sidelined

With Paul Gallen copping a three week sideline stint for his grubby actions over the weekend, I’m a little disturbed by a whisper of thought. The thought that Gallen’s actions are ok, somehow justified, because league is a tough game. A man’s game.

The same whip of sentiment was heard in the wake of the shoulder-charges gone wrong in round 2 or the infamous tackle on Craig Wing from round 1.

It is a strange notion as it implies that the men of league are nothing more than thugs, setting out to deliberately maim the opposition. And indeed, there was a time when quite often, players would resort to deliberate tactics to hurt. Remember the ole stiff arm tackle? But things started to change. The early to mid 80s saw lengthy suspensions for Bob Cooper and Les Boyd for some nasty incidents. That was when league really started to clean up its game.

But the clean up does not mean league has become less manly (except for the period between 2000 and 2002 - what blessed years). The speed of the modern game means the impacts are just as hard as they were 50 years ago. Even harder given the athleticism of the modern player.

And the tackles can be just a big. Roosters’ forward David Shillington pulled off two huge hits against the Storm. The tackles were perfectly legal and nothing, from maybe a little pride at being the target, was damaged. It was all good technique that made some great rough and tumble footy.

The idea that wiping out foul play makes league “a game for skirts”, “a game for sissies” etc is disturbing. And not just the inherent misogyny and skewed idea of gender contained in the terms. Men, especially the ones I know, are not defined by being rough nuts, going all out to smash people. The idea that to you have to be a rough nut to be a proper man is a narrow, negative view.

The action of scraping one’s finders across the face of an opponent to try and reopen a wound is not something that is done because the culprit is man. It is cowardly, small minded act that demeans both the game and reflects poorly on the character of that person. A real man wouldn’t stoop so low.