Loving the arts shouldn’t mean hating sport, writes Phil Brown
Some in the arts community are crying foul over the fact that crowds are able to go back to rugby league matches before people are allowed into theatres, writes Phil Brown.
Opinion
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THERE was some controversy recently because fans were being let into Suncorp Stadium to watch rugby league while patrons were still locked out of our major arts venues. Call it outrage even.
Because there are those who regard sport as a vile, common endeavour that siphons off money that should go to what Sir Les Patterson used to refer to as “The Yartz”.
Even though I’m the Arts Editor I don’t agree with them, although I held off commenting on this controversy on Facebook to avoid a pile on. For an Arts Editor to defend rugby league in that arty arena would be like admitting you are a Catholic priest at an Atheists’ dinner.
Of course attending a stadium is different and stadiums can do social distancing pretty well and there are strict COVID-19 safe plans in place. Tragically it’s more difficult in theatres. There are a few smaller bespoke theatrical events springing up which is great but it will still be some time before we can pack the Lyric Theatre at QPAC like so many sardines. And that’s a shame because I love going to theatre, ballet and music and I’m missing it like hell.
But I also happen to be a closet rugby league fan and I’m missing State of Origin right now too although I’m glad it’s going to on later in the year. Queenslander! (Don’t tell anyone I was actually born in New South Wales)
A lot of people know me as a turtle neck-wearing bespectacled attendee of the finer arts but around this time of year I also revert into a rabid Maroons fan.
When Origin is on the telly I don my Origin beanie and channel my inner ocker.
If we’re losing, my wife has to close the windows so the neighbours don’t hear my cussing.
Origin is as much a part of our culture as the arts and even though I don’t hold with that southern code of aerial ping-pong I respect Melbourne’s recognition of footy as a cultural pursuit.
I don’t see sport and the arts as competitors. In a holistic society you should be able to love your sport (whatever code) and the arts.
I was pleased to see some sports people represented at last year’s Brisbane Portrait Prize as proof that sport is part of our culture here too.
There was a terrific painting of Origin coach Kevvie Walters entered by Cairns artist Andrew Bonneau which made the finalists list.
I interviewed Walters when he was sitting for that work and he confessed that he was “no oil painting”, although shortly afterwards he was.
Like me there are a lot of people involved in the arts who do like sport and that’s always refreshing even if they sometimes confess it quietly so no other luvvies will hear.
Not Lyndon Terracini, artistic director of Opera Australia though. (He’s also a former artistic director of both the Brisbane Festival and Queensland Music Festival). Lyndon is loud and proud a lover of rugby league and whenever I interview him we end up talking about Origin or The Cowboys, my team of choice. (It has to be my team of choice because my wife’s dad, the late Ron “Shorty” McLean, was the club’s founding chairman.)
Ron didn’t live to see their grand final win, more’s the pity. That victory was a work of art in itself and was eventually turned into a play, The Longest Minute, an all-Queensland production that was an absolute ripper.
Rugby league is part of the fabric of society here in Queensland, especially in the north where it’s almost a religion and Jonathan Thurston is now installed as a god.
Townsville has a thriving arts scene with ballet and theatre and music (it hosts the annual Australian Festival of Chamber Music) as well as footy, all part of the rich fabric of the place.
I don’t think it should be a matter of the arts versus sport. Both are valuable aspirational activities, although I would never wear my Origin beanie to the Concert Hall. Then again...