16/02/2011 - Bare Knuckle Fighting
I'm feeling slightly sick.
I have just returned from a bare knuckle fight.
Highly illegal and very, very brutal.
I went in the interests of sports journalism but what I saw has left me in a very weird head space.
Typically held in warehouses and organised by the more nefarious members of society, these events are held on an 'invitation only' basis.
A friend of a friend knew of my journalistic leanings and thus I was invited along on this steamy Saturday evening.
Held in a back street in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley, a crowd of around 60 men (and a few women) crammed into a run-down building.
There was no ring and no seats, no flash lighting and no public address system.
It was raw and it was animalistic.
I was struck by the savage, blood thirsty atmosphere immediately.
I overheard one man say "Can't wait...gonna see some blood and guts"
This summed up the crowd’s expectations.
The crowd was out for blood and excitement and I suspect that much of the tension in the atmosphere was due to the illegality of the event.
Everyone seemed to be hyped up by the idea of breaking the law and there were several arguments among the spectators as they jostled to get the best view.
Anti-smoking laws did not apply here and my eyes stung from the second-hand smoke that hung in the unventilated building.
It was a fire-trap and I felt very claustrophobic.
Instinctively the crowd parted and a hush descended. The two fighters simply walked into the 'ring', eyed each other up and then simply started pummelling each other.
The crowd went from virtually silent to a screaming mass in two seconds and I was sure police would storm the place at any moment.
The shouting seemed to spur the fighters on and the sound of knuckle on cheek and nose was sickening. Gloved boxing seems to somehow remove the brutality of what is essentially two people smacking the hell out of each other, but tonight I saw the true face of contact sport.
I’ve got a lot of conflicting emotions.
The two fighters appeared fairly evenly matched, and despite the lack of rounds or bells, they both seemed to know when to back off and when to resume the fight - there was respect between them and it was touching.
I wondered who would decide the winner – there didn’t appear to be a ref.
Both men had split lips and blood streaming from their noses.
I looked at the excitement in the eyes of the crowd and I was revolted by what I saw; pure blood-lust.
Suddenly it was all over and X was declared the winner; his opponent seemed to take the decision without argument.
They shook hands and went to get cleaned up.
The crowd filtered out into the night and the vibe was exactly like the end of a ‘proper’ boxing match; almost peaceful; an end to violence.
This organised violence was between 2 consenting adults.
I presume they were paid for their troubles but it did not sit well with me.
And it has left a mark on me.
20/02/2011 - St Kilda Scandal
I've been watching the St Kilda/teenage girl with camera scandal with a morbid fascination, and the whole situation provokes a number of questions; the main one being HOW STUPID ARE THESE PLAYERS? I don't really want to get into the morality of the whole affair, and I certainly don't want to tar the girl (child?) as an attention seeking, money grabbing peanut (as much of the mainstream media seems to be doing). I want to know if any of the players, indeed any player for any club, receives any media training when they join a club? At what point do you say to yourself 'I'm earning top dollar. I'm adored by thousands of sports fans. I think I'll allow a teenage girl to take some nudey pics of me - that'll help my career no end'?
It has been rumoured that a lot of the players are not the sharpest knives in the drawer, and they were too stupid/uneducated (call it what you will) to realise the consequences of their actions. I'm pretty sure that they do now. It has also been argued that some of the pictures were taken without the players consent. Blimey! There's a change; a footballer being taken advantage of by a young girl. I was under the impression it was usually the other way around.
But getting back to original point; surely the clubs must take some responsibility? If I were to employ someone, regardless of their education/background, I have a responsibility to train them so they don't injure themselves. "Here's how you operate this complex coffee machine" and "Here's how you carry a knife in the kitchen". In the case of clubs, surely it makes sense to say "Here's how NOT to get caught naked" or "Here's how NOT to have a fight in a nightclub". Once trained, the employee signs a training record to prove that they know how to be safe in a work environment. The training record also protects the employer from getting sued if the employee does have an 'accident' and claims ignorance of procedure. Which is what I imagine a lot of players have the option to do...
I'm sure we'll see and hear plenty more on the St Kilda scandal, and I'm watching with a slight sense of disinterest. After all, this isn't the first instance of player stupidity, and it certainly won't be the last.
