Bone’s Beef: Passion being crushed by the AFL sledge hammering, says Chris McDermott

WHY are we so determined to sanitise our game? Chris McDermott says banning sledging on the AFL field — as suggested by some — would be a blow to the passion which makes footy great.

Chris McDermott says comments aimed at Marc Murphy may have crossed the line, but sledging still has a place in the AFL.

BEFORE I speak on this topic I’ll declare my hand — I’m 53 years of age and an old schooler, in modern speak.

I’m proudly Australian. A Catholic. I am married, many would say luckily, with two beautiful kids.

So maybe I am a trifle old-fashioned.

In my playing years, I sledged with the best of them but never took it off the ground. Race and religion were always off limits. I loved a beer after the game and a chat with anyone willing to take part. Still do.

The ideal of playing the game hard but fair was taught to me by my grandfather, my father, mother, my brother and sister.

It’s the way sport should always be — backyard cricket included!

But times have changed and something has gone completely amiss.

The line that once existed has blurred and has been replaced by an ideology that is unrealistic.

There are calls for a player-driven code of conduct to ban any form of sledging and gamesmanship in the AFL.

A once-simple game is getting more difficult and more regulated by the day.

While we’re at it, let’s ban boxing, ice hockey, field hockey, baseball, basketball, both codes of rugby ... in fact any contact, emotive sport.

Cricket may be up for discussion as well — certainly any Australia vs. India series.

Some of the greatest and most fiercely fought contests in recent memory have been between these teams, but interestingly none of the antagonists are refusing to play together in the IPL.

No grudges there.

How can you ask an athlete to play his chosen sport a certain way and have no emotion? Have we completely lost our way?

I’m all for a moral compass but please!

Racial vilification, shots based on religion or comments about a sick family member are all no-go zones ... and we as a sports loving nation know that.

The minority will err but that’s life, there will always be a minority.

We are not perfect.

But really, no banter on a sporting field, no sledging, no sportsmanship? You can’t be serious! That means no sport.

I find myself challenged to voice my own beliefs when great men like Tim Watson suggest a players’ code of conduct is needed in the AFL, so blurred are the lines between right and wrong.

Problem is, in the Carlton vs. St Kilda game that has brought this matter to boiling point, we still don’t know what was said. No one is talking now!

Race and religion have already been dismissed, so what could it have been that riled a man like Marc Murphy to almost breaking point?

Well respected journalist Damian Barrett says “This move-on attitude which swamps football is at times pathetic”, referring to the old adage that dictates “what is said on the field stays on the field.”

Personally, I don’t understand why that doesn’t still apply, barring the exceptions I mentioned earlier.

Marc Murphy of the Blues yells at Jake Carlisle of the Saints, after a sledging incident at Etihad Stadium. Picture: Joe Castro (AAP)

Go to war on the field then shake hands at the end of the game and move on.

See you in the clubrooms for a beer.

Perhaps that’s the problem. In these ultra-professional days, there is no post-match drink to allow players to debrief about what just happened and bury the hatchet if there is one.

Some are even saying sledging is simply unacceptable behaviour in the workplace.

Since when is a football field a workplace?

I know that how is commonly referred to but name a workplace where you can get hit from 360 degrees. Where dealing with pain is a prerequisite, where fear is omnipresent and where you get financially rewarded like these men do.

The answer: none!

This is football, not a bank.

The continual reference to the Carlton v St Kilda game suggests something else happened, but no-one will own up.

All we can assume is nothing untoward happened and it was just sledging that hit the mark.

Let’s take stock.

We were all warned political correctness would get out of control and we laughed. We’re not chuckling now.

Essendon’s Brendan Goddard says he doesn’t have a problem with sledging.

Former Power great Kane Cornes does. A major one.

Kane agrees with a players’ code of conduct on the field and the banning of the practice of sledging unless it’s with humour.

Problem is, there are not many Merv Hugheses left.

Kane admits he was a sledger but adds times have changed.

I agree, but not everything must change at the same time.

We had a different attitude when we played the game than we do today, retired and simply watching the footy.

I get the hard line on race, 100 per cent. I get the hard line on religion, 100 per cent.

I abhor sledging about a sick family member but have we become a little too precious?

We love resilience ... or do we?

Today we appear to want an offender, someone to blame, someone to hold to account.

Yet our emotions and our beliefs make us who we are — inspiring and motivating us.

To ask a player to ignore them completely would dull his love for the game.

Ask any of us to ignore them and what is left?

We might as well have robots playing our great games.

In years to come maybe we will.