NO TROLLS Homophobia in the AFL - 4 Corners

[Carringbush2010]

Interesting comments made around the 34:00 minute mark...
Just the way it was stitched together and the obvious things which went unsaid.


Chloe Clark (LGBT activist from Amnesty International)
"Everyone has the right to be who they are and express that and to be safe doing so.
It's absolutely a human rights issue that no one is openly gay in the AFL at the moment."

--------

Tanya Hosch (AFL's general manager of inclusion and social policy)
"Mmm.. Yeah... It is... [a human rights issue??] However, we are also told by clubs and club leaders that they do know who their gay team-mates are. They're just choosing not to make it more widely public..."

Louise Milligan (ABC interviewer)
"But why are they choosing that? Because they don't feel safe. They don't feel safe going to Brownlow and flagging that this is their male partner. So it's not about necessarily having a big press conference and telegraphing to the world who you are, but just living your life."

---------

Milligan was pontificating, making her own statement. Not really asking Tanya Hosch a question. She is trying to tell us all how homophobic the AFL is. That's her whole angle. But it doesn't add up. We are told that within AFL clubs, people know who their gay teammates are. So it isn't a secret. They know. They're respecting their gay teammates' rights to privacy by not gossiping nor broadcasting it publicly. It seems to me that gay AFL players are being themselves and living authentically. They're just choosing to keep their privacy and not make a public spectacle of their sexuality. Good for them. Why should they? They're not LGBT activists. They are footballers.

The other inescapable conclusion I make from that is they aren't wary of homophobic attitudes from within their club or the AFL, but from the general public... Homophobic attacks from drunk low-IQ bogans in the street and from cowardly anonymous trolls on social media. As public figures, they make a simple decision not to put themselves through that crap and I don't blame them. But the LGBT activists just hate that... They need to blame someone.... Let's blame the AFL, hey?

The ABC's Milligan tells us the AFL is the "only sporting league in the world" not to have an openly gay player. But she failed to mention the abuse and homophobic attacks endured by gay athletes in other sporting competitions; and that's the reason why there are so few openly gay athletes in other sports leagues.

Who is the gay rugby player in the NRL? Ian Roberts??? LOL! He played in the 1990's! What about the past 25 years? Who are the gay NRL players? Where are they? Why are they hiding? Why doesn't Milligan include them in her story? Surely the NRL is a FAR more homophobic environment than the GayFL (that's what many league fans call our sport )


This is typical of the ABC, or anyone else in the media with an agenda. They love to use the AFL as their political football to get their ratings and clicks. They don't care if their attack on the AFL is unfair... which it clearly is... as the AFL has demonstrated they provide a safe, inclusive environment for gay players. I don't think the AFL has a homophobic culture. The issue is with a minority of knuckleheads in society.

No wonder nobody wanted to talk to Milligan. They can see it's a stitch up. But she acts like they're too scared and too ashamed. Pfft.

Showing 25 year old clips of Sam Newman and Billy Brainless being clowns on the The Footy Show doesn't prove the AFL is a homophobic environment. That's Channel 9 being an non-inclusive, unsafe environment... Not the AFL.

Same with highlighting Jason Akermanis's contrarian, attention-seeking, idiotic views. He is one person. And look what happened to him for expressing those views 12-13 years ago!! He was marginalised by his own teammates! It was the beginning of the end for him. Eventually sacked.

Didn't that tell us something about how far the AFL has progressed since the days when Newman and Brownless played, back when homophobic attitudes were the norm?

Soz for the late reply, but this is a brilliant post and makes it easy to decipher the face of the veiled activist (Milligan).

I would really like to know if this is by deliberation or an unconscious agenda i:e not deliberately pushing an agenda but rather can't help themselves so inadvertently push it anyway.

More broadly that veiling goes on in all spheres of societal issues, in all corners of ideological spectrum, whether deliberate or not.

