Past Robert Muir - ABC Article

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Hubnester said:
I would imagine that there is a skeleton crew operating social media and such right now. I don't think it would be possible or reasonable to expect them to be able to make any commitments at a moment's notice. The fact that the club was keen to respond indicates to me they plan to recognise it in a meaningful way. We will just need to wait and see.
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You dont think that statement was run by the executive committee and possibly the board?
 
Hubnester said:
Sorry to be a pessimist but I have to ask, who are these people and how can we know the money's going where they claim it is?
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The guy that set it up is a friend of a friend of mine. He is a genuine Saints man. With a sum of money this large (22k at the moment) it will be well watched.
Edit: He just posted this...
Catherine and I are completely blown away by the response of the St Kilda FC and AFL communities. In just a few hours you've donated over $22,000. We are in touch with the journalist who wrote the original article for the ABC, Russell Jackson, and he's calling Robert later today. I'm sure this is going to show him that there are many people in this world who value his commitment to the Saints and are moved by his story. Thank you all so much for showing some love and support to a man who needed it.
 
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Such a sad but important article for all to read. It cuts through the feel-good spin of indigenous rounds and nicely curated words from club PR departments and hits you like a sledgehammer - as it should.

Back in 1998 or 99, I was playing cricket in country Victoria for a summer and there is/was something called “country week” where clubs from all over Victoria converge somewhere for matches. This particular year it was in Ballarat.

Not being from the country originally, I found the week to be great fun, cricket by day, pub by night. As a 20 year-old, what more could you want?

One thing that sticks out in my memory though was a night out in Ballarat at a pub. It started out normally enough. One of my teammates had got talking to a bloke at the bar, came back and said to me (knowing how much I love the Saints) “there’s a bloke I was just talking to you’d be interested in, former player, loves the Saints, I told him you’d go over for a chat.” The bloke was Robbie Muir and I did have a chat with him.

Boy did he love the Saints! It’s funny, in the article it said something like he “bleeds for St Kilda” and, after chatting with him for a short time, that’s my memory of him. Fiercely loyal to his Saints, even when I remember his mates at the pub poking fun at them, it was no surprise to see him wearing the Saints shirt in the photo in the article.

Sadly, the pub/bar we were at filled up and a few hours had passed. It became noticeable that a few people were having a go at Robbie and baiting him. What I noticed at that time in the night, it was clear that Robbie’s demeanor had changed completely. He just seemed so frustrated with life and the world and no doubt dealing with so much trauma. Inevitably, the bouncers intervened and he was kicked out, they called the police.

The gentle bloke I’d met at the start of the night had been taunted until he’d cracked and sure enough, just like his footy days, he’d gotten no support. Instead he was punished.

I remember reflecting on this at the time thinking “imagine how this is happening to this bloke every night, how the hell would you survive?” This is even before factoring in obvious post-traumatic trauma from earlier life.

That’s the thing that sticks with me when I read articles like this: people like Robbie Muir are simply the most incredible survivors.

It’s extraordinary to me to read about the resilience he has shown in his life.

It is incredibly humbling that, after being literally abused his whole life, not only does he keep getting up, he keeps loving as well.

It’s time the Saints and the football community return some of that love. Walk the walk with Robbie, he needs it.
 
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jwikked said:
Any commitments they make to him, if any, don't need to be made public by the club. It's not a good look for them to do something now and then brag about it.
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I dont agree with that at all. One of issues raised in that article is how Robbie feels like the club doesn't even acknowledge his existence. He mentions that for the one function he was invited to it felt impersonal.

So what did our club decide to do. Release a statement WHERE THEY DO NOT EVEN REFER TO HIM BY NAME. Its generic and surprise surprise impersonal.

In other words their first shot at correcting their problems of the past is to surprise surprise repeat them... again.
 
Latest Go fund me update

TODAYby Mal Padgett, Organizer
Catherine and I are completely blown away by the response of the St Kilda FC and AFL communities. In just a few hours you've donated over $22,000. We are in touch with the journalist who wrote the original article for the ABC, Russell Jackson, and he's calling Robert later today. I'm sure this is going to show him that there are many people in this world who value his commitment to the Saints and are moved by his story. Thank you all so much for showing some love and support to a man who needed it.
 
StCicatriz said:
I dont agree with that at all. One of issues raised in that article is how Robbie feels like the club doesn't even acknowledge his existence. He mentions that for the one function he was invited to it felt impersonal.

So what did our club decide to do. Release a statement WHERE THEY DO NOT EVEN REFER TO HIM BY NAME. Its generic and surprise surprise impersonal.

