Rita Panahi: AFL, Sydney Swans’ moral preening over Manly pride jersey is cheap and empty

In their response to the Manly pride jersey saga, the Sydney Swans have become a prime example of the vacuousness of corporate virtue signalling.

In 2022 those who preach incessantly about diversity and inclusion tend to be the least tolerant among us.

And, they tend to be the biggest self-delighted hypocrites, but more on the AFL later.

A key reason why rugby and rugby league have resisted LGBTQIA+ activism is that their playing groups are far less white and homogenous than the AFL’s.

The black Christian NRL players who were told to submit to leftist politicking contrary to their beliefs or sit out Thursday’s game have now been banned from attending the match altogether.

The Manly seven were told for their own “safety and wellbeing” they should stay away from Brookvale Oval after the club met with NSW police.

There were heightened fears those angry at the players’ refusal to wear the rainbow jersey would resort to violence or harassment.

Certainly the players have copped horrendous online abuse, some of it virulently racist, with at least one player receiving threatening messages.

Several Manly players have been abused online for refusing to wear a rainbow jersey.

Meanwhile, the tolerance mob demands Manly sack the Polynesian players for their stance. Among them is the diabolically dimwitted Peter FitzSimons, who accused the players of embarrassing the club and themselves.

“It is, simply put, not the stuff that premiership players are made of, and if I was Manly I would move them on as quickly as possible,” wrote pirate Pete.

Yes, among the truly intolerant it’s perfectly fair for the players to have their livelihoods threatened for the sin of not bending the knee to the activist class’s political posturing, but only if the players are Christian.

There was no campaign to sack AFLW player Haneen Zreika for observing her Muslim beliefs and declining to wear her club’s pride jumper.

Talking about the AFL, it didn’t take long for the Sydney Swans to trumpet how progressive they were in embracing the LGBTQIA+ agenda, Swans co-captain Callum Mills trumpeting “everyone is welcome” at their games.

“We are really proud that anyone can feel safe coming to our games and be part of our support network, our supporters, our fans, that anyone can feel safe coming to our games,” he said on Wednesday.

Just like everyone is welcome at Manly’s games, well, except for the seven Christians, that is. The Swans have played an annual pride game against St Kilda since 2016 and even ran through the latest LGBTQIA+ flag (it keeps changing) banner, but they also are prime examples of the vacuousness of this corporate virtue signalling.

Swans co-captain Callum Mills said he is “really proud” that “anyone” can feel safe coming to their games. Picture: Michael Willson / AFL Photos.

Their moral preening is cheap and empty.

The club’s official airline partner is Qatar Airways; that’s the state-owned airline of a country in which members of the LGBTQIA+ community face genuine oppression.

In Qatar homosexuality is a crime, and openly gay men and women face horrendous abuse, including canings, jail and in some cases the death penalty.

But have we seen a campaign from Swans players to ditch their “premium partner”? Have we seen the players take a knee for the plight of those facing systematic discrimination and brutality in Qatar?

Of course not. The thing with cheap activism is that those taking part never have to pay a price.

I may be an atheist but I can only admire the conviction and backbone of the Manly seven who would not be bullied into participating in activism contrary to their deeply held beliefs.

They are paying a real price for their stance, something the take-the-knee mob rarely does.

We’ve had the usual assortment of hypocrites rail against the players, from Magda Szubanski to MP Zali Steggall, who never having an original thought in her life, parroted the Twitter talking points about the players not objecting to gambling or alcohol ads.

Zali Steggall parroted the Twitter talking points about the players not objecting to gambling or alcohol ads. Picture: Andrew Taylor

Someone should remind the Warringah MP that the players are Christian not Muslim, gambling and drinking in moderation aren’t considered sins, and in any case where does a privileged white woman get off dictating to people of colour how they should observe their faith.

Like I wrote earlier in the week; the woke Left can’t even play by their own rules.

The sorry saga reminds one of that famous Seinfeld episode in which Kramer participates in a walk for AIDS awareness but declines to wear the ribbon leading to an unhinged reaction from what he labels “ribbon bullies”.

We now have rainbow bullies demanding total submission. It’s not enough to treat people equally, you must participate in relentless leftist advocacy or be condemned.

IN SHORT

The plan to light up the Shrine of Remembrance in rainbow colours to commemorate the contribution of “gay and queer’ members is daft, unnecessary and deliberately divisive.

The Australian flag represents every person who served this country regardless of their colour, creed, gender or sexuality. The poison of identity politics should not infect the Shrine.