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| Pig on a spit | |
Sex and footy don't really have much in common at a first glance. A dozen beer
swilling yobbos getting together on Saturday nights to watch the big match on
Davo's monster TV couldn't possibly be about sex. The mere suggestion is too
awful to contemplate. The players on the other hand, being young, fit, tall, competitive men at the
top of their professions with an over-supply of testosterone certainly seem to
get their fair share of it - few of them seem to be without girlfriends. All
the women's groups in the 1980s insisting that women wanted sensitive new age partners
didn't seem to make much of a dent in the success rates for the most aggressive
men in society. But there are some suggestions that some players are unsatisfied with the
consensual variety, and have been taking it by force. There have long been
rumors about rape victims receiving hush money to bury the complaints, but
now six of the Canterbury Bulldogs have been accused of pack rape by a woman
who was presumably unwilling to take any hush money offered to her. One has to question the common sense of a women who would go out with a pack of
footballers. It's a bit like going up to Mike Tyson's hotel room, sending your
son visiting at the Neverland Ranch, or getting into a car with a bunch of
Lebanese in Sydney's western suburbs. You can only blame the media's left-wing
bias (in failing to report the facts) so far. At some point believing in the
rumors and innuendo is a matter of survival. But blaming the victim is not the way forward. Allegations have to be
investigated and charges laid where appropriate. The police investigation
plodded along, and police actually interviewed the players after nearly a
week. In turn, the players showed their contempt of the investigative process
by using stalling tactics and turning up in shorts and thongs. The team's
Muslim captain refused to be interviewed or to give DNA samples, saying that it
was an affront to his religion. Apparently the suggestion that Muslims might be
involved in pack rape is unthinkable. Of course, as an individual he was quite within his rights - he has the
the right refuse to be interviewed, the right to not answer questions, and the
right to refuse to give DNA samples (at least until a court order is made). But football players involved are not mere individuals. They have made a career
from being team players, and through presenting themselves as examples for the
young people in society. Showing contempt for the processes of law is hardly a
good example for the greater collective. The Bulldog's management seems to have come around to this view too. They
have a multi-million dollar business which is now in a state of collapse, and
have already sacked their manager. Many sponsors have canceled deals, many more
have adopted a wait-and-see approach before extending contracts, and community
groups such as schools have disassociated themselves with the team. They are
the people that no-one wants to know. The law has failed to protect people, but the free-market is in the process
of sorting out the mess. Economically, the Doggies are dead.
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