EDITORIAL
Celebrate the great about our game
AFTER a long, hot and dusty summer, footy is finally back.
For those of us who love the tribalism, athleticism and passion of the game, this weekend marks the start of a sixmonth-long roller-coaster ride of emotions as we follow our teams through the myriad fortunes, injuries and sometimes even scandals that a footy season brings.
A footy club is like a community. It doesn’t matter your religion, politics or even socio-economic background, a footy game can draw together people of all ages and persuasions who share nothing in common except a passion for their team.
At its best, football is the ultimate social leveller, an inclusive, celebratory environment where you can let your passions and true colours fly. But not always. On Thursday night, as the AFL season kicked off with its opening clash between Carlton and Richmond, a brawl erupted in the stands of the MCG.
The very first game of the season’s opening round was marred after a video circulated of the fight between footy fans who were seemingly upset over a free kick.
Last year Kardinia Park was the scene of similar poor crowd behaviour with at least ugly two incidents during Cats games making headlines.
Cats chief executive Brian Cook later said the club had been notified of “at least one or two” incidents of poor crowd behaviour from every Geelong home game, prompting the board to appoint an internal investigations officer to look into ugly match-day incidents.
This week, Carlton AFLW footballer Tayla Harris became the public face of a new era of social media trolling and abuse when she spoke out about the negative comments that had been posted on a photo of her in action.
Harris won the public sentiment and widespread praise for taking a stand. But the war against the faceless social media trolls is far from over.
All the things worth celebrating about our great game can quickly become overshadowed by the acts of a few. Here’s hoping the rest of the season puts the acts of this week far behind us.