Graham Cornes: Politicians like Tammy Franks should stay out of Crows camp conjecture
Greens MLC Tammy Franks caused a stir this week by calling for the Adelaide Football Club to appear before parliament over its controversial pre-season camp. It was political point-scoring at its worst, writes Graham Cornes.
Graham Cornes
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It may be difficult to comprehend but the Adelaide Football Club wasn’t always a political football.
Believe it or not there was a time when it was just a modest club trying to get a competitive football team on the ground. A footy club run by footy people.
Those were the days. It’s different now.
It didn’t take long for the political animals to notice that when the Crows played, South Australia stopped and watched.
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Pretty soon everyone wanted a piece of the action: almost as if they needed to be recognised by association.
Whether it was a Lord Mayor wanting to organise a street parade and a civic reception for a team that did nothing more than make a preliminary final, or former Premier Jay Weatherill flopping down in front of the Crows women’s premiership team for a photo op, the club has always had difficulty keeping the politicians at arm’s length.
Former Premier Jay was a Port supporter as well!
Whether they genuinely mean well, simply want to bask in the reflected glory, or want to initiate a seismic generational change such as moving AFL football from West Lakes to Adelaide Oval, the politicians have never been able to keep their interfering mitts off the Adelaide Football Club.
Greens MLC Tammy Franks is the latest to jump on the Crows bandwagon. Ms Franks said on FIVEaa this week: “When it comes to psychological harm it appears we haven’t had due diligence here, we haven’t had a duty of care for these workers in the workplace.
“The trauma that’s clearly been suffered by some because of subjecting them to what you can only call bizarre and unqualified supposed professionals … who let these quacks near these players?
“And why should these players have their workplace made so unsafe for them and then no appropriate standards in the AFL to provide protection?”
She’s calling for the Adelaide Football Club, the AFL and Safe Work SA to appear before the state parliament’s Occupational Health and Safety Committee.
Of course she’s talking about the latest rumours and spurious allegations that have surfaced in Melbourne about Collective Mind and that Crows camp.
Where do we begin? For a start, stop responding to wild unsubstantiated allegations.
And where are these young men with “broken minds” that Ms Franks is so concerned about?
Three years after the camp and not one player has emerged from the shadows of speculation. The only players who have been quoted have been complimentary about the Collective Mind experience.
To describe the Collective Mind principals and employees as “quacks” and “unqualified supposed professionals” is not only incorrect, it’s probably defamatory.
Then there is the oxymoron of a safe work environment when you talk about a football field. How can you possibly make that workplace safe? It’s a collision sport where constant physical contact is unavoidable.
Nevertheless the AFL is constantly tampering with the rules and interpretations of contact to make this violent sport as safe as it can be.
Additionally, the AFL Players Association is a persistent, powerful advocate for players’ rights.
The reality is that there is no other group of young Australian males that are as well educated about and protected from the challenges, both physical and psychological, that confront young men.
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Mental health particularly is an ever-growing issue as evidenced so tragically this week with the passing of former Richmond player, Shane Tuck.
However such a serious issue should never be used as an excuse, to gain a cheap headline, or as leverage in transfer negotiations as has reportedly happened.
If a player agent talks about using the “mental health card” to facilitate a transfer it’s as devious as a politician climbing on the mental health soapbox to generate electoral publicity.
Nevertheless Ms Franks’ opportunistic intervention does highlight one serious repercussion from the Collective Mind camp and that is the fallout, the speculation and the criticisms which refuse to go away.
Whether it’s a journalist looking for an easy headline or a politician seeking attention, that camp keeps rearing its ugly head.
The club cannot effectively move on unless it devises a strategy that deals with the constant speculation and mischievous innuendo that arises.
We thought that would happen when Don Pyke and Brett Burton held a press conference last year to respond to the mounting hysteria, but there was no closure from that meeting.
When the football world, particularly the Crows fans craved clarity they were left with more questions.
Neither could the Collective Mind principals satisfy the curiosity or appease the critics when they fronted the media.
The AFL integrity unit has investigated the camp; the club has reviewed it thoroughly but that hasn’t appeased the critics.
Perhaps they never will. However, it needs a new approach to once and for all answer the questions and silence the critics. That means open slather, gloves off, no hiding behind flimsy “confidentiality agreements”.
It must be hard for attention-seeking politicians in these difficult COVID-19 days, with our Premier and health authorities doing such a great job (save for the odd one who wants to use taxpayers’ money to pay rent to the parents).
However, Tammy Franks should perhaps concentrate more on the very worthy cause of saving the planet, rather than venture into areas of which she has little knowledge or understanding.