Rita Panahi: Margaret Court is a sporting legend, so treat her like one
Sporting legend Margaret Court has been subjected to vile abuse from the so-called “inclusive Left” in the name of tolerance, writes Rita Panahi.
Rita Panahi
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Margaret Court is considered by many to be the greatest sportswoman this country has produced and is undoubtedly among the greatest tennis players in history. That is why she has the honour of having a stadium bear her name.
And that’s why she deserves to have the 50th anniversary of her groundbreaking 1970 Grand Slam celebrated in style at the coming Australian Open.
However, as it stands, Court may not even be present at the Open due to the cowardice of Tennis Australia, which is reportedly terrified that celebrating her sporting achievements will be seen as endorsing her political views.
Court was an outspoken opponent of same sex marriage in the lead-up to the plebiscite. For stating her religiously-held beliefs, she has been subjected to vile abuse from the so-called “inclusive Left” which has campaigned to have her name removed from Margaret Court Arena and targeted her for all manner of abuse in the name of tolerance.
On Thursday, the ABC echo chamber, together with other assorted media crybullies, were up in arms subjecting Court to more abuse for demanding Tennis Australia acknowledge her Grand Slam anniversary in the same manner it treated Rod Laver’s Grand Slam anniversary.
Court was the top trending topic on Twitter and the hot takes were as you’d expect.
She was repeatedly called the c-word along with being labelled a racist, a bigot and “a giant piece of excrement”.
Celeste Liddle tweeted: “In the race to highlight Margaret Court’s homophobic bigotry, it’s forgotten that she also was a pro-apartheid racist.”
Others noted that back in 1971 a pastor implored Court not to play in South Africa if Evonne Goolagong was not invited.
Court being a racist must be news to fellow Australian tennis great Evonne Goolagong Cawley, who won a number of doubles titles with Court and considers her a personal hero.
Goolagong Cawley believes Court is the greatest player of all time, even if Serena Williams does eventually overtake her titles record, and that she would be a champion in any era.
“Some people say, ‘oh, they’re so fit today’. Well, Margaret was the first one, first professional woman — or maybe man — to actually take it into the gyms, she worked out on her body, she was very strong, very fast on the court,” she said in 2017.
“Margaret’s my hero … great player, wonderful champion and true professional in every way.”
Court did play in that 1971 South African Open and won the female doubles, with Goolagong, as well as the women’s singles title and the mixed doubles.
In the same year, she became the first woman to reach a Grand Slam final while pregnant. She then became the first mother to win the French, Australian and US Opens.
Court requesting a meeting with Tennis Australia and wanting her sporting feat to be treated the same as Laver’s is perfectly reasonable.
She deserves to be lauded as Laver was because they are sporting equals. One would’ve thought the feminists, male and female, who preach endlessly about gender equality would be quick to support Court, but in their eyes some women are more equal than others.
Court’s extraordinary, groundbreaking achievements mean little because she is opposed to same-sex marriage and believes homosexuality is a sin.
The Left in Australia want to institute their own version of China’s social credit system where if they can’t intimidate you into silence, they will punish you for “wrongspeak”. They are not happy to disagree, ignore or dismiss an opinion they don’t like; they want to destroy the individual to ensure the next dissenter self-censors.
Court is hardly the only victim of this phenomenon. One of the country’s best rugby players, Israel Folau, missed the World Cup because he was sacked for sharing a religious belief. Folau has been effectively black-listed from both elite rugby and rugby league competitions for refusing to recant.
Court’s opinion that “marriage is a union between a man and a woman” is not one shared by me but it’s hardly a fringe view.
The same-sex marriage postal survey showed a majority of Australians support gay marriage but about two in five voted against SSM. Let’s not forget until relatively recently, Barack Obama, Julia Gillard and Penny Wong were against SSM.
The “no” vote received a higher percentage than Labor at the last federal election. To treat those who do not embrace gay marriage as bigots worthy of only scorn is hardly inclusive.
Now, you’d be hard pressed to find an Australian woman whose belief system, including attitude to gay marriage, is more at odds with mine than Court.
She is a devout woman with traditional, religiously mandated views while I’m an atheist, single mum who puts little stock in concepts such as the “sanctity of marriage”.
But though I disagree with her I will vehemently defend her right to speak her mind without being penalised. Court is not inciting violence like the bitter banshees on Monday’s Q&A, she is stating an opinion that she is entitled to hold.
And those opinions do not detract from her greatness as an athlete. We do not punish sports stars who spout divisive Leftist opinions — from Pat Cash trashing Australia Day to Martina Navratilova’s demented anti-Trump diatribes including claims that he’s worse than mass murdering communist leaders — and we should show the same courtesy to Court.
— Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist.