Why I hate Australian Rules

I hate AFL. I don't watch it, I'm not interested. 

One of the reasons I hate AFL is because it celebrates people like Jason Akermanis.  His article in today's Herald Sun made me want to smash my computer. 

How is it that this person, and people like him (I'm looking at you Sam Newman) have a public voice where they can spout their archaic, homophobic, misogynistic bullshit and the public lap it up like the archaic, homophobic, misogynistic lemmings that they are?

People like Jason Akermanis shouldn't have a public voice - because their opinions can't be backed up with anything even slightly tangible. Here is a supposedly heterosexual man  spouting some half-cocked idea about how he thinks gay people should lead their lives. He's not gay, he's not a psychologist, he's not a sociology major, he's not an expert in sexual health or in suicide prevention - he's a footballer, and that is all. He has no place to publicly comment on the issue of homosexuality in sport. He has no place commenting on anything other than football - the actual game - not whatever does or doesn't happen in the locker room.

Everyone has a right to their own opinion and everyone's opinions are more frequently heard thanks to new media. But Jason Akermanis' opinion is broadcast on commercial radio and printed in commercial newspapers. This gives him 'voice of God' status - meaning that to some people, his opinions are seen as fact. It also means that in the public sphere, other people who think his opinions are fantastic can stand up, pump their fist in the air and say "Yeah! I'm a homophobic asshole too and I say NO gays in sport!" - and they can feel that they are completely justified in saying this, because JASON AKERMANIS thinks so.

I've been trying to write this for a while now, but due to the fact that I am furious, disappointed and ... furious ... it is very difficult to be as articulate as I'd like to be. 

Jason Akermanis is a scared little man. Scared that a gay teammate might glance at him in the shower and he might feel a twinge in his nether regions - which would obviously make him gay. Scared that a group of people he has spent his life assuming were beneath him might actually stand up for themselves against him and people like him and prove that they collectively have more talent, intellect, guts and masculinity than he has in his little finger (or any other *little* appendage he might be compensating for).

I know that not all AFL players are idiots. This article by Adam Gooodes in The Age is excellent. Unlike Akermanis, Goodes actually can talk about Indigenous players because he actually has some experience being one.

I don't care how much Akermanis tries to defend his comments with "I don't hate the gays, some of my best friends are gay" type comments - he is a stupid little man with idiotic opinions that he should keep to himself. 

A fantastic response here from Jack Marx and Ian Roberts speaking on 2UE here. 

Here is the Western Bulldog's official response and I particularly like the photo advocate.com have chosen for their story.

The AFL Footy Show is, as I type, very formally backing away from Akermanis' comments - although Sam Newman's lisping pronunciation of 'homosexual' makes it quite clear what position he takes (- missionary, one would assume).

I want to hear informed, educated opinion from people who know what they're talking about - unfortunately the voices that we hear in Australian mainstream, commercial media are more often than not uneducated, uninformed, bigoted and downright idiotic. 

I'm off to watch Christopher Hitchens on Lateline. Thank Dog for Tony Jones. 

It's baaaaaaack ...

The 2009 Community Cup is on this Sunday the 21st of June and promises to be a wonderland of rock, sport, comedy and good times.

The Community Cup is an Aussie Rules football game like no other. Pitting the sporting prowess of Melbourne radio stations Triple R and PBS (team-name "Megahertz") against a dangerous group of angst-ridden musicians known as the "Espy Rockdogs". The game sounds like entertainment enough - but the entertainment starts well before kick-off.

Enter stage-left; Cosmic Psychos, Kram, Doll Squad, Jordie Lane and the Scared Weird Little Guys.

Money raised on the day is going to Reclink, "a charitable organisation whose mission is to provide sporting, social and arts activities to enhance the lives of people experiencing disadvantage" (from the website).

There's heaps more info at the official site here. Entry is $5, bands start at 11am, kick-off is at 2:30pm.

There will also be a doco on channel 31 by Stratos Pavlis - this Thursday the 18th;


Here's a brilliant pic of Tim Rogers lining up his second goal in the last Community Cup - this is by Matt Carr and can be found on the official Community Cup flickr page here.