In other words their first shot at correcting their problems of the past is to surprise surprise repeat them... again.
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I disagree. I think that this initial response is just to acknowledge that they are aware of the article, and that a more detailed and considered response will follow.
 
The money will be an immediate help. But the club needs to open it's doors and arms to him and look after Robert, get him involved and try to bring some joy. Thank heavens he's still with us and we can start to heal together.

It must've driven him nuts being abused all the time, and him being the only one trying to do something about it. People just saw him reacting. How differently it will all be seen now that people understand.

Urinated on. Who treats another human being without any respect? I hope that player can apologise to Robert in private.
 
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NarklesHelmet said:
Such a sad article but important article for all to read. It cuts through the feel-good spin of indigenous rounds and nicely curated words from club PR departments and hits you like a sledgehammer - as it should.

Back in 1998 or 99, I was playing cricket in country Victoria for a summer and there is/was something called “country week” where clubs from all over Victoria converge somewhere for matches. This particular year it was in Ballarat.

Not being from the country originally, I found the week to be great fun, cricket by day, pub by night. As a 20 year-old, what more could you want?

One thing that sticks out in my memory though was a night out in Ballarat at a pub. It started out normally enough. One of my teammates had got talking to a bloke at the bar, came back and said to me (knowing how much I love the Saints) “there’s bloke I was just talking to you’d be interested in, former player, loves the Saints, I told him you’d go over for a chat.” The bloke was Robbie Muir and I did have a chat with him.

Boy did he love the Saints! It’s funny, in the article it said something like he “bleeds for St Kilda” and, after chatting with him for a short time, that’s my memory of him. Fiercely loyal to his Saints, even when I remember his mates at the pub poking fun at them, it was no surprise to see him wearing the Saints shirt in the photo in the article.

Sadly, the pub/bar we were at filled up and a few hours had passed. It became noticeable that a few people were having a go at Robbie and baiting him. What I noticed at that time in the night, it was clear that Robbie’s demeanor had changed completely. He just seemed so frustrated with life and the world and no doubt dealing with so much trauma. Inevitably, the bouncers intervened and he was kicked out, they called the police.

The gentle bloke I’d met at the start of the night had been taunted until he’d cracked and sure enough, just like his footy days, he’d gotten no support. Instead he was punished.

I remember reflecting on this at the time thinking “imagine how this is happening to this bloke every night, how the hell would you survive?” This is even before factoring in obvious post-traumatic trauma from earlier life.

That’s the thing that sticks with me when I read articles like this: people like Robbie Muir are simply the most incredible survivors.

It’s extraordinary to me to read about the resilience he has shown in his life.

It is incredibly humbling that, after being literally abused his whole life, not only does he keep getting up, he keeps loving as well.

It’s time the Saints and the football community return some of that love. Walk the walk with Robbie, he needs it.
Click to expand...


That absolutely breaks my heart. Thank you for sharing.
 
NarklesHelmet said:
Such a sad article but important article for all to read. It cuts through the feel-good spin of indigenous rounds and nicely curated words from club PR departments and hits you like a sledgehammer - as it should.

Back in 1998 or 99, I was playing cricket in country Victoria for a summer and there is/was something called “country week” where clubs from all over Victoria converge somewhere for matches. This particular year it was in Ballarat.

Not being from the country originally, I found the week to be great fun, cricket by day, pub by night. As a 20 year-old, what more could you want?

One thing that sticks out in my memory though was a night out in Ballarat at a pub. It started out normally enough. One of my teammates had got talking to a bloke at the bar, came back and said to me (knowing how much I love the Saints) “there’s bloke I was just talking to you’d be interested in, former player, loves the Saints, I told him you’d go over for a chat.” The bloke was Robbie Muir and I did have a chat with him.

Boy did he love the Saints! It’s funny, in the article it said something like he “bleeds for St Kilda” and, after chatting with him for a short time, that’s my memory of him. Fiercely loyal to his Saints, even when I remember his mates at the pub poking fun at them, it was no surprise to see him wearing the Saints shirt in the photo in the article.

Sadly, the pub/bar we were at filled up and a few hours had passed. It became noticeable that a few people were having a go at Robbie and baiting him. What I noticed at that time in the night, it was clear that Robbie’s demeanor had changed completely. He just seemed so frustrated with life and the world and no doubt dealing with so much trauma. Inevitably, the bouncers intervened and he was kicked out, they called the police.

