For God’s sake, AFLW and Folau comparisons miss mark on Manly jersey saga

The Manly Sea Eagles rainbow jersey, and the seven players who have refused to wear it?

So many points, so little time. So little space, so many space cadets.

But let’s go.

1. This is not the moral or legal equivalent of what Israel Folau did. The one-time Wallaby aggressively used his platform to spew bigotry, and continued to do so despite being warned not to.

2. The Manly club itself has a serious case to answer. It is one thing to get the kudos for making the announcement they did on Monday, and portraying themselves as a go-forward club. But blindsiding most of the players like that was madness. There was a way to finesse this, and the best way would have been to bring in the toughest forward rugby league has ever produced, Ian Roberts, and get him to talk of his experience. He could have told them of how much he suffered as a young gay man, how young people still suffer for their sexuality through no fault of their own. He could have exulted in just how fantastic it has been that the NRL has made such strides in recent times in supporting the LGBTQIA+ community, in making it clear that the game is for everyone, that it is inclusive and that this has supported suffering teens everywhere. So, guys, Roberts could have said, I am hoping you’d be OK with supporting this? It would just be so wonderful to have you wear the jersey? Would you?

Seriously, how many of the seven could have looked Roberts in the eye, and said no? It surely would have gone through.

3. But it didn’t happen like that, so here is the next question, to the players themselves. What the hell is wrong with you blokes that you don’t get it? You are prepared to trash the entire Manly season on this issue alone? In a world where rugby league has led the sporting fraternity in making change, in making it clear that the game really is for all races, all genders, all sexualities, all religions you want to make a stand for ...

Former Manly enforcer Ian Roberts and (inset) the Sea Eagles’ Everyone in League jersey.Credit: Fairfax Media

For what? Actually, while I’ve got you, can you explain it? And can we have a statement from the seven of you, to make clear your views, so we can all understand?

Your religion? I tell you nothing you don’t know when I say that it seems more than passing weird. Your jerseys, and the stadium you play in, are awash in alcohol and gambling advertisements – much of which pays for your salaries. On this, not a peep out of you, even though most with strong religious views take a dim view of both drinking and gambling.

Equally, many of the players around you in the football world have had issues of domestic violence, of assaults, of criminal acts – all of which feature high in the list of sins. Still not a peep.

So we have to ask. Does your religion countenance all of the above, but truly draw the line at showing support for the central idea that while some people are born with red hair and freckles, some with blond hair and vacant looks, some with black hair and darker skin, some are also born straight while others are born gay? That’s it! That is all that Manly wearing the rainbow jersey is saying. To put it in terms that might resonate, “We are all God’s little creatures, and we come in all shapes and sizes, all colours, all sexualities, so isn’t it all just wonderful!”

Sean Keppie, Kieran Foran and Reuben Garrick model the rainbow jersey before Thursday’s home clash against the Roosters.

You are mostly from the wonderful Islander community, one that is beloved in the football community and wider still. Nevertheless, there really are shocking bigots who have attacked that community through nothing other than their own bigotry. How do you not get that your actions disgust most, but please many of the very same bigots who judge people on their race?

It was put very well by the Kyle and Jackie O newsreader Brooklyn Ross, who is gay, on Tuesday morning.

“I’m not here to put hate on them,” he said. “We do Indigenous round. What if a group of white guys said, ‘Nah, I’m not playing this weekend.’ I want those players kicked out of [NRL]. We shouldn’t accept this.”

Your thoughts, gentlemen? What would you say if the white guys said that?

4. For all that, when it comes to what to do with them, I wouldn’t sack them outright, and prima facie they are unlikely to have breached contractual obligations, if they were not consulted in the first place. But I would mark their papers down as blokes who are never going to win us the premiership, who will bleed for the jersey, clear every hurdle, skirt every obstacle, find a way to win, come what may. Seriously, look at it. Don’t those characteristics sum up the players from, say, the Melbourne Storm over the last few years? Theirs has been a commitment that is inspirational. But these blokes? On this issue alone, just as we’re trying to keep their place in the finals, they effectively trash the season, ruin the chances of making the eight, embarrass the game, 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, and wish them well at their new club.

5. And so to the space cadets, who say the whole thing is the moral equivalent of the young Islamic woman who quietly declined to wear the GWS Pride jersey earlier this year. Why didn’t we go hard on her, put her on the front and back pages, nyah, nyah, nyah? (Add poorly spelt abuse, and mix.) Nup.

As I wrote at the time: “It’s regrettable, disappointing and surprising – given that she is already progressive enough to break down the barriers to be the first Islamic woman to play in the AFLW – and to have played in the Pride round last year, albeit without personally wearing the jersey. But it ain’t remotely Folau in terms of impact, and not a thousandth of it in terms of newsworthiness.”

Ditto this.

Her declining to do so, as a sole operator, as a young woman living at home with devout parents and playing AFLW as an aside to her studies really is regrettable but 1/100 on the scale of impact and newsworthiness.

These blokes, seasoned professionals earning millions between them, and destroying the Manly season because of it, is a tad more impactful and newsworthy, yes?

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