Alice Coster: Brian Taylor doesn’t get felt up at work. His comments on Warwick Capper are pathetic

Brian Taylor should know better than to go in to bat for Warwick Capper after his gross behaviour at a Grand Final party earned him a five-year ban from the AFL.

Seven’s Brian Taylor should know better. And frankly there is no point wasting one’s breath on giving Sam Newman’s feelings airtime. The best playbook for the relevance deprived is starving them of oxygen.

Because the opinions of these dinosaurs when it comes to the treatment of women are seriously outdated.

Last week I was commissioned to write a story about the highs and very low lows of AFL star Warwick Capper following his toxic behaviour at last year’s Grand Final.

I did the due diligence and hit the phones. Speaking with many of Capper’s close circle of support I caught myself wondering if he was just an old scallywag caught up in the moment.

Bad on me.

A pattern of behaviour has been playing out recently. Bawdy comments towards women, which more recently had him allegedly pushing a female’s face down towards his gyrating crotch region and imitating a lewd sex act while speaking at a sports event in Melbourne’s West, was just gross.

The woman at the venue had been simply trying to fix his microphone on stage as Capper, clearly addled — maybe from all those hits to the head on the footy field, hmmm — sprayed a litany of foul remarks to mortified audience members just there to have a laugh.

Some walked out.

His loyal mates I spoke to, some who had played with him back in his heyday, told me that while they loved and supported the former Sydney Swans cult hero, even they conceded he was prone to taking things too far these days.

Some of Warwick Capper’s friends conceded his behaviour is more erratic in recent years. Picture: Tony Gough

Was this Capper just playing up to the Capper persona, I wondered collating more anecdotes and background for the story?

A few throwaway gross comments?

As a former 90s girl who grew up having such lines dished out while working in hospitality professions to make ends meet during uni, it is hard to shake that hardened mentality of boys being boys.

But every time a man demeans a woman it creates a feeling of shame.

You might wipe it away with a smile at the time, but a sense of humiliation can’t help but seep in. You take it in and build armour to deflect it.

Later you might scrub yourself just that bit harder in the shower to try and wipe off the stain you have taken on.

Or you might, in that true Aussie way, make light of it, turn it into a joke.

But there is a part of you that has to wear it.

More often than not the man just carries right on, or worse, later has a whinge that they can’t get away with anything anymore.

The more public personas even have defenders come in to bat for them, like Seven’s chief AFL commentator Taylor, pontificating on widely listened to platforms to bemoan the time doesn’t fit the crime — referring to Capper’s five-year ban from attending AFL venues.

Taylor said on his podcast: “Staff members shouldn’t have to put up with that, but five years is ridiculous. I reckon there’s people in the crowd that have had fights at the MCG that aren’t banned for five years. A bit stiff, but don’t say that sort of thing.”

C’mon, poor Capper can’t go see his beloved AC/DC at the ‘G later this year! It’s not fair he should have to cop a five-year ban when others have behaved far worse. Men can’t get away with anything these day.

Boo-effing-hoo.

How would Taylor know how that female waiter felt on Grand Final day?

Brian Taylor (right) is lucky enough to work in a workplace where he’s not touched without his consent. Picture: Getty

It was only after speaking to contacts at the AFL, who had received several complaints about Capper’s behaviour, that the seriousness of what he had done really sunk in.

Initially trying not to give the story too much airtime out of respect for Capper, the league had not delved into the full extent of his behaviour and the internal investigation that followed.

But let’s be clear, he manhandled and touched the employee without her consent while making comments along the lines of ‘You should be in a porn movie, or work in my brothel’.

The Melbourne Cricket Club, manager of the MCG, also conducted an internal investigation which included a five-year ban at its venue.

This woman was simply doing her job as she served Capper canapes and drinks in the corporate box of Ultratune boss Sean Buckley.

Why should she have to put up with such behaviour while at her place of work?

Capper’s manager, Tony Marks has said Capper is remorseful for the offensive behaviour and defended his client as a family-loving guy with a heart of gold and never meant any harm.

A good friend’s 20-something daughter works in such a corporate box at the MCG functions as she too works a job while hitting the books at university.

Thinking of her having to put up with such toxic, gross antics makes me see red. Because while we often discount what happens to ourselves, you feel disgusted and outraged when it happens to others.

So one final question.

Does Taylor have to cop getting felt up, or sexually diminished when he is working on Roaming Brian?

I think not.