Paul Kent: Addin Fonua-Blake’s Erin Molan outrage hypocrisy
A month after calling out Erin Molan over a perceived racial slight, Addin Fonua-Blake finds himself in a similar position, and that’s the risks of the outrage business, PAUL KENT writes.
Opinion
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The outrage business is full-time work nowadays.
Just a month ago Addin Fonua-Blake was high in outrage, demanding Erin Molan apologise for what he deemed a racial slight.
Molan, on radio, joked about the difficulty of pronouncing Polynesian names and then doubled down with an example, saying: “Hooka looka mooka hooka fooka”.
She later apologised on Channel 9, saying the comments were “clumsy and inappropriate”.
Already by then, though, Fonua-Blake, who sharpens his arrows on Instagram, had written: “Erin Molan, if you’re not going to apologise for making jokes about islander names at least apologise for ruining the Footy Show. Gronk.”
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This can be a pitfall with the outrage business, for gronks and humans alike. There is memory in outrage.
Last Sunday Fonua-Blake called referee Grant Atkins a “f---ing retard” after the video referee — not even Atkins at all — decided against giving Manly a controversial penalty at the end of its game against Newcastle and he exploded in outrage.
Atkins responded to the heavy insult and sent Fonua-Blake off, ordering him to leave the field.
At which point Fonua-Blake told the referee to “f… off” again.
While Manly quickly got it out that Fonua-Blake had approached Atkins in the tunnel to apologise, what remains undetermined is whether it happened before or after he went off again, calling Atkins and his officials a “bunch of spastics” in the tunnel.
Fonua-Blake apologised in a club statement later that night, although not in person.
In some ways it is a difficult passage to navigate.
That he was so insensitive to those living with disability surprises many who know Fonua-Blake more intimately.
This was a conversation held in private on Tuesday, Manly arguing Fonua-Blake was more aware of the repercussions of his comments than most and that his tirade was simply the result of a brain explosion and not any deep-seeded insult directed at the disadvantaged.
This argument makes perfect sense in the footy world.
It is generally accepted, with a wink, that front-rowers are not always the most hinged of people. They survive in a world of violence and aggression. Things get said, things get done and the end generally justifies the means.
It is part of the job requirement. Few like them have the capacity to subject themselves to the continued violence and injury that is required to play the position well, as Fonua-Blake does so extremely well at Manly.
Unfortunately, as a reason for understanding, it should not matter to the NRL. Playing tough does not grant anyone a gold pass.
The comment was not screamed in private but in a game, on television, to be clearly heard by all those watching.
Former Cronulla captain Paul Gallen’s solution was for the referees not to be miked up, saying that removing the mikes would remove the problem.
But that is irrelevant. The NRL, and its players, have accepted the broadcast money, money that includes the microphones.
Meantime, the NRL remained confused on Tuesday night as to how to handle Fonua-Blake.
He got two weeks for abusing Atkins before the NRL realised there was more to it and that the match review committee settled on a ridiculously light charge.
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The match review committee is now headed by former Manly winger Michael Robertson and underlines an inherent problem in the code’s desire to have former players in positions of authority, arguing they understand from a player’s perspective.
True, but sometimes they can be as out of touch as the players themselves.
Not only did the match review committee consider Fonua-Blake’s “f…ing retard” comment when penalising him so lightly, it was also aware, and so must have considered, his comments in the tunnel.
That was unforgivable, the moment it went from a brain explosion to bullying.
Fonua-Blake’s abuse was always going to insult a broader community than the refereeing fraternity.
The penalty failed to reflect that, leaving NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo no choice but to send him a show cause notice.