NRL 2024: Why self-righteous people are using NRL’s racism saga to settle scores, Paul Kent
Perhaps the best way to explain what happened in Las Vegas is that it was less an example of overt racism than of basic stupidity, writes PAUL KENT.
Spencer Leniu will be remembered one way in rugby league now.
A sharp but permanent footnote in history. An injury that could have been avoided.
Meanwhile, here’s one for the self-righteous, the self-confessed, independent thinkers who like to tell the rest of us how to think; how will Sam Kerr be remembered?
Wriggle your way through that one.
For the record, Leniu pleaded guilty on Thursday to calling Ezra Mam a “monkey” and will hear his penalty on Monday.
Kerr has pleaded not guilty to police allegations that she called a policeman a “stupid white bastard” in January 2023.
Her defence, according to counsel, has changed from the early reports that Kerr did not believe the comment was offensive to, now, an abuse of process by police for taking so long to charge her.
The harder we try to make it all better, the worse we often make it.
Even NSW Premier Chris Minns managed to offend some with a comment he clearly believed was the only inoffensive comment he could make.
It is what happens when a thousand different opinions weigh in when most are often laced with personal agenda.
There is no doubt some believe this to be an opportunity and, so, they are happy for Leniu to be their sacrifice.
Each called out with a punishment that was suitable to them. Naturally, each was different.
It showed the time for clear thinking and an intelligent, measured response are no match for an opportunity to push an agenda with hostile anger.
Thankfully, not everyone thinks the same.
Hours before Leniu released his statement Thursday, pleading guilty to the charge and apologising to Mam, Wayne Bennett held regular court and tried to put some sense in a conversation where it is often lacking.
Bennett is a clear thinker in such times. He declared rugby league was not a racist game and then took aim at all those trying to use the situation for their own personal gain.
Those he called drama queens.
Bennett brought a simplicity to the argument, which really is simple; rugby league has done as much, if not more for marginalised groups than any sporting code in Australia.
Much of the time it led the way.
Bennett has coached long enough to witness the transformation of the game along with society around it and knows the game has no racial problem.
More than half the code, right now, is of Indigenous or Polynesian descent, as both Mam and Leniu are.
Perhaps the best way to explain what happened in Las Vegas is that it was less an example of overt racism than of basic stupidity.
“I’ve put my hand up and want to take ownership of this,” Leniu said in Thursday’s statement.
“I said the word but I didn’t mean it in a racist way. Anyone who knows me knows that’s not who I am.”
Leniu has been responsible for some of the more dumb acts in the game in recent years.
He went too far on the field against Jared Waerea-Hargreaves last year, forgivable in sporting terms, two big bulls finding each other and all that, but then doubled down on his stupidity by calling Waerea-Hargreaves out to the carpark after the game.
It took the entire game down about 10 IQ points.
Instead of pulling him into line Penrith, forever playing the role of antiheroes, celebrated his aggression and refused to condemn his actions.
Who cared what embarrassment it caused the game. They hung the criticism on the media for having the temerity to report it.
Leniu began the same way at the Roosters when, hours after the game, he ran into several Broncos and, rather than apologise then, he doubled down and the two playing groups had to be celebrated.
Stupidity isn’t racism. And everyone involved needs to be careful one is not mistaken for the other.
Racism is terminal. It can’t be survived.
It is clear the Panthers have left it to the Roosters to teach Leniu how to grow up and act like a man, which is in serious need but will happen.
Stupidity isn’t racism, even if racism is stupidity.
And basic stupidity can’t be legislated for.
Many years ago, in 1938, New York Yankees outfielder Jake Powell got interviewed after a game and said something highly offensive. This was eight years before Jackie Robinson broke the game’s coloured line and even by those standards it was as bad as it got.
Powell was not a nice man, by all accounts. He was a confirmed racist, occasional thief and, by most accounts, as dumb as an Alabama plough horse.
He thought he was being “colourful” in the radio interview, apparently, giving the folks at home an insight into the sometimes off-colour jokes that get said around changerooms.
Asked how he kept fit in the off-season, he said: “Oh, that’s easy. I’m a policeman, and I beat n-----s over the head with my blackjack.”
The response to his comments was frighteningly similar to today.
Immediately, the radio station was inundated with complaints. Listeners demanded an apology.
Then personal interest began to take hold.
The beat writers tried to rationalise his comments, some with deprecating humour, some by explaining that it was just Powell, a “hustling ballplayer, aggressive, and always getting into a jam”.
Yankees manager Joe McCarthy blamed the radio station, saying: “Perhaps he just meant to get off a wisecrack. So the radio people ran off cold with apologies …”
Yankee general manager Ed Barrow wondered what the big deal was, saying his two “coloured servants” thought it was just a mistake and wouldn’t happen again.
It’s an insight into the human psyche.
And now all these years later there has been some striking resemblances.
It took American sport many long, slow years to leave those days behind and, while racist incidents still happen and it is still far from perfect, nobody could accuse any major American sport of being inherently racist.
Clear leadership and the ability to move quickly, correctly, while avoiding the outside noises is key.
Nothing beats a strong conscience. Good people know right and wrong.
The only thing Jake Powell did right after his incident was the next time he got to New York. He took himself to Harlem, walked into a bar and announced himself as Jake Powell, a man who made an unforgivable mistake that he would now like to apologise for.
He then bought the entire bar a drink before he walked along to the next bar, made the same announcement, then bought the crowd a drink again before leaving for the next bar.
He worked his way up Harlem that way.
He did it alone and without urging from management or any PR impostors, trying to make what he could right on what was left of a poor decision.
It was the one decent act to come from it all.
WHILE the NRL was sticking its stubby toes in the US market, conquering Las Vegas so comprehensively last weekend, the AFL was busy preparing its opening round with a home assault.
To some it might look like the booby prize.
While the NRL was in the US the AFL kicked off its opening round this week with a game in Sydney on Thursday, one in Brisbane on Friday, and then two more in Sydney and the Gold Coast on Saturday.
It was a deliberate strategy to continue doing what the AFL is doing so well and what the NRL is still fearfully denying; junior development.
The AFL long ago invested in a strategy to secretly take over the NRL – its only true competitor in the Australian market – by investing heavily in junior development and hoping not to convince you or I to switch codes, but to win the hearts of our children.
It is a long-term strategy the AFL developed years ago and one that the NRL has wilfully ignored for too long.
It is one thing for the NRL to push new frontiers like America but it will ultimately end up useless if the game is not supported strongly enough from below.
The recent brawl with the NSW Rugby League and Queensland Rugby League, which is currently in the courts, highlights this.
Right now the NRL need to be careful it doesn’t end up like the travelling conqueror who was so busy off conquering foreign lands he forgot to leave enough soldiers behind to protect his home, only to return and find it under control of his enemy.
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