Mark Robinson on how outrage is king in today’s AFL and why we all need to take a chill pill
Outrage has become king in 2019 and football has suffered, with social media becoming an outdoor toilet. It’s time to get over the bad stuff, take a chill pill, and remember why our game is so great, Mark Robinson writes.
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We’re all to blame. We’ve allowed outrage to be the norm and footy has suffered.
Little wonder players are stressed and seek safe harbour in the bubble of their football clubs.
They make one mistake and it’s all over social media, a website headline three minutes later, in the papers and by Monday — the day of condemnation — the mistake is amplified by 15 camera angles and everyone piles on.
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Social media is an outdoor toilet. It has been the best invention and the worst invention. Want to go insane for a night? Find a post with a football opinion and roll through the comments. Some of it’s witty and thought-provoking. A lot of it is spew.
How has outrage become king in a sport that delivers so much joy?
Eddie Betts plays his 300th game tomorrow. Talk about joy. His highlights package makes you smile with wonderment, his grace and humility smile with warmth.
But there’s even outrage about Betts. The rotten kind. He’s had to take a stand this year about racism. It’s 2019 for God’s sake.
Not long ago, someone threw a banana peel at Betts. This is when Twitter and Facebook — which allow hatred on their platforms — can be used positively to denounce and teach.
Why the anger over a beautiful footballer?
Reading the commentary, you could easily believe this is the most disgraceful, most depressing, worst umpired, most unimaginatively coached, worst skilled and most idiotically administered four rounds in the history of the game.
Outrage has been poured on outrage.
The new rules have apparently killed the game.
Footy operation boss Stephen Hocking’s endeavour to blow up the bubble that had crippled ball movement and return one-on-one contests — which is the beauty of Australian rules — has prompted calls for his sacking.
They say Gillon McLachlan should go, too. He’s just the worst chief executive the game has ever had.
Umpiring is the worst standard of all time. Any mistake enflames people so much they want umpires dumped, never to umpire again.
A sliding interpretation? That’s the most hideous rule ever invented, never mind it is to protect players from having ankles snapped and knees buckled.
A player takes a dive? He’s a cheat and a fraud.
Just say it or write it. Be loudest and cruellest. Just be heard.
Essendon loses two games and John Worsfold is the worst coach ever.
Alan Richardson will be sacked and replaced by Brett Ratten. But if he wins three from four, that’s all forgotten.
Alastair Clarkson, a great Hawthorn coach, loses to St Kilda and muses about how the rules have delivered strange games.
It makes headlines. Cue more criticism of Hocking and the AFL.
We know Carlton coach Brendon Bolton is under pressure. He can’t win games. It was said this week he won’t coach next year. We now have opinion presented as fact. What if Bolton starts winning games? Sorry, I was wrong?
The Lance Franklin “trade” started as hypothetical radio banter and ended with serious headlines and opinion pieces.
Zach Merrett didn’t tackle in Round 1 and the world ended.
Steven May was fat and Gold Coast was to blame.
Dusty lifted an elbow and the outrage wasn’t on Dusty, but on Matt de Boer
Why should the Blues have Round 1?
Ben Brown’s a flopper. Has no other player has ever played for a free kick?
Sydney is cooked, so should John Longmire look for a new job?
Everything has edge. Christian Petracca is a failure at No.2, Charlie Curnow can’t mark, Tex Walker is weak, Jesse Hogan drinks too much, Luke Hodge looks old and on and on its goes.
It’s crazy and it’s outrage overload.
The AFLW wasn’t missed. The conference system was the worst idea ever and the AFL was bulldozed for its decision to not play the AFLW grand final on the Saturday and move it to the Sunday. Then 53,000 fans turned up.
Footy used to be more fun than this.
It’s why The Front Bar works. Because it’s amusement. It’s why Open Mike on Fox Footy is a winner. Yesteryear seemed less complicated and less microscopic.
Football has always been controversial, but it has become profoundly personal.
That’s what happens when it’s the biggest ticket in town.
Fox Footy plays all nine games live. There are TV shows, sports radio stations, podcasts, polls, blogs and, of course, social media.
This paper devours football. Good and bad. My column The Tackle has likes and dislikes.
But social media has changed how footy is presented and consumed. It is a blessing and an evil.
Outrage flourishes and fans buy in. The problem is social media has no boundaries or shame. Clayton Oliver not running defensively became a sick attack.
Sadly, there seems to be less attachment to the greatness of our game.
Amid this season of all-time “worsts”, we’ve had some glorious football.
Patrick Cripps and Lachie Whitfield, the new light at St Kilda, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti kicking seven goals at the MCG, Jeremy Cameron at the Giants, and the return to form of Marcus Bontempelli and Tom Liberatore.
Travis Boak, Jamie Elliott and Andrew Gaff are also back. Lachie Neale is flying, Jordan de Goey is mesmerising, Jack Billings is answering the critics and the Gold Coast Suns are improving.
At club land, they’re excited at Geelong, dreaming at Collingwood, hoping at Richmond, humming at West Coast, and speed kills has returned to Essendon.
And tomorrow Eddie Betts plays his 300th game.
For a day, can we all take a chill pill.
Because among all these “worsts’’ we have one of the greats in the twilight of what has been a wonderful career.
He’s worth celebrating.
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