frank stokes
I discriminate indiscriminately
Now that’s equality
Latrell Mitchell
- Thread starter Spartan Eagle
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Uk eagle
Bencher
Being racist is just that, using someone's race in a defamatory way. Majority of minority has nothing to do with it. It's just plain old fashioned double standards.
Ron E. Gibbs
First Grader
As usual, the discussion here on Silvertails has been ahead of the media curve. Two stories today in the Herald touch on Latrell and Adam Goodes.
Latrell Mitchell is the most important person in NSW. Why is he being booed?
by Malcolm Knox
Latrell Mitchell is at a low point in his career, exasperating South Sydney fans and getting booed every week by followers of other clubs. But when the NSW premier, the police minister, the police commissioner, the NRL bosses and several gentlemen in hats fresh out of the local show gathered in Moree this week, they all wanted to be in Mitchell’s aura. All that power, but only one star.
This revealing, or alarming, state of affairs was made clear when Mitchell and several VIP loads of dignitaries descended on the northern NSW town to promote Operation Pathfinder, a preventative justice program in which rugby league players, led by Mitchell, will steer young people away from crime.
It was Peter V’landys’ idea, by all reports, and he deserves to be congratulated for it. Moreover, in the major rugby league debate of “Trell: Charismatic Superstar or Overpaid Bigmouth”, V’landys has stuck his neck out to support Mitchell, which is gutsy and leaderlike. Still, V’landys is not the one who gets abused by 20,000 customers when he goes to work.
It says something when the most criticised player in rugby league is still more influential than all those important office-holders. But criticised Mitchell is, and he’s on the verge of becoming league’s Adam Goodes. That much became evident during the Rabbitohs’ match against the Bulldogs last weekend.
It hadn’t been a surprise to see him booed by Roosters fans. That bad blood is personal, and not unusual when it comes to fans and a player they once idolised but now see as a traitor. That is basic tribalism. They’ve booed him for four years.
But last weekend, Mitchell was booed relentlessly by fans of a different club. Why? It’s just what people do. Will they keep doing it? Round five is a home game against the Warriors, whose Sydney fan base wouldn’t make a loud enough quorum. But next week Souths play Cronulla, then they have a bye, and then they play Melbourne, Penrith and St George Illawarra.
Those games will clarify whether Mitchell-booing is a Thing. What a disgrace it would be. In 2014, I was seeing Adam Goodes each week for a work project. At an away game in Melbourne, I thought I’d heard Hawthorn fans booing him whenever he touched the ball. He wasn’t aware.
A week later, the same thing happened. He still hadn’t heard – but he soon did. It had crept up, and all of a sudden it was mandatory for thousands of sheep to make a noise because their flock-mates were making the same noise.
And then it became a big thing, a national thing, a divisive and debated thing, until it ended up turning into two years of solid shame for the AFL with a bitter aftertaste that has not abated to this day.
If anyone should be disappointed with Mitchell lately, it should be Rabbitohs fans. But they clap their foreheads and roll their eyes and mutter under their breath and ask why he’s in Moree and not training the house down at Redfern.
As frustrated as they are, they don’t orchestrate the kind of unpleasantness that should be saved only for referees, and then only until they give your team some square-up penalties.
Yes, Mitchell deliberately antagonises. Yes, he speaks his opinion (doesn’t he know his place?) and he taunts opposing crowds and he flouts the professional constraints about playing the percentages. He can be irritating to fans and foes alike, and to be irritated by him doesn’t make you racist. But what is emerging is something different.
It’s one of those bandwagons where bigotry rides under the false flags of “gamesmanship” or “entertainment”. They came for the footy but they stayed for the thrill of disguised racist abuse. The fact that they could believe booing Mitchell is something other than bigotry only made them bigger dopes than they already were.
In Wednesday’s photo op at Moree, who was getting the reflected glory off whom? Was Mitchell, having a ragged season with an underperforming club, trying to get protection from the premier and the police commissioner (themselves in a bit of a form slump)? Or were the big chiefs trying to look good by standing next to Souths players?
The police minister was there too – was she trying to get close to that Trell magic or just avoid dropping the ball and having another shocker?