* please note public transport is encouraged as there is no parking at Elsternwick Park!

Sex and Football

The Matthew Johns story last week was bigger than the Budget when it came to headline news. A story of an event that happened 7 years ago was again thrust into the spotlight after the anonymous woman involved in a group-sex incident with Matthew Johns and other NRL players appeared on the ABC's Four Corners in a story about sex and sport - link to the website here.

Tracy Grimshaw then interviewed Matthew Johns and his wife Trish on A Current Affair which you can see here. (Beware: Tracy does her usual useless job of being a 'hard hitting journo' and has so much botox in her face that it's difficult for her to react with human facial expressions).

SO - since the story broke a former colleague of the woman involved has appeared in the news saying that the girl was bragging about the group sex the next day and has basically said that she was a 'slut' anyway and just wants attention.

As of today the "Support Matthew Johns" facebook group has around 150,000 members and a lot of the comments are saying things like "she was a willing participant" and "she was bragging about it" - so seemingly the word of a former-colleague was happily accepted above the girls version of the event.

And so what? So what if the girl told her workmates what happened? So what if the girl agreed to have sex with a few NRL players? Does that mean that the footballers involved are innocent and they are morally absolved?

Is a 19 year old girl mature enough to get herself out of a situation that's gone too far? I understand that some women are willing participants in group-sex activities but there are different kinds of group-sex - there is one kind that involves mutual respect and participation on all parts and there is another kind that we hear about in relation to football "end of year trips" where a team groupie is basically treated like an animal and 'run-through' by all the boys in the team.

Is Matthew Johns a hero for cheating on his wife? Seemingly if she is stupid enough to forgive him so then should his fans.

Let's talk about the sex industry. I don't care what anyone says about glass ceilings or about women's rights there is NO equality between men and women on this earth as long as women can be bought and sold as a commodity. Which sex do you see half-naked on late night TV selling phone-porn? Which sex do you see on the billboards advertising 'mens lunch special' at the Men's Gallery? Women in our society are a product - and they might not even have to be bought with cash - maybe it's jewelry or a promise of stardom - maybe it's the wonderful pleasure of being able to say they had sex with Matthew Johns *insert sarcasm here*.

Supposedly there are prostitutes who 'enjoy' their work, but when you look at the psychological make-up of these women they are using sex the same way a lot of teenage girls use sex - to get attention/affection from another member of the human race. Some of them are using it as self-punishment. Someone said to me that some prostitutes find it 'empowering' - well if that's the only way they can have power over a man I feel really sorry for them - us intelligent women just start an argument and win it *wink*.

Many representatives of the NRL have used the 'boys will be boys' defense - in that men will have sex with a women if given the chance - supposedly it's in their genetic make up. I'm sorry, but any man who walks into a room where 10 or 11 other men are lining up to have sex with a young girl and decides that he too will line up is not a man - he is an animal. I don't care if the girl is supposedly a 'willing participant' - lining up to have sex with a girl who has just had sex with 10 other men is wrong. It is treating that woman like a piece of trash. It is taking any human aspect of that woman away and degrading her.

And how about the fact that men should be able to have self-control? Or have football players been knocked in the head so many times that they have an excuse for not evolving? The men at my work were making jokes about the "she wanted it" factor the day after the Tracy Grimshaw interview. Very evolved.

Unfortunately there are women out there who want to have sex with footballers and who have no self-respect and who ultimately make life difficult for the rest of womankind who just want to lead our lives without being called "sweetie" by bus drivers or leered at by old men at the supermarket. Unfortunately because those women are happy to be treated like pieces of meat a lot of men assume ALL women can be treated this way (-except for your mums, daughters and sisters of course).

The problem, ultimately, is that most people are stupid. Men are stupid for thinking women can be treated like shit. Women are stupid for letting men treat them like shit. Unfortunately, the stupid outweigh the intelligent and the majority rules.

* I'm going to stop there because if I continue I won't be able to stop. There is no resolution to this issue.