While I'm quite partial to the occasional dick and fart joke, this actions of Tim Orchard on the weekend provided the latest development in the appalling acts of misconduct that have plagued all codes of football this year.
The transgression, exposing himself live on ABCTV Saturday afternoon, was dismissed by club president Richard Mulligan as just "one of those impulse things". Somehow the innability of a 22-year-old male to resist the impulse flash his genitals to a national audience of all ages is something that this 'football club culture' deemed neither serious nor criminal. I wonder if the response would have been different had he been lurking around a primary school in an overcoat.
It's fair to say that it's been a very bad year for footballers and innapropriate off-field conduct. Just this week a former NRL star, Greg Bird, was convicted for 'glassing' his girlfriend. Ironically enough Bird belonged to the Cronulla Sharks whose notoriety this year has been the result of the Matthew John's 'group-sex scandal' rather than on-field accomplishments. If memory serves correctly it was also the club's CEO, Tony Zappia, who resigned for allegedy punching a female employee. Whilst the Sharks misdemeanours are plentiful it is unfortunate that the memory does not have to extend very far to recall the trangressions of individuals from all codes.
What is it about the culture associated with football clubs in Australia that produces and legimitises this sort of behaviour? How is it possible that these institutions, that our society deems acceptable to leave young children with, are capable of nurturing athleticism while failing to nurture character.
Growing up in Melbourne I was exposed to this club culture at a very young age and personal experience lead me to migrate away from Australian Rules towards other team sports. I can't say I experienced the anti-social or sexist mentality that seems common today but there was a ripe and overwhelming sense of homophobia that was equally correlated with strangely homoerotic behaviour.
At the end of the day the players are the club responsibility. You would hope that these adults, considered to be role models, would be capable of distinguishing right from wrong and moderating their behaviour accordingly but history would suggest otherwise. Sure, they're human and capable of making mistakes but something needs to change. That's why it's down to the club.
If you consider any athelete, the amount of hours that can be spent training and performing does not sufficiently occupy the hours of the day. If you were a football club investing a lot of time and money into an individual it is common sense that you would not want their behaviour the compromise their performance or the integrity of the club. Why don't clubs spend more time developing the character of their players? If you were to weigh up the cost that these acts of misconduct against the cost of public speaking classes, leadership programs and ethical/rational dicision making classes it seems like a worthwhile investment. Think of it as a 'finishing-school' for footballers.
No comments:
Post a Comment