What about the people of Moree – who were they lining up for a selfie with? Peter V’landys? Their local member?
All questions were soon answered. Latrell might be missing tackles and trying too many things that don’t come off, but he’s still the one that the most powerful individuals in this state want to be near. And that’s eye-opening.
Former NSW premier Bob Askin didn’t stand next to Souths legend Bob McCarthy to improve his reputation. Neville Wran didn’t clamour to get near Bob Fulton or Arthur Beetson (except on grand final days). Power has shifted. Latrell can change lives and government can’t do it without him. We now live in a rugby league state of mind.
Going to Moree to make a difference to crime rates won’t stop NRL crowds from booing Mitchell. It will probably make them boo him more. He seems bold enough, or habituated enough, or weary enough, to cope with it. But he’s 26 years old. See how he feels if he gets another five or eight years of it. See how you feel.
In Moree, the stakes aren’t a few points or a win or a loss or an Origin series or a place in the final eight or whatever. The stakes are human lives. The stakes are whether a community can live in peace. The stakes are whether or not despair gets institutionalised and mutated into crime.
If the state premier and the police commissioner and the police minister had gone there to announce a new program, they would get booed off the local park. If V’landys and NRL CEO Andrew Abdo went up there, even if they conceived the program, they couldn’t make much of a difference alone. All of that titular authority needs Latrell Mitchell. He got backing from Cody Walker and Tyrone Munro and the NRLW players Quincy Dodd and Rhiannon Byers, but they needed him too.
That’s a lot of responsibility for a 26-year-old to bring onto his shoulders, just as he brings so much else onto his shoulders. He’s a brave and optimistic young leader as well as a wayward genius and, many weeks, an unfulfilled talent. Why would you boo that? Or put it another way – why would you boo it just because the person next to you is?
A decade after Goodes’ retirement, the sporting community might have had some time to think about this and try to do a little better. In the next month or two, we’ll see if they have.
Latrell Mitchell is the most important person in NSW. Why is he being booed?
by Malcolm Knox
Latrell Mitchell is at a low point in his career, exasperating South Sydney fans and getting booed every week by followers of other clubs. But when the NSW premier, the police minister, the police commissioner, the NRL bosses and several gentlemen in hats fresh out of the local show gathered in Moree this week, they all wanted to be in Mitchell’s aura. All that power, but only one star.
This revealing, or alarming, state of affairs was made clear when Mitchell and several VIP loads of dignitaries descended on the northern NSW town to promote Operation Pathfinder, a preventative justice program in which rugby league players, led by Mitchell, will steer young people away from crime.
It was Peter V’landys’ idea, by all reports, and he deserves to be congratulated for it. Moreover, in the major rugby league debate of “Trell: Charismatic Superstar or Overpaid Bigmouth”, V’landys has stuck his neck out to support Mitchell, which is gutsy and leaderlike. Still, V’landys is not the one who gets abused by 20,000 customers when he goes to work.
It says something when the most criticised player in rugby league is still more influential than all those important office-holders. But criticised Mitchell is, and he’s on the verge of becoming league’s Adam Goodes. That much became evident during the Rabbitohs’ match against the Bulldogs last weekend.
It hadn’t been a surprise to see him booed by Roosters fans. That bad blood is personal, and not unusual when it comes to fans and a player they once idolised but now see as a traitor. That is basic tribalism. They’ve booed him for four years.
But last weekend, Mitchell was booed relentlessly by fans of a different club. Why? It’s just what people do. Will they keep doing it? Round five is a home game against the Warriors, whose Sydney fan base wouldn’t make a loud enough quorum. But next week Souths play Cronulla, then they have a bye, and then they play Melbourne, Penrith and St George Illawarra.
Those games will clarify whether Mitchell-booing is a Thing. What a disgrace it would be. In 2014, I was seeing Adam Goodes each week for a work project. At an away game in Melbourne, I thought I’d heard Hawthorn fans booing him whenever he touched the ball. He wasn’t aware.
A week later, the same thing happened. He still hadn’t heard – but he soon did. It had crept up, and all of a sudden it was mandatory for thousands of sheep to make a noise because their flock-mates were making the same noise.
