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Why is classism accepted when it comes to rugby league?

Roar Rookie
11th May, 2020
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Roar Rookie
11th May, 2020
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When did bashing the NRL become the socially acceptable form of classism?

In a world that sees so many people walking on egg shells to avoid the prospect of offending people, I’ve had to marvel at the ease in which so many public personalities have been able to level nasty-spirited assertions toward an entire group of people – in this case the rugby league community.

In the wake of the NRL’s plan to restart on May 28, social media hacks and mainstream journalists alike have pilloried the sport with venomous barbs, slamming the code, its administrators, its players and its fans, strongly implying anybody supportive of the sport must be a moron – and a self-interested one at that.

If said commentators were willing to engage in the conversation on the basis of germ theory or the merits of public health policy, then no doubt it would have added a valuable contribution to the public narrative.

But this has rarely happened.

The NRL’s decision to play on at the end of May, now vindicated by a stream of green lights granted from state and federal government health authorities, was instead met with a barrage of childish derision and classist rhetoric.

“What would these NRL d**kheads know about science anyway?” was the not-so-subtle subtext from many public commentators and journalists sporting blue ticks on Twitter.

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Here are a few choice tweets that have gained traction in the thousands recently. This one comes from prominent Fairfax cartoonist Cathy Wilcox when referring to the recent social distancing breaches:

No Cathy, you were close though, if you had halved your gratuitous jibe and applied it to yourself you would have been in the ballpark.

But the really worrying aspect of her comment is that this is a woman who has championed a range of commendable causes, like violence against women and affordable housing, and yet when the lens of this ‘presumably’ compassionate view of the world is focussed on a game that has grown from the country’s working-class roots, we get nothing but spurn, condescension and distain.

Here’s another tweet met with much back slapping and smug grins from the followers of veteran journalist Mike Carlton.

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Okay Mike, I will have a chat about it since you’ve brought it up, but try not to choke on your expensive Penfolds Bin 95 Shiraz while the battlers are speaking.

Imagine for a moment we removed the words “NRL players” in your statement in exchange for another eclectic group of people, like, let’s say, women? Or the elderly? Because if he had Mike would have been de-platformed quicker than a carnivore at a kale festival.

But it seems to chastise an entire group of people on the basis of the actions of a few, so long as they support the game of rugby league, doesn’t only make you immune to such social sanctions, it warrants collective commendation, as though the view has somehow made the world a better place.

Well, they don’t. They are bigoted views. And bigotry is a corrosive force that makes the world a less inviting and less enjoyable place.

Now, is the NRL filled with constantly law-abiding neurologists? No. The sport continues to grapple with problems like domestic violence, drug addiction, gambling, to name just a few.

But the social problems this cohort of privileged commentators would have you believe has been cultivated within the confines of the game is simply not accurate.

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After all, these are the same issues experienced more prevalently by people in low socio-economic brackets, the data is out there for all to see. Rugby league is a mirror for scourges such as alcoholism and domestic violence, it is not the author of them.

And when you look at the great strides the NRL has taken in recent times to stamp out these problems in the game, it makes this contempt for rugby league, and everybody in it, even more galling.

Penalties are harsher than they’ve ever been for anti-social behaviour, a great deal of funding has been invested into mental health programs to counsel players suffering from depression, a proven precursor to violence and alcoholism, and inclusivity has been at the forefront of the game’s modern direction.

This is evidenced by the NRL’s latest season campaign push, the message is clear, come one come all, so long as you love the game, we want you here too.

Latrell Mitchell with the Indigenous All Stars

(Kelly Defina/Getty Images)

You would think these landmark gains would be met with a softening from the elite, but it hasn’t, if anything it seems to have strengthened their resolve.

The shoves seems harder now than ever to keep the blue collar game away from the sophisticated people’s dinner parties and this, I’m afraid ladies and gentlemen, is classism in the raw.

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Perhaps most shockingly of all, these sneering slurs have invariably come from the people who claim to be the most vocal about protecting the country’s less fortunate. Left wing journos, social activists, academics, Peter FitzSimons – there’s a concerning pattern here.

In the interests of full disclosure, I too consider myself to be left leaning. I believe a country should be judged by how well it treats its weakest members, a fact that makes this prejudiced phenomenon all the more unnerving for someone such as myself.

So my message to these brazen NRL bashers is this, make no mistake, if you’re deriding everybody associated with the NRL for being drunks, rapists and stupid, you’re not making some highbrow intellectual point, you’re no better than an aristocrat laughing at the poor.

So please spread the word around your respective country clubs and croquet tournaments, the NRL is willing to accept your membership now, we don’t discriminate on the basis of race, gender, age, sexual orientation or disability, we hope you get there one day too.

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