24/02/2011 - Lawn Bowls - Queensland Masters Pairs Final
The overcast weather did not dampen the excitement of the crowd at Darra Cementco Bowls Club, gathered for the final of John Herriot and John Taylor against Rob Dobbins and Chris Ryan playing for the title and $3475 of prize money.
The match started with the first three ends (rounds) going to Herriot/Taylor, with some wide bowls played by everyone as they got a feel for the rink.
They played through a light shower in the fifth which slowed the rink down slightly.
Herriot split the pack early but there were a lot of bowls close to the ditch by the end. Taylor almost gave Ryan an opening but he couldn’t capitalise on it.
At the start of the sixth end Herriot and Taylor were leading 11 points to 1.
Herriot opened, going quite short with the jack, his first bowl going wide and his second almost touching the jack.
Ryan knocked Herriot on, bringing Herriot even closer to the point but Dobbins bowled in with a beauty.
Taylor knocked on Dobbins with a strong, wide bowl but Dobbins/Ryan took the only point of the sixth end.
At the seventh end Ryan said “Change the length. Change our fortunes”, summing up the Dobbins/Ryan game plan.
They went long with the jack and hoped this would throw their opponents.
It did.
Despite Herriot going for some good bounce from his opponents bowls, Dobbins/Ryan took five points.
Herriot played wide behind the jack and close to the ditch; Dobbins tried to knock the jack into the ditch but missed.
Ryan played a blinder knocking Herriot/Taylor’s bowls clean away.
Taylor tried to ditch the jack, and he succeeded by bowling a cracking fire ball but the only point of the eighth end went to Dobbins/Ryan.
By the close of the eleventh end, both teams were level on 13 points.
The twelth end started with Herriot/Taylor holding the mat and they went short with the jack.
Taylor came up close with Ryan just ouside.
There were some good options for both sides and Herriot knocked Taylor’s bowl even closer to the jack but Dobbins rolled a pefect shot, coming in behind and sealing the pack.
The jack was well covered and Ryan needed to stay away from Taylor’s bowls.
Ryan’s bowl was a beauty.
He pulled off the shot and Dobbins/Ryan took the lead 16 points to 13.
Dobbins/Ryan took a point in each of the following two ends, and in the fifteenth end Taylor described the game as “Brilliant”, laughing as he headed back to the rink.
The sportsmanship between the players was excellent, with everyone joking around - it was hard to believe it was the Queensland Masters Pairs finals.
The fifteenth end finished with a point to Herriot/Taylor but in the sixteenth Dobbins/Ryan took three points, holding the lead 20 to 16.
At the seventeenth end Dobbins summarised the match as “Very tight. A good game; difficult conditions but a good game”
Dobbins/Ryan held the lead right into the nineteenth end; sitting at 24 to 16.
The twentieth end was replayed but finally Dobbins/Taylor took the title.
Final score:
Dobbins/Ryan: 25 points, Herriot/Taylor 16 points.
12/03/2011 - The Face of Women's AFL
Kate Misson (left) making a run for it - Image courtesy of Jill Misson
Sophisti-Kate-d - Image courtesy of Jill Misson
Women’s AFL doesn’t get the coverage that it deserves.
If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t agree with this then you’ll probably want to skip this page, however if you do agree then you should get along well with Kate Misson.
Kate, 23, works as a regional coordinator for the Brisbane City Cobras touch football squad and she was recently selected by AFL Queensland to be the new face for women’s AFL.
She started playing AFL when she was 15, has played at a national level, and she’s done plenty of press conferences and newspaper interviews.
She’s the first to admit that the promotion of women’s AFL has been lacking: “It’s been a bit slack but we’ve been working on posters and brochures to get women’s AFL to the forefront”
Kate plays for the Morningside Wildcats; she used to play ruck but now she’s mainly in the position of centre due to having surgery on her wrist.
“I love getting to play all over the field so it keeps me entertained rather than waiting for the ball to come down to me.”
Playing with the Wildcats, Kate trains twice a week but in the pre-season period she’ll often train three times a week. It’s a busy life but she clearly loves it.
Just because it’s women’s AFL, it doesn’t mean the players hold back; it’s very competitive and everyone plays to win. It’s very physical and very full on.
