
Issue No 103		20 July 2001

LaborNET	Ask Neale	Tool of the Week

The Locker Room

The Big Men Kiss Butt

In this extract from the new Melbourne footy zine 'Shirt front', Bob Drane looks at the unholy rise of the money men in the local footy club


	Shirtfront

****************

Recently I've had occasion to hang around a few clubs and see first hand the extent of the influence of Big-Business in footy.

The players, the administrators and other high-profile people at clubs are always publicly cheerful about the excess of extra duties they now have to perform