 

[Gimme the Fyfe]

Hoh boy that's a lot of big words amounting to a big pile of garbage. I find Bob a little sanctimonious/cringe at times, but all he was saying here was that he believes a player coming out would be overwhelmingly met with support, love and pride by their club. And that he thinks it would have the added effect of galvanising the group. If you read anything else into it, that's just saying something about you.

That's not all he was saying. There were plenty of implications in his grandstanding - no projections here.

 

[Engimal v3]

Let it be noted Phantom, that I don't see myself as some sort of anti-gay homophobe that yells Virtue Signalling!! every time the AFL tries to act inclusively. I supported the AFL's support of the Yes vote, I'm all for equality, etc etc. I just don't understand what anybody expects the AFL to be doing. I'll leave it at that.

The AFL doesn't pay tax under the guise that it'll promote sport, provide facilities, and do a bunch of community shit. It's basically how we ended up in the PG era of AFL that we're in today where they're this quasi government body that clearly have special rules.

Despite LGBT making up 10% of the general population, they make up 0% of the known AFL. While no player is obliged to share their sexual identity, the homophobic stuff I hear from fans in the crowd and some infamous sledges from players tells me it'd a pretty hostile environment if you weren't straight. The AFL has a duty to correct this environment due to their community obligations - but the evidence is showing that homophobic and racial abuse is still prominent.

 

[Gimme the Fyfe]

Outstanding post. Thanks for taking the time to write this.

If any person chooses not to to make their sexual preferences public, that's their prerogative. Maybe they don't want to make themselves a sideshow and turn an immutable characteristic into the centerpiece of their public profile?

Interesting comments made around the 34:00 minute mark...
Just the way it was stitched together and the obvious things which went unsaid.


Chloe Clark (LGBT activist from Amnesty International)
"Everyone has the right to be who they are and express that and to be safe doing so.
It's absolutely a human rights issue that no one is openly gay in the AFL at the moment."

--------

Tanya Hosch (AFL's general manager of inclusion and social policy)
"Mmm.. Yeah... It is... [a human rights issue??] However, we are also told by clubs and club leaders that they do know who their gay team-mates are. They're just choosing not to make it more widely public..."

Louise Milligan (ABC interviewer)
"But why are they choosing that? Because they don't feel safe. They don't feel safe going to Brownlow and flagging that this is their male partner. So it's not about necessarily having a big press conference and telegraphing to the world who you are, but just living your life."

---------

Milligan was pontificating, making her own statement. Not really asking Tanya Hosch a question. She is trying to tell us all how homophobic the AFL is. That's her whole angle. But it doesn't add up. We are told that within AFL clubs, people know who their gay teammates are. So it isn't a secret. They know. They're respecting their gay teammates' rights to privacy by not gossiping nor broadcasting it publicly. It seems to me that gay AFL players are being themselves and living authentically. They're just choosing to keep their privacy and not make a public spectacle of their sexuality. Good for them. Why should they? They're not LGBT activists. They are footballers.

The other inescapable conclusion I make from that is they aren't wary of homophobic attitudes from within their club or the AFL, but from the general public... Homophobic attacks from drunk low-IQ bogans in the street and from cowardly anonymous trolls on social media. As public figures, they make a simple decision not to put themselves through that crap and I don't blame them. But the LGBT activists just hate that... They need to blame someone.... Let's blame the AFL, hey?

The ABC's Milligan tells us the AFL is the "only sporting league in the world" not to have an openly gay player. But she failed to mention the abuse and homophobic attacks endured by gay athletes in other sporting competitions; and that's the reason why there are so few openly gay athletes in other sports leagues.

Who is the gay rugby player in the NRL? Ian Roberts??? LOL! He played in the 1990's! What about the past 25 years? Who are the gay NRL players? Where are they? Why are they hiding? Why doesn't Milligan include them in her story? Surely the NRL is a FAR more homophobic environment than the GayFL (that's what many league fans call our sport )


This is typical of the ABC, or anyone else in the media with an agenda. They love to use the AFL as their political football to get their ratings and clicks. They don't care if their attack on the AFL is unfair... which it clearly is... as the AFL has demonstrated they provide a safe, inclusive environment for gay players. I don't think the AFL has a homophobic culture. The issue is with a minority of knuckleheads in society.

