Mitch Clark sledge cannot be the norm
Despite the persistent 'family friendly' part of the game encouraged by the AFL, issues around race, gender, sexuality and now mental health still affect…
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Thanks Dean,
Fair and reasonable points,
1) My assertion with this article was that the AFL have cracked down on racism, homophobia, etc, and that the AFL should be doing the same with mental health ‘sledges’.
2) Well as Clark reported the matter to Joel Selwood who then raised his concerns, I think it’s fair to say that something amiss was said.
3 & 5) I chose not to mention Lake for that reason.
My issue was that historically, as seen with other sporting codes, athlete mental health (and therefore suicide) is an issue, and the AFL needs to stamp out this sort of behaviour/culture around mental health. I agree that this matter did need to be handled better by the club, it’s players and the media. However, I’m saying that the AFL needs to have an overhaul on this sort of behaviour, and just because we don’t know all the facts of this one, singular case – it does not change that fact. This issue is just a catalyst – or it should be – for a change in behaviours. It’s all well and good to say we don’t know what happened, but in reality, we know enough to know that someone has been insulted/discriminated against based on a mental health issue.
Cheers.
Mitch Clark sledge cannot be the norm