Welcome to the AFLs Lip Service Week
Jul. 19th, 2012 07:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
passionpopThere is no cost to putting a name on something, something that the AFL has learned to exploit, and by giving something the right name, you can appeal to another demographic, you can market to a new sub-section and you can sell and make more money. This weeks name is “Women’s Week” and it is offensive and little more than lip service.
Don’t get me wrong, I love footy. I think Aussie Rules is the gods own game and I die at the end of each footy season only watching tennis and cricket to fill the void. It is a game that is played with the purity of man on man, not man on plastic and in a nation where sport is the soul, AFL is more than that, it is the heart and spirit as well. It is my everything.
Unfortunately the purity of the game has been tainted by ‘Management’ and marketing. These are the people who have sold our soul, burned our heart and destroyed the spirit to chase the dollars that a few cheap words can bring.
Dedicating a week to women in a mens league seems harmless, but when they talk about the efforts of women, all of them seem token. Sure there is a female umpire or well… one, and there is a few other high profile women involved in the sport, but what about women’s AFL?
When was the last time you saw ’Powder puff’ footy being played. For me it was a South Fremantle V East Fremantle Derby in the 1980s. The little league was put aside at half time and the women got a run, and the crowd really got into the game seeing the ladies hit as hard as the boys, it was a derby after all. There are women’s leagues and damn good women footy players, and where are they featured in this mans world.
Andrew Demetriou will say ‘but I have a wife, I have daughters. I understand and respect women’, but that’s like saying ‘I am not homophobic, I work with a gay guy’.
Racial taunts in the crowd and earn a supporter a year ban from the game, but what about sexist and homophobic taunts. If a Collingwood supporter said ‘you kick like a girl‘ or ‘bash the faggot‘, would they be kicked out of the MCG?
I am just using Collingwood as an example because it is not far fetched for them to say these things. Yes, Collingwood claims to be then first club in the AFL to have a ‘pink’ supporters group, but what was that really doing for their gay fans. It was only taking their money from them and segregating them from the heterosexual fans.
Differentiating types of fans beyond team does nothing for the clubs or the competition. Marketing to women by having a range of team gear in ‘softer’ colours didn’t earn the AFL fans and Women’s week is more hurtful than helpful. Try actual action, not lip service.
Thankyou.
Don’t get me wrong, I love footy. I think Aussie Rules is the gods own game and I die at the end of each footy season only watching tennis and cricket to fill the void. It is a game that is played with the purity of man on man, not man on plastic and in a nation where sport is the soul, AFL is more than that, it is the heart and spirit as well. It is my everything.
Unfortunately the purity of the game has been tainted by ‘Management’ and marketing. These are the people who have sold our soul, burned our heart and destroyed the spirit to chase the dollars that a few cheap words can bring.
Dedicating a week to women in a mens league seems harmless, but when they talk about the efforts of women, all of them seem token. Sure there is a female umpire or well… one, and there is a few other high profile women involved in the sport, but what about women’s AFL?
When was the last time you saw ’Powder puff’ footy being played. For me it was a South Fremantle V East Fremantle Derby in the 1980s. The little league was put aside at half time and the women got a run, and the crowd really got into the game seeing the ladies hit as hard as the boys, it was a derby after all. There are women’s leagues and damn good women footy players, and where are they featured in this mans world.
Andrew Demetriou will say ‘but I have a wife, I have daughters. I understand and respect women’, but that’s like saying ‘I am not homophobic, I work with a gay guy’.
Racial taunts in the crowd and earn a supporter a year ban from the game, but what about sexist and homophobic taunts. If a Collingwood supporter said ‘you kick like a girl‘ or ‘bash the faggot‘, would they be kicked out of the MCG?
I am just using Collingwood as an example because it is not far fetched for them to say these things. Yes, Collingwood claims to be then first club in the AFL to have a ‘pink’ supporters group, but what was that really doing for their gay fans. It was only taking their money from them and segregating them from the heterosexual fans.
Differentiating types of fans beyond team does nothing for the clubs or the competition. Marketing to women by having a range of team gear in ‘softer’ colours didn’t earn the AFL fans and Women’s week is more hurtful than helpful. Try actual action, not lip service.
Thankyou.
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Seee Thats what we Need
Date: 2012-07-20 12:37 am (UTC)Then perhaps we might get more respect.
Re: Seee Thats what we Need
Date: 2012-07-20 11:51 am (UTC)