Kate’s passionate and doesn’t believe that women’s sport gets the credence it deserves: “Especially in a sport like AFL, it’s a bit frowned upon..obviously we’re girls and we’re not given much support in certain areas. It can be a real negative point when you’re not supported by certain members of the public and even by people within the AFL”
Kate hopes to change this with her role as figurehead for women’s AFL
She believes there’s not much difference between men and women’s football; there’s always a great sense of sportsmanship and the passion to play is strong, regardless of whether it’s men’s or women’s AFL being played.
“If you go and watch a guys game and a girls game - they are pretty similar in the way they’re played and the passion that all the team members have towards that game”
Despite the physical nature of the game, Kate wants to keep playing for as long as possible. She says “When I started [playing with the Wildcats] one of the girls was 35 so I want be like that; still playing in five years time.”
Seeing as Kate’s only 23, she has plenty of years in the game ahead of her.
Kate playing for the Morningside Wildcats
Image courtesy of Jill Misson
Kate’s mum, Jill Misson, is immensely proud of her youngest daughter being an ambassador for women’s AFL. She believes that because of Kate’s background working for the AFL , Kate knows exactly what’s going on.
Between the ages of six and thirteen, Kate had a number of operations on her wrist due to a condition that she’s still receiving treatment for.
Jill says “She [Kate] always had this peaceful air about her as a child; she’s special…very relaxed and very mellow”
Despite having a mother’s bias, Jill reckons Kate has the ability to really push and promote women’s AFL because “whatever Kate does, she puts her whole heart and soul into getting the job done right”
Jill was involved with the Cairns Junior Footbal Association, and seeing her sister and brother playing sports fired Kate’s imagination and she just had to get involved.
On Kate as a child, Jill says “She was very laid back but didn’t like rules and regulations. She went to school only because she had to but she would only do the bare minimum and nothing else.”
Her mum says “She’s very independent but she wouldn’t have got the job if she hadn’t got what it takes”.
You could call her a rebel but Kate’s buckled down and put in the hard yards to get where she wants to be. Her current job as a touch football coordinator requires her to report to the state government every three months so she has to be on the ball.
It’s a male dominated area but Kate won’t be pushed around by the old guard.
She says “You just have to get in there and do the work. If people see the work’s getting done, they realise that you’re the right one for the job. If there are obstacles, you just have to find a way around them. It’s just part of the job and you work with what you’ve got”
Jill says that Kate’s a great tactician and she’s diplomatic too - she knows when to keep quiet. It’s this ability to strike a balance that makes her popular with her team-mates.
Kate has a great respect for others and she gets that respect back in spadefuls.
Despite Kate’s popularity, Jill was adamant that she didn’t want her daughter portrayed as “up herself”; it’s a striking example of family keeping Kate’s feet firmly on the ground.
Not that Kate needs any help with that. But she might need to prepare for a long haul to get women’s AFL firmly jammed in the public eye.
Amanda Lucas, a sports journalist for the Courier Mail says “Female athletes are just as talented in their own right but it’s just how society portrays women athletes. I don’t think it’s a case of male versus female…it’s just that traditionally sport is a masculine thing. It’s hard to change something that’s been the way it has for so long, and various sports are improving with media coverage, sponsorships and audience awareness but is a very slow change”
“It’s great that we’ve got some great female athletes who juggle a career, and some have children. For teenage girls in particular, to look up to these women who are very healthy, fit and confident. I think they’re brilliant role models. They often offer a great perspective on how to deal with real life.”
Kate Misson ticks all the boxes.
Women’s AFL may not be getting the coverage it deserves but Kate’s doing her best to change that.
Double Trouble - Image courtesy of Jill Misson
14/03/2011 - Ricky Nixon
Oh my word! The St Kilda scandal's plot gets thicker and seedier every time I pick up a newspaper or turn on the news. It's like the seven stages of grief: shock & denial; pain & guilt (though I'm unsure how guilty Mr Nixon is feeling); anger & bargaining (I reckon there's been plenty of both behind the scenes); depression, reflection & loneliness; the upward turn (we'll have to see how this one works out); reconstruction & working through; and finally acceptance & hope. Nixon is a 47 year old man - he really should know better. Even if his motives were pure, to put himself in such a compromising position is just ridiculous - this is the sort of behaviour he should have been warning his players against, not indulging in it himself. I don't know enough about the culture in football circles to make any comment beyond my own personal speculations, but one would think in any industry there would be slander, gossip and (possibly wrong) conclusions leapt to, if an older man turned up in a teenager's hotel room in the small hours of the night. Call me sceptical, call me cynical but I reckon the whole situation is how it seems; sordid, dodgy and rather sad.