And then it became a big thing, a national thing, a divisive and debated thing, until it ended up turning into two years of solid shame for the AFL with a bitter aftertaste that has not abated to this day.
If anyone should be disappointed with Mitchell lately, it should be Rabbitohs fans. But they clap their foreheads and roll their eyes and mutter under their breath and ask why he’s in Moree and not training the house down at Redfern.
As frustrated as they are, they don’t orchestrate the kind of unpleasantness that should be saved only for referees, and then only until they give your team some square-up penalties.
Yes, Mitchell deliberately antagonises. Yes, he speaks his opinion (doesn’t he know his place?) and he taunts opposing crowds and he flouts the professional constraints about playing the percentages. He can be irritating to fans and foes alike, and to be irritated by him doesn’t make you racist. But what is emerging is something different.
It’s one of those bandwagons where bigotry rides under the false flags of “gamesmanship” or “entertainment”. They came for the footy but they stayed for the thrill of disguised racist abuse. The fact that they could believe booing Mitchell is something other than bigotry only made them bigger dopes than they already were.
In Wednesday’s photo op at Moree, who was getting the reflected glory off whom? Was Mitchell, having a ragged season with an underperforming club, trying to get protection from the premier and the police commissioner (themselves in a bit of a form slump)? Or were the big chiefs trying to look good by standing next to Souths players?
The police minister was there too – was she trying to get close to that Trell magic or just avoid dropping the ball and having another shocker?
What about the people of Moree – who were they lining up for a selfie with? Peter V’landys? Their local member?
All questions were soon answered. Latrell might be missing tackles and trying too many things that don’t come off, but he’s still the one that the most powerful individuals in this state want to be near. And that’s eye-opening.
Former NSW premier Bob Askin didn’t stand next to Souths legend Bob McCarthy to improve his reputation. Neville Wran didn’t clamour to get near Bob Fulton or Arthur Beetson (except on grand final days). Power has shifted. Latrell can change lives and government can’t do it without him. We now live in a rugby league state of mind.
Going to Moree to make a difference to crime rates won’t stop NRL crowds from booing Mitchell. It will probably make them boo him more. He seems bold enough, or habituated enough, or weary enough, to cope with it. But he’s 26 years old. See how he feels if he gets another five or eight years of it. See how you feel.
In Moree, the stakes aren’t a few points or a win or a loss or an Origin series or a place in the final eight or whatever. The stakes are human lives. The stakes are whether a community can live in peace. The stakes are whether or not despair gets institutionalised and mutated into crime.
If the state premier and the police commissioner and the police minister had gone there to announce a new program, they would get booed off the local park. If V’landys and NRL CEO Andrew Abdo went up there, even if they conceived the program, they couldn’t make much of a difference alone. All of that titular authority needs Latrell Mitchell. He got backing from Cody Walker and Tyrone Munro and the NRLW players Quincy Dodd and Rhiannon Byers, but they needed him too.
That’s a lot of responsibility for a 26-year-old to bring onto his shoulders, just as he brings so much else onto his shoulders. He’s a brave and optimistic young leader as well as a wayward genius and, many weeks, an unfulfilled talent. Why would you boo that? Or put it another way – why would you boo it just because the person next to you is?
A decade after Goodes’ retirement, the sporting community might have had some time to think about this and try to do a little better. In the next month or two, we’ll see if they have.
Ron E. Gibbs
First Grader
‘I don’t think we’ll ever get to the end of it’: Swans great despairs about ongoing racism
by Malcolm Conn
Michael O’Loughlin began fighting racism when he was a 10-year-old.
A gifted and graceful Indigenous player, who became a Sydney Swans favourite and is now on the club’s board, O’Loughlin would front up to children on the ovals of Adelaide’s outer suburbs when he suffered abuse during matches as a primary school kid.
“The junior stuff was tough,” O’Loughlin said. “There was always the remark around skin colour, and who I was. It made me angry, made me more determined. It upset me, but I would try to fight, which is not the answer.
