Duncan Lay: Footballers should stand up against domestic violence
RUGBY League hasn’t exactly covered itself in glory this week, thanks to the Bulldogs. But I can see the day when a footy player is on the front page for the right reasons — being hailed as a champion of women in the fight against domestic violence, Duncan Lay writes.
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RUGBY League hasn’t exactly covered itself in glory this week, thanks to the Bulldogs. But I can see the day when a footy player is on the front page for all the right reasons — being hailed as a champion of women as they take home Australian Of The Year.
In fact they will win more bravery and community awards than can fit around their massive necks.
Schools will be named after them and, for once, parents will be relieved when their children announce they want to be like them.
Serious university academics, the kind who wear skivvies and thin-rimmed glasses, will use them as subject matter for doctorates and lectures.
Instantly the AFL-mad states will stop bouncing and kicking and instead switch, en masse, to rugby league.
This player’s fame will spread not just around Australia but across the world, where a special Nobel prize will be created just for them.
And, finally, we could use the word “hero” in terms of a sportsman and it would be true.
This may sound like the ravings of a madman — and perhaps it is — but what I’m predicting is possible.
And it wouldn’t take much. Just one simple action as the finals kick off this weekend or, better yet, the grand final.
All they have to do is declare they won’t play in the upcoming final/grand final if the opposing team selects one of their players with a history of domestic violence.
Even better, if the coach or the general manager declares the whole team will not take the field if said player (or players) run out against them. This would be what we could truly call a game-changer.
The women in league round, the earnest speeches and the White Ribbon ambassadors have done nothing to stop the negative headlines about rugby league and some players’ attitudes towards women.
Now, the idea that the NRL would force a club to bench one of their players to make a statement is obviously going too far. After all, even when a club rid itself of a player for bad behaviour, they swiftly find a welcoming home at a new club. As long as they are talented, of course.
But imagine the effect if one star player or club took the moral high ground and refused to play against someone with a violent history. Leaving aside all of the awards that would surely flow for such an incredible act of courage, imagine the conversations that would start because of it.
Imagine the way it would cut through to the general community, which has become immune to the repeated attempts to publicise the full horror of domestic violence. Well-meaning campaigns have done little to change behaviour. This one action would smash through the wall of complacency. Imagine the effect on boys, who would be shown there is nothing more important than protecting women, not even a grand final.
Forget switching prime ministers. This would be a seismic change that would be felt across Australia.
So the challenge is out there.
Is there a player with that incredible level of courage?