20/03/2011 - St Kilda - Apologies?! What the...?
And now the girl who was supposed to have taken the pics and published them has issued an apology?! She said "I would like to formally apologise to the above players for releasing photographs of them which I did not take, nor did I have permission to publish"...
Which brings me nicely onto the other side of my rant; why would some one think that they were above the law when they publish photographs against the wishes of those in the said photographs? I'm old skool; when I got up to mischief two decades ago (Jeebers! Has it been that long?!) the worst thing you could expect would be someone with a camera and therefore a few polaroids (look 'em up on the internet) of said dodgy business. Now everyone has a camera in their phone and there are hundreds of sites where you can post the evidence (and nearly always against the wishes of those in the photographs). The law needs to catch up with technology and the public needs to be educated. It wasn't cool to show off pictures of debauchery back in the 90's, and it certainly isn't cool now.
23/03/2011 - But does it make the players play any worse?
Has all this scandal made the players less skillful? Are less points being scored? Will anyone care in a year? It's all grist to the media mill and I reckon it'll all be water under the bridge in six months. Everyone will forget the scandal, everyone's focus will shift back to the game and not the players and their foolish antics. At least until the next scandal anyway...
24/03/2011 - And here comes the 'I've learnt my lesson' speech
Maybe I really am too cynical because when I read the news about Sam Gilbert and Zac Dawson apologising for their naughtiness and how they've seen the error of their ways, I almost choked on my sausage sandwich. Perhaps sports fans have short memories. Or perhaps they don't really care about the off field antics of players. Or perhaps they've just seen the same old scandals repeated with different players (and players of different codes and sports) to the point where the fans have become indifferent to sporting scandals. Admittedly these scandals sell papers so obviously the media has a vested interest in reporting on them, but I'm not so sure that the fans are bothered one way or the other - sure the media and sporting associations will constantly harp on about how sports stars are role models etc but does anyone over the age of 15 really believe that? My sports crazy friend says she doesn't care about the off field behaviour because she reckons half the time it's a media beat-up, and the other half it's to be expected because she believes many sports stars (I'm looking at you AFL and Rugby players!) have had any remnants of intelligence knocked out of them whilst playing the game and therefore should be looked upon with pity and (rightly or wrongly) deserving help and assistance.
I'm not so sure. I'm not even sure if I care.
I'll let you know next time I'm watching a game of football and I turn it off because I can't bear to watch a skilled sportsman because of his off field antics.
24/03/2011 - And here comes the 'I've learnt my lesson' speech
Maybe I really am too cynical because when I read the news about Sam Gilbert and Zac Dawson apologising for their naughtiness and how they've seen the error of their ways, I almost choked on my sausage sandwich. Perhaps sports fans have short memories. Or perhaps they don't really care about the off field antics of players. Or perhaps they've just seen the same old scandals repeated with different players (and players of different codes and sports) to the point where the fans have become indifferent to sporting scandals. Admittedly these scandals sell papers so obviously the media has a vested interest in reporting on them, but I'm not so sure that the fans are bothered one way or the other - sure the media and sporting associations will constantly harp on about how sports stars are role models etc but does anyone over the age of 15 really believe that? My sports crazy friend says she doesn't care about the off field behaviour because she reckons half the time it's a media beat-up, and the other half it's to be expected because she believes many sports stars (I'm looking at you AFL and Rugby players!) have had any remnants of intelligence knocked out of them whilst playing the game and therefore should be looked upon with pity and (rightly or wrongly) deserving help and assistance.
I'm not so sure. I'm not even sure if I care.
I'll let you know next time I'm watching a game of football and I turn it off because I can't bear to watch a skilled sportsman because of his off field antics.