“My mother and grandmother pulled me aside and said, ‘You’ll be fighting every day of your life if that’s the way you want to handle things. See the football. Get the football. That’s how you’ll get ahead in our world. Play well, kick goals, get the footy. Don’t worry about that other stuff. As you get older, you’ll learn about racism, and you’ll learn what our people have been through and what they continue to go through’.”
The treatment he received from AFL opponents was nothing like what he endured during his junior days, which he says is thanks to the work of previous generations of Indigenous players including Nicky Winmar, Michael McLean and Michael Long.
However, O’Loughlin believes despite the AFL’s best efforts to deal with the problem, racism will always be an issue.
“The AFL comes out and has a policy that’s probably the first of its kind in the sporting world around racial and religious vilification,” O’Loughlin said. “But that doesn’t stop the clowns in the crowd. They’re always going to put in their two-cents worth. I don’t think we’ll ever get to the end of it.”
O’Loughlin pointed to the racist abuse suffered by former AFL star Eddie Betts’ children last week, while they were playing basketball in their backyard, as an example of a continuing issue in Australian society.
“As I reflect on Eddie Betts and his post on social media around how these terrible things continue to happen, he just keeps on picking himself off the floor and dusting himself off,” O’Loughlin said.
“He knows that his work around education, around making sure people know why this is all hurtful, why this comes from a place of understanding to make a better future. And that’s all you can do.
“Our people have been treated appallingly over the course of the history of this country, but we keep picking ourselves up, dusting ourselves off. We want everyone to be proud of the Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander culture.”
O’Loughlin was a reluctant draftee to the lowly Swans in 1995 after setting his heart on joining Carlton. He played 303 games, kicked 521 goals, was a member of the 2005 premiership team and was ultimately inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
Past players have been a central feature of the Swans celebrating their 150th anniversary this year.
Yet for all his great achievements on the field, O’Loughlin believes his greatest single contribution came off it.
That is co-founding the GO Foundation with Adam Goodes, the dual Brownlow medallist who O’Loughlin discovered was a relation after the Swans drafted him in 1997. They wanted to ensure Indigenous children received a good education.
“I get chills when I talk about it because it’s something I’m very passionate about, and Adam is as well,” O’Loughlin said. “So we’ve had 1200 scholars be a part of that.
“We look after everything, from school fees to transport to laptops to Wi-Fi at home, so kids can complete their school work. We’ve got graduation ceremonies, we’ve got a few who are at university and we’ve got a few who completed university.
“It doesn’t get much better than that. It’s like winning a premiership and being able to help with a kid’s dream. It’s right up there.
“These kids have got to do all the work. We’re just there to create an opportunity for them, like the Swans did for Adam and I. But this is different because not everyone’s going to play AFL, NRL, netball, basketball, whatever it might be. But everyone can go to school and everybody can turn up and participate and be on time.”
For all the joy of opening doors for future generations, there remains the sadness of how Goodes, one of football’s most decorated players, was booed out of the game.
In 2013, he pointed out a 13-year-old girl at a game against Collingwood for calling him an “ape”, prompting a backlash from crowds and some media commentators. As 2014 Australian of the Year, he took a stand against racism in his acceptance speech and the backlash continued.
Goodes retired in 2015 and ignored all invitations from the AFL, which apologised four years later for the way he was treated.
“I feel sad, I feel angry, I feel frustrated, I feel all these things with what your great mate was going through,” O’Loughlin said. “It’s a reflection on Australia. It’s the classic, ‘holding the mirror up to yourself’ and sometimes you don’t like what you see.
“The game let Adam down. Absolutely let him down. And we are poorer for it. It is something that I reflect on. You have those moments when you just shake your head. Aboriginal people, we’re sick of fighting to prove our worth. And it’s up to our non-Indigenous friends, when they hear and see stupid **** that is just not on, they call it out.”
So how does O’Loughlin feel about the Voice to parliament referendum, which 60 per cent of Australians voted against?
“We missed an opportunity,” he said, “Everyone has got on with life and are doing what they usually do … but for our people and in our communities, they’re still battling.”
So O’Loughlin looks through the lens of what he and Goodes can do for their communities with the GO Foundation and beyond. They can create opportunities because of the opportunities they were given in football.
