No place for cowards

I PLANNED to pen a Tayla Harris opinion piece today – slamming the ‘sexist trolls’ and their vile comments.

Instead I offer you this piece from my colleague Lauren Wood a sports reporter at the Herald Sun because I believe her perspective gives more weight to the matter.

This is an edited version - the full version can be found on the Herald Sun’s website.

WHEN I saw Michael Willson’s photo of Tayla Harris on Sunday, my first thought was “wow”.

A footballer in full flight booting a goal from 40m out to spark the help to propel her team into the finals.

It was a pretty epic shot. You might even say iconic: that textbook kicking style and perfect follow-through. Shades of Ted Whitten, perhaps

To see it as anything but that, a brilliant photograph of a superb athlete, says more about the viewer than the picture itself.

When the shot was reposted and shared by a broadcaster, things turned ugly.

The unmoderated comments were vile, disgusting and downright horrid; the majority of them were posted by men, many of whom had women in their profile pictures.

But don’t call them trolls. Their act was trolling, certainly, but to label them as trolls would too easily wrap up the sexist, degrading, homophobic and hateful comments in one fell swoop and drop them into one convenient basket.

No, let’s call it what it is. A laugh among mates? Maybe pathetic but nothing more? No way.

The thing is that this isn’t even about whether you like women’s football or not.

It’s about cowards hiding behind a keyboard to try to bring down fierce, determined athletes.

And it’s certainly not about free speech or a right to criticise.

It’s reducing female athletes to their bodies. Not their ability, not their tackles that rattle bones, not their streaming down the wing to kick a goal, not their overhead marks. Just their bodies.

The post was removed – not for the photo’s content, but for the demeaning attacks that were launched by some idiots.

I believe this is yet another line in the sand moment not just just for AFL’s women, but for the wider football community.

To target players such as Tayla – and she’s not the only one to cop this sort of attack from the online idiots – is weak.

When AFL Women first sent a message to the “haters” earlier this season, I wondered whether the critics were worth the oxygen and whether such energy was better spent on those who love the game. Like bullies in the schoolyard, the small-minded often respond to attention.

But this is bigger than that now because what these women face has become obscene.

Rational people must band together to fight the sexism, the degradation, the disgusting comments. Block them. Report them. Strip them of their right to be part of our game.

It’s not just about Tayla. It’s bigger than women playing football. It’s bigger than sport.