The gentle bloke I’d met at the start of the night had been taunted until he’d cracked and sure enough, just like his footy days, he’d gotten no support. Instead he was punished.

I remember reflecting on this at the time thinking “imagine how this is happening to this bloke every night, how the hell would you survive?” This is even before factoring in obvious post-traumatic trauma from earlier life.

That’s the thing that sticks with me when I read articles like this: people like Robbie Muir are simply the most incredible survivors.

It’s extraordinary to me to read about the resilience he has shown in his life.

It is incredibly humbling that, after being literally abused his whole life, not only does he keep getting up, he keeps loving as well.

It’s time the Saints and the football community return some of that love. Walk the walk with Robbie, he needs it.
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Think this is the best post i have read on BF

Great read and thanks
 
StCicatriz said:
I dont agree with that at all. One of issues raised in that article is how Robbie feels like the club doesn't even acknowledge his existence. He mentions that for the one function he was invited to it felt impersonal.

So what did our club decide to do. Release a statement WHERE THEY DO NOT EVEN REFER TO HIM BY NAME. Its generic and surprise surprise impersonal.

In other words their first shot at correcting their problems of the past is to surprise surprise repeat them... again.
Click to expand...

They've just released another one that should help you calm down. I'm not really sure why you'd expect them to have jumped the minute the article was published, but no doubt you'll be pleased with what Finnis has said.
 

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Hubnester said:
This is tragic beyond anything I can really comprehend, but all I can say is that I'm glad the club have acknowledged it, and I hope they're putting in the work to make up for their lack of action in the past.
Sorry to be a pessimist but I have to ask, who are these people and how can we know the money's going where they claim it is?
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I don’t know this guy personally but believe he is a very long-standing member of the club. I would have no reason to doubt this as he has put his name to it. You can look him up on Facebook if you need to.
 
jwikked said:
They've just released another one that should help you calm down. I'm not really sure why you'd expect them to have jumped the minute the article was published, but no doubt you'll be pleased with what Finnis has said.
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First statement is spot on. It doesn't require a CEO hours later to have to address that.

Its good it was fixed but it should never have got to that point.
 
Apart from all the help Robert could be given by the AFL and its community, one thing they could do is trawl through the archives and put together a decent compilation of genuine football highlights of him in action and put it on Youtube. I remember him being a remarkably talented footballer, but for anyone without those memories all that is available to see is "Robbie Muir goes Beserk!" type things. Part of the healing process would be a counter to that characterisation.
 
gringo2011 said:
Done, thanks for linking that. Hope he gets more than the $25k. I hope the club also brings him back into the fold. You can't fix the past but you can fix the future and show him the respect he was denied for so long.
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27k in 4 hours. Going for 40k, I donated $20.
Club should try to help.
 
Joffaboy said:
27k in 4 hours. Going for 40k, I donated $20.
Club should try to help.
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The best thing that might come out of this is that robbie sees how quickly the money was raised and sees how loved he is by not only st kilda supporters but also the larger AFL community.
 
StCicatriz said:


First statement is spot on. It doesn't require a CEO hours later to have to address that.

Its good it was fixed but it should never have got to that point.
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To be fair they probably had to run it past legal and go to a bit of a zoom meeting of the board so that they weren't promising something that they weren't going to provide. To me Sunday before a game interstate is not an easy place to start from and they were pretty quick when you look at it.

I as critical at first but that's exactly the right response.
 
I think the club has handled it very well today.

Can't be easy reading for all involved, but instead of sweeping it under the carpet like some clubs continue to do with racism allegations, we've shared the full article on social media and admitted wrong doing within hours of its release.

Not sure what else people would want.

The club has clearly made a massive **** up in this situation but I'm confident with Finnis in charge they'll manage to do something positive.
 
bird_man said:
I think the club has handled it very well today.

Can't be easy reading for all involved, but instead of sweeping it under the carpet like some clubs continue to do with racism allegations, we've shared the full article on social media and admitted wrong doing within hours of its release.

Not sure what else people would want.

The club has clearly made a massive fu** up in this situation but I'm confident with Finnis in charge they'll manage to do something positive.
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100% spot on
 
bird_man said:
I think the club has handled it very well today.

Can't be easy reading for all involved, but instead of sweeping it under the carpet like some clubs continue to do with racism allegations, we've shared the full article on social media and admitted wrong doing within hours of its release.

Not sure what else people would want.

The club has clearly made a massive fu** up in this situation but I'm confident with Finnis in charge they'll manage to do something positive.
Click to expand...
Its on the right track now
 

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