Saturday, June 13, 2009
Who's Afraid? - brief update #17
When the football refusers start to clutch at straws, it can be amusing to watch.
Can't criticise the Socceroos for their off-field antics? Tired of veiled references to how boring they have become under Pim Verbeek? No worries. Rugby league writers like Mr. Swanton (mysteriously given leave to write about football) can carp at them for, well, erm, being exemplary sportsmen.
The portion of this utterly risible piece that really evokes a cringe is Mr. Swanton's justification-with-a-pathetic-caveat of the NRL and its culture. Just feel the squirming...
For all the NRL's troubles, it's some kind of circus, right? Circus is a completely inappropriate term to describe a sport mired in sexual assault allegations, positive drug tests, alcoholism and whatever else is going on, but it's impossible to ignore. It's just such a...circus. Clowns to the left of David Gallop, jokers to his right. Good guys, bad guys, the kind of real-life drama that Serena Williams only gets on HBO. And without doubt the most impossible-to-ignore show in town.
Others might conclude (if they hadn't already concluded, given the competition's history over the last decade or so) that the NRL is a breeding-ground of rampant misogyny and testosterone-fuelled excess of all kinds, to which the sport's administrators have repeatedly turned a semi-blind eye.
But nah, it's just a bit of drama, just a bit of a circus.
Fairfax, shame on you for allowing that piece of puerile drivel to go to print.
Can't criticise the Socceroos for their off-field antics? Tired of veiled references to how boring they have become under Pim Verbeek? No worries. Rugby league writers like Mr. Swanton (mysteriously given leave to write about football) can carp at them for, well, erm, being exemplary sportsmen.
The portion of this utterly risible piece that really evokes a cringe is Mr. Swanton's justification-with-a-pathetic-caveat of the NRL and its culture. Just feel the squirming...
For all the NRL's troubles, it's some kind of circus, right? Circus is a completely inappropriate term to describe a sport mired in sexual assault allegations, positive drug tests, alcoholism and whatever else is going on, but it's impossible to ignore. It's just such a...circus. Clowns to the left of David Gallop, jokers to his right. Good guys, bad guys, the kind of real-life drama that Serena Williams only gets on HBO. And without doubt the most impossible-to-ignore show in town.
Others might conclude (if they hadn't already concluded, given the competition's history over the last decade or so) that the NRL is a breeding-ground of rampant misogyny and testosterone-fuelled excess of all kinds, to which the sport's administrators have repeatedly turned a semi-blind eye.
But nah, it's just a bit of drama, just a bit of a circus.
Fairfax, shame on you for allowing that piece of puerile drivel to go to print.
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Love it. I'm beginning to wonder if these guys are on the take from the FFA. They're doing a brilliant job of creating soccer news.
...You watch these fools go to town now due to Tim Cahill's "incident" at Kings Cross...
They already have...blogging on that one later today.
Fairfax may occasionally allow pieces of dribble like the above to go into print, but for the real men-in-white-coats football refuser stuff, you can always trust the Murdoch gang. ;-)
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They already have...blogging on that one later today.
Fairfax may occasionally allow pieces of dribble like the above to go into print, but for the real men-in-white-coats football refuser stuff, you can always trust the Murdoch gang. ;-)
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