of what it's all about it and what value it has.
Shane
Guest
What exactly is "outrage over substance"? I am guessing it looks a lot like your comment here.
Zlatan
Roar Rookie
I am sure you will survive.
Penster
Roar Guru
I'd say so. Abuse directed at female footy players but not once instance of abuse has derived from male footy players. They both cop it online but never have I seen (nor was I prepared for) the abuse hurled at the right of the girls to play, to represent, to be paid for it. Disgraceful stuff.
Pope Paul VII
Roar Rookie
This is a waste of money and time. How dare they take money from our Footy Fan Statue Fund for this travesty? And the time wasting!? Some bozo sculptor wasting time on a Tayla Harris. Outrageous! He should be doing a more worthy project, such as a rendition of "Babyfaced Assassin Greene attacking Saint Bont in the style (reversed) of St George and the Dragon". We should all petition Statues Australia to put an end to this sort of behaviour.
R2k
Guest
The line that leapt out at me was the first paragraph. You announce that the tidal wave of armchair critics wreck the occasion whenever a person gets recognition. Now that to me felt like an address to the critics in this situation especially at 4am. You differed between the critics based on three whole arguments. I just feel like this was a dismissive attitude to take. Honestly, I probably would have been happy with a simple theres a wide variety of critics with a range of opinions and the idea that you're going to address a subsection of them. I know not very subtle but less provocative. Indeed none of the arguments really matter because it's a commissioned statue by NAB. Their committee discussing corporate social responsibility thought it was a good move. I'm sure many worse statues have been commissioned. Yes, I completely agree that the statue doesn't imply that she's achieved more than legends of the game. I agree that people are going to make a mountain out of a mole hill, there are people who are claiming this is the worst thing ever, and there are also people claiming this is the greatest thing ever. People are upset their personal heroes get carted off to the side and a small percentage of who don't seem to understand it is a company decision rather than an afl one. At the same time I think that some trolling doesn't accelerate Tayla to the front of womens sport or even the AFLW. Do you know what I thought would've been the plan given all of the press recently? A statue of Adam Goodes. It took Winmar over a decade to be immortalised in statue. It took Tayla less than a year. At least Goodes was somewhere in the middle.
Big AL
Roar Rookie
Quote from your comment "I've seen and hear some disgraceful abuse directed at females playing footy but not one instance from a male player". Have I misunderstood
Penster
Roar Guru
Did I say that Big Al?
Big AL
Roar Rookie
Sorry Penster are you suggesting that male players dont get abused or trolled on social media??
Penster
Roar Guru
Good article. I've seen and heard some disgraceful abuse directed at females playing footy but not one instance from a male player. Usually angry, under achieving blokes who couldn't run for a bus. Love this statue and what it represents for all girls, resilience, persistence and aiming high.
Mark Scarfe
Roar Guru
Disappointing that we give a statue to a subject due to outrage over substance. Im sure we are only talking about this because someone made a lewd comment regarding the photo. While it is a great shot, its remained in our consciousness for the reasons of brotherhood/sisterhood not authentic prowess.
You'll Never Hawk Alone
Roar Pro
I am a little bit disappointed you misinterpreted what I said. If you can quote directly the part where I tarred every critic with the same part I'd be fascinated to see it. But until then, I'll state that I was quite clearly referring to some particular critics who don't know what they're talking about. Yes, art is subjective. But I think it takes the smallest sliver of imagination to realise the statue quite obviously wasn't made to say Tayla has achieved more on the football field than many legends who don't have statues. My point is that people make the issue into something it isn't
You'll Never Hawk Alone
Roar Pro
Thankyou kindly for your thoughts. Couldn’t agree with you more
JamesH
Roar Guru
I actually thought YNHA was pretty careful *not* to claim that all critics were in the same boat. 'Some people'... 'many males'... to me this doesn't tar everyone with the same brush at all.
JamesH
Roar Guru
Nice article, I think you’ve summarised the issue well. There are definitely parallels with Winmar’s statue. He was a fantastic footballer who played over 300 games but purely in terms of his footy exploits, he wasn’t an all-time great who warranted a statue. The image of Winmar pointing to his brown skin transcends him. The statue doesn’t represent him personally; it represents an iconic moment in terms of shifting attitudes towards indigenous Australians and their contributions to sport (& beyond). I don’t know if the Harris image will become as iconic but I think it’s as good a representation as any for what is undoubtedly a historic era in terms of the development of professional women’s sport.
Paul D
Roar Guru
I think it’s great. It’s important to remain on the front foot in promoting women’s footy and show the knockers and croakers that it is an important part of our game and is here to stay. No man who has a problem with women who play professional sport is worth listening to
R2k
Guest
I’m not exactly keen on the statue and I don’t really care. I just think it’s largely a waste of time and money that could be spent elsewhere but I can’t help but notice you’ve tarred everyone who criticises it with the same brush regardless of the criticism. These and I’m paraphrasing ‘men who have a problem with women playing sport professionally’ might actually have a decent idea or two somewhere in that mix worth looking at. Art is entirely subjective - you see a symbol of this women’s sporting revolution and I see a decent kick. Some people were dicks on the internet. That sucks, but it’s social media - find me a post that gets attention and there will be disagreement regardless of how positive the message may be. Did the kick need immortalisation in statue form? In my opinion no and in your opinion yes. Are both answers okay? Absolutely.