“The Swans have had really good, solid people for nearly the 30 years that I’ve been here, and I’m forever indebted to them,” O’Loughlin said.
by Malcolm Conn
Michael O’Loughlin began fighting racism when he was a 10-year-old.
A gifted and graceful Indigenous player, who became a Sydney Swans favourite and is now on the club’s board, O’Loughlin would front up to children on the ovals of Adelaide’s outer suburbs when he suffered abuse during matches as a primary school kid.
“The junior stuff was tough,” O’Loughlin said. “There was always the remark around skin colour, and who I was. It made me angry, made me more determined. It upset me, but I would try to fight, which is not the answer.
“My mother and grandmother pulled me aside and said, ‘You’ll be fighting every day of your life if that’s the way you want to handle things. See the football. Get the football. That’s how you’ll get ahead in our world. Play well, kick goals, get the footy. Don’t worry about that other stuff. As you get older, you’ll learn about racism, and you’ll learn what our people have been through and what they continue to go through’.”
The treatment he received from AFL opponents was nothing like what he endured during his junior days, which he says is thanks to the work of previous generations of Indigenous players including Nicky Winmar, Michael McLean and Michael Long.
However, O’Loughlin believes despite the AFL’s best efforts to deal with the problem, racism will always be an issue.
“The AFL comes out and has a policy that’s probably the first of its kind in the sporting world around racial and religious vilification,” O’Loughlin said. “But that doesn’t stop the clowns in the crowd. They’re always going to put in their two-cents worth. I don’t think we’ll ever get to the end of it.”
O’Loughlin pointed to the racist abuse suffered by former AFL star Eddie Betts’ children last week, while they were playing basketball in their backyard, as an example of a continuing issue in Australian society.
“As I reflect on Eddie Betts and his post on social media around how these terrible things continue to happen, he just keeps on picking himself off the floor and dusting himself off,” O’Loughlin said.
“He knows that his work around education, around making sure people know why this is all hurtful, why this comes from a place of understanding to make a better future. And that’s all you can do.
“Our people have been treated appallingly over the course of the history of this country, but we keep picking ourselves up, dusting ourselves off. We want everyone to be proud of the Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander culture.”
O’Loughlin was a reluctant draftee to the lowly Swans in 1995 after setting his heart on joining Carlton. He played 303 games, kicked 521 goals, was a member of the 2005 premiership team and was ultimately inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
Past players have been a central feature of the Swans celebrating their 150th anniversary this year.
Yet for all his great achievements on the field, O’Loughlin believes his greatest single contribution came off it.
That is co-founding the GO Foundation with Adam Goodes, the dual Brownlow medallist who O’Loughlin discovered was a relation after the Swans drafted him in 1997. They wanted to ensure Indigenous children received a good education.
“I get chills when I talk about it because it’s something I’m very passionate about, and Adam is as well,” O’Loughlin said. “So we’ve had 1200 scholars be a part of that.
“We look after everything, from school fees to transport to laptops to Wi-Fi at home, so kids can complete their school work. We’ve got graduation ceremonies, we’ve got a few who are at university and we’ve got a few who completed university.
“It doesn’t get much better than that. It’s like winning a premiership and being able to help with a kid’s dream. It’s right up there.
“These kids have got to do all the work. We’re just there to create an opportunity for them, like the Swans did for Adam and I. But this is different because not everyone’s going to play AFL, NRL, netball, basketball, whatever it might be. But everyone can go to school and everybody can turn up and participate and be on time.”
For all the joy of opening doors for future generations, there remains the sadness of how Goodes, one of football’s most decorated players, was booed out of the game.
In 2013, he pointed out a 13-year-old girl at a game against Collingwood for calling him an “ape”, prompting a backlash from crowds and some media commentators. As 2014 Australian of the Year, he took a stand against racism in his acceptance speech and the backlash continued.
Goodes retired in 2015 and ignored all invitations from the AFL, which apologised four years later for the way he was treated.
“I feel sad, I feel angry, I feel frustrated, I feel all these things with what your great mate was going through,” O’Loughlin said. “It’s a reflection on Australia. It’s the classic, ‘holding the mirror up to yourself’ and sometimes you don’t like what you see.