No wonder nobody wanted to talk to Milligan. They can see it's a stitch up. But she acts like they're too scared and too ashamed. Pfft.

Showing 25 year old clips of Sam Newman and Billy Brainless being clowns on the The Footy Show doesn't prove the AFL is a homophobic environment. That's Channel 9 being an non-inclusive, unsafe environment... Not the AFL.

Same with highlighting Jason Akermanis's contrarian, attention-seeking, idiotic views. He is one person. And look what happened to him for expressing those views 12-13 years ago!! He was marginalised by his own teammates! It was the beginning of the end for him. Eventually sacked.

Didn't that tell us something about how far the AFL has progressed since the days when Newman and Brownless played, back when homophobic attitudes were the norm?

 

[Chief]

Didn't that tell us something about how far the AFL has progressed since the days when Newman and Brownless played, back when homophobic attitudes were the norm?

With Aboriginal players still being abused for the colour of their skin, I don't think it's a stretch to say gay players don't want to take the risk.

 

[edgie]

Was Bowie ever afraid of being who he was? I have more respect for honesty even if it is in the face of adversity.

A little bit of who he was. Bowie described himself as being a straight person in the closet. Much of his sexual experimentation was, it turned out, just a phase.

Sent from my Nokia 7.2 using Tapatalk

 

[ferball]

A point I have made numerous times in this thread.

Time truly is a flat circle

No it isn't.

Its a spiral, which is a self raising circle, not a flat one.

 

[RUNVS]

With Aboriginal players still being abused for the colour of their skin, I don't think it's a stretch to say gay players don't want to take the risk.

Yep. If you were an Adelaide player would you honestly feel comfortable with Taylor Walker knowing you were gay.

 

[ferball]

A little bit of who he was. Bowie described himself as being a straight person in the closet. Much of his sexual experimentation was, it turned out, just a phase.

Sent from my Nokia 7.2 using Tapatalk

He had a relationship with a 14 year old girl in LA in the 70s.

 

[RUNVS]

He had a relationship with a 14 year old girl in LA in the 70s.

A lot of rock stars did back then and it is pretty awful to think about. I know Elvis did, same with Liv Tyler's father.

 

[phantom13]

No it isn't.

Its a spiral, which is a self raising circle, not a flat one.

This was definitely worth waiting 2 months for.

 

[edgie]

Yep. If you were an Adelaide player would you honestly feel comfortable with Taylor Walker knowing you were gay.

I mean they've recruited a few Aboriginal players, proud Aboriginal men as they are always described, since then who have no issue with him, or the more systematic racism that Adelaide has done recently.

Sent from my Nokia 7.2 using Tapatalk

 

[Shai]

He had a relationship with a 14 year old girl in LA in the 70s.

This is taking the subject off topic again (sorry) but he'd be in good company if true.

After all it was a 'different time' and deemed fine or at least turn a blind eye to old mate sleeping with the neighbors barely teenage daughter, if she spoke up about it she was either lying or making it up.

If people still have issues in this day and age about someone elses' sexual preference then that is their problem and maybe they should address that.

 

[ferball]

A lot of rock stars did back then and it is pretty awful to think about. I know Elvis did, same with Liv Tyler's father.

This is taking the subject off topic again (sorry) but he'd be in good company if true.

After all it was a 'different time' and deemed fine or at least turn a blind eye to old mate sleeping with the neighbors barely teenage daughter, if she spoke up about it she was either lying or making it up.

If people still have issues in this day and age about someone elses' sexual preference then that is their problem and maybe they should address that.

The way things are now - as a society we frown on adults chasing 14 year olds (with good reason) and don't care if people are not straight sexually, if anything we're mostly supportive of their choices - are both results of the sexual revolution.

Footy is a conservative institution. The AFL might not be and clubs might not be specifically but footy as a culture is. And there's a large element of conservatism in society.

