If fans boo Bachar Houli, it’s not down to bigotry or racism
IF Bachar Houli is booed when he returns from suspension you can be sure there will be outrage from the same people who came to irrational conclusions about Adam Goodes being booed, writes Rita Panahi.
Rita Panahi
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HERE we go again. The malcontents desperate to portray Australia as a bigoted backwater are anticipating rich new material to back up their spurious claims.
Predictions that Bachar Houli will be booed by fans when he returns from serving a four-week suspension for striking may prove to be accurate but it would be dishonest to characterise any such backlash as racially or religiously motivated.
You can be sure that there’ll be plenty of asinine pieces from outraged footy scribes attempting to write about sociopolitical issues they barely understand.
The same irrational conclusions and falsehoods stated as fact during the Adam Goodes booing saga will be repeated by infantile social justice warriors better suited to writing match reports than opining about race relations.
Let’s hope the Richmond defender isn’t booed, but past experience suggests that ordering fans not to boo a particular player only encourages that behaviour.
Football fans don’t like being told who they can and can’t boo, nor having their behaviour maliciously misinterpreted by outrage merchants who want to get mileage from painting fans as racist, religiously intolerant rednecks.
Houli isn’t the first Muslim to play the game at the highest level but he is the first devout Muslim in the AFL and that has been well known since he made his debut for Essendon in 2007.
Even before he took to the field for the first time, the media were breathlessly describing football’s great melting pot being enriched by the addition of a practising Muslim from a Lebanese family.
Back in November 2006, shortly after he was drafted by the Bombers with pick 42, Houli was celebrated in the media as “Islam’s first AFL representative” who observed Ramadan and sought permission from religious leaders to stop fasting before fitness tests.
“I’m not only devoted to my religion, I want to succeed at the highest level in footy,” 18-year-old Houli said.
“It is good for me, it gives me discipline as a person. I pray fives times a day … I can’t go out in the night-life and have a drink and become uncontrollable.”
The truth is that football fans have been well aware that Houli is a devout, practising Muslim from day one and he has not been booed. Indeed he is among the Tigers’ most popular and respected players.
To try to portray any booing that may occur after the events of the past week as inspired by bigotry or “Islamophobia” is utterly absurd.
Again, let’s hope there is no booing but any fan backlash will be due to the strike that left Carlton’s Jed Lamb unconscious and concussed.
There may also be an adverse reaction from those who believe that Houli sought special treatment but it would be grossly unfair to blame him for decisions that were made by the Richmond hierarchy and legal team.
AFL great Leigh Matthews was correct in his belief that fans would be angry if the league didn’t appeal against Houli’s initial two-week suspension.
“People hate anyone seemingly having preferential treatment,” Matthews said. “I reckon the poor bugger will get booed mercilessly by the fans who say, ‘he just got preferential treatment’ because he got the character reference from the PM and Waleed Aly.”
The League did the right thing by appealing against the “manifestly inadequate” two-week suspension after the Tribunal gave Houli’s “fine character” as a reason for the light sanction.
It was the first time the AFL has appealed against a Tribunal decision and came after a backlash from fans, former players and former Tribunal members.
The AFL Appeals Board gave the Richmond defender a four-week ban, not doubting his good character but saying it was irrelevant.
“A blow from a person of exemplary character has just the same impact of a person of bad character,” said board chairman Peter O’Callaghan QC.
AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan has slammed any suggestion that fans may boo Houli upon his return.
“It’s complete rubbish and I’d be incredibly disappointed if that happened,” McLachlan told 3AW last Friday.
“Other than Bachar’s careless act, which happens in our game, the decision to get two games had nothing to do with Bachar. Everything that’s happened has nothing to do with him.
“He’s now got a four-game sanction and I think any response to that would be really disappointing.”
McLachlan is right. It would be unfair to blame Houli for decisions that had little to do with him.
His reaction after receiving the four-week suspension was classy, humble and contrite.
“The decision has been made and I accept it,” he said. “Point number two is my concern, and always has been, for Jed and I hope he has recovered really quickly.
“The other thing is that we move on in life and I will do my best to help my team prepare for the next few games.”
Over more than a decade and 162 games Houli has made a fine contribution to football and has never brought the game into disrepute with off-field antics that we’ve come to expect from some footballers.
For that he is a much admired figure. If there is any booing when Houli returns in the round 19 clash against the Gold Coast Suns, it won’t be because of his race or religion, it’ll be because he knocked out a player and his club sought to use his standing in the community to win a soft penalty.
RITA PANAHI IS A HERALD SUN COLUMNIST.
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