“The game let Adam down. Absolutely let him down. And we are poorer for it. It is something that I reflect on. You have those moments when you just shake your head. Aboriginal people, we’re sick of fighting to prove our worth. And it’s up to our non-Indigenous friends, when they hear and see stupid **** that is just not on, they call it out.”
So how does O’Loughlin feel about the Voice to parliament referendum, which 60 per cent of Australians voted against?
“We missed an opportunity,” he said, “Everyone has got on with life and are doing what they usually do … but for our people and in our communities, they’re still battling.”
So O’Loughlin looks through the lens of what he and Goodes can do for their communities with the GO Foundation and beyond. They can create opportunities because of the opportunities they were given in football.
“The Swans have had really good, solid people for nearly the 30 years that I’ve been here, and I’m forever indebted to them,” O’Loughlin said.
What an absolute media beat up....Booed every week, I dont think so. The more they write this sh1t, the more he will get booed.
ManlyTragic
Bencher
I don’t get this racism stuff!
I used to spend all weekend, in summer, at the beach trying to turn my pastey white skin brown!
I used to spend all weekend, in summer, at the beach trying to turn my pastey white skin brown!
Bloke on the hill
Reserve Grader
What's that saying, you reap what you sow!
Go to Bali and those beach-workers dont want sun on them. They cover up to be white
ManlyTragic
Bencher
Yeah different times now …. All my mates are getting melanomas cut out now.
DUFFMAN
Bencher
Media love creating a story that isn't there.
Has nothing to do with his background and more to do with the way he carries on.
I don't know what the percentage is but the majority of players aren't caucasian these days and the majority don't get booed like Mitchell.
I don't remember players like Cliff Lyons, Mal Meninga or Johnathon Thurston getting booed, it was generally the opposite and supporters jumped up cheering when these players got the ball.
Latrell Mitchell, Anthony Mundine and Adam Goodes get booed because of the way they carry on and plenty of other players from all races get booed too, especially when they carry on like they are legends in their on mind.
Has nothing to do with his background and more to do with the way he carries on.
I don't know what the percentage is but the majority of players aren't caucasian these days and the majority don't get booed like Mitchell.
I don't remember players like Cliff Lyons, Mal Meninga or Johnathon Thurston getting booed, it was generally the opposite and supporters jumped up cheering when these players got the ball.
Latrell Mitchell, Anthony Mundine and Adam Goodes get booed because of the way they carry on and plenty of other players from all races get booed too, especially when they carry on like they are legends in their on mind.
Good pickup by the bunker
The '47ers
When Eagles are silent Parrots begin to chatter
On report for an elbow to Johnson, now puts hand between legs and flips Harris (after the play) and goes on report again!
Flog!
Flog!
How many weeks for latrell? = Protected species won't get a charge
He is such a grub and can't stand the bloke he is the biggest hypocrite in the game
Up the Wahs
He is such a grub and can't stand the bloke he is the biggest hypocrite in the game
Up the Wahs
manlyfan76
There is no A.I. Just better computers
Mitchell would have been decked when I played.
Probably a few hospital passes too.
Probably a few hospital passes too.
| Team | P | W | L | PD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
7 | 6 | 1 | 99 | 14 |
|
7 | 6 | 1 | 54 | 14 |
|
7 | 5 | 2 | 36 | 12 |
|
8 | 5 | 2 | 39 | 11 |
|
8 | 5 | 3 | 64 | 10 |
|
7 | 4 | 3 | 49 | 10 |
|
8 | 4 | 4 | 73 | 8 |
|
7 | 3 | 4 | 17 | 8 |
|
8 | 4 | 4 | -14 | 8 |
|
8 | 4 | 4 | -16 | 8 |
|
8 | 4 | 4 | -60 | 8 |
|
8 | 3 | 4 | 17 | 7 |
|
8 | 3 | 5 | -25 | 6 |
|
7 | 2 | 5 | -55 | 6 |
|
8 | 3 | 5 | -55 | 6 |
|
7 | 1 | 6 | -87 | 4 |
|
7 | 1 | 6 | -136 | 4 |