So it makes sense that AFL will drag the chain on male sexuality. That doesn't make it good but its more likely.

AFLW is kind of the opposite.

I think there's a self selection process that panders to conservative or even repressed behaviour on the part of AFL for men, footy in general, probably all codes and the same selection process in AFLW panders toward progressive and (not in a prejudicial sense) radical or unrepressed behaviours.

Becauise its a newer institution based on progressive, radical and unrepressed motivations.

 

[Cmarsh]

Makes the point that this man and his ex-AFL player partner felt they couldn't come out due to the AFL environment. Pretty telling.

TikTok star reveals secret relationship with AFL player

A popular TikTok star has revealed he was in a secret relationship with a former AFL player when the pair ‘were both in the closet’.

www.perthnow.com.au

 

[RUNVS]

Makes the point that this man and his ex-AFL player partner felt they couldn't come out due to the AFL environment. Pretty telling.

TikTok star reveals secret relationship with AFL player

A popular TikTok star has revealed he was in a secret relationship with a former AFL player when the pair ‘were both in the closet’.

www.perthnow.com.au

I read that too. The only positive was that apparently this players teammates knew and did not care.

 

[Sarcoidevo]

The Media is the biggest issue

As soon as a player comes out they will turn it into a huge invasive spectacle

 

[HairyO]

Makes the point that this man and his ex-AFL player partner felt they couldn't come out due to the AFL environment. Pretty telling.

TikTok star reveals secret relationship with AFL player

A popular TikTok star has revealed he was in a secret relationship with a former AFL player when the pair ‘were both in the closet’.

www.perthnow.com.au

Do we know if its actually true or is it someone who knows a smart way to get into mainstream media rather than just internet media?

I assume his followers will double now.

 

[FrustratedTiger]

The Media is the biggest issue

As soon as a player comes out they will turn it into a huge invasive spectacle

maybe the trash stuff like Daily Mail, but it's social media and joints like this that are bigger issues. Most of the footy MSM would know exactly who are doing what with whom.

 

[Cmarsh]

Do we know if its actually true or is it someone who knows a smart way to get into mainstream media rather than just internet media?

I assume his followers will double now.

You can put him on a lie detector test if you really want to mate.

 

[HairyO]

You can put him on a lie detector test if you really want to mate.

Yet more public attention for someone who's goal is public attention. Sure thing.

 

[T2B_]

The Media is the biggest issue

As soon as a player comes out they will turn it into a huge invasive spectacle

This. We have a player who regularly paints his nails and no one bats an eyelid. No idea what his orientation is and it doesn't matter (could well be hetero and just likes being arty), but I feel fans aren't the biggest issue anymore in regards to any openly gay players. The media would be the first ones to make an unnecessary storm

Sure you'll always have some homophobic people on social media etc but they are heavily drowned out nowadays.

 

[Gough]

This. We have a player who regularly paints his nails and no one bats an eyelid. No idea what his orientation is and it doesn't matter (could well be hetero and just likes being arty), but I feel fans aren't the biggest issue anymore in regards to any openly gay players. The media would be the first ones to make an unnecessary storm

Sure you'll always have some homophobic people on social media etc but they are heavily drowned out nowadays.

The media are only reacting to the market.

 

[Underarm]

The Media is the biggest issue

As soon as a player comes out they will turn it into a huge invasive spectacle

the media excuse is such a cop out when we know there is still Homophobia within clubs. Look at Finlayson. Look at Kochie's defence of what Finlayson.

Look at any comment secion on the Incident and you can see we still have a long way to go, and its not going to get better while they are stuck in the closet.

 

[T2B_]

The media are only reacting to the market.

Sure but I feel like they're only reacting to a loud minority of a market. We all know how the media work and drum up the loud negative few, turning mountains into mole hills.

Seems weird in today's climate to keep everything so hush hush because of some loud old fashioned types. I think it needs to be hit head on, not tip toed around. Just IMO though.