What are they thinking....
Well we can all hear what they are thinking. The dirt keeps rolling out of their hearts, minds, and spirits - unhindered it would seem. There is no stopping to think of how another might feel; no stopping to think "I am a public figure I need to act and speak professionally and mindfully". There is no stopping to think that, because these unseemly words are splashed all over the media, I might be bringing not only myself, my family, my code and my club into disrepute but the reputation of my nation.
To-day it is Dipper (otherwise known as Robert DiPierdomenico in the headlines). Could I say "of all people"!!!
Now Dipper I am from a period when it was common to hear people of your ethnicity referred to Eyeties, Wogs, Wops, and Dagos. Australia seems to have got over that and mainly Wogs is seen as a self-inflicted piece of Australian humour.
Now I know mind control is out and I wouldn't want it if it was an option. However, across the codes our footballers make the headlines for all sorts of crimes and misdemeanours and I wonder - how I wonder - what the code management teaches them. These young men - and the ageing and retired ones once were - are treated as celebrities, currently they earn fabled sums of money, and their faces are plastered far and wide. Our boys idolise and emulate them.
Now I know that few footballers are noted for their Intellectual Quotient. They are there for their ability with feet and ball. However, I believe that the codes and the clubs owe something to themselves and to these so-admired young.men. These young men need real education - not just being told what to do and what not to do. Those sort of lectures seldom go further than skin deep. And I know that educated people can be racist, fascist, terrorists and the rest.
But it is about time codes and clubs return their debts to these young men and ensure our football heroes become true men of honour in youth and in middle and old age.
RACISM DOES NOT BECOME OUR HEROES
STOP OUR HEROES FROM BECOMING RACISTS
Well, as Crikey says today:
ReplyDelete"If Brown, commended by Back Page Lead editor Ashley Browne for his work with indigenous footballers, doesn’t understand what he’s done is wrong, than what hope do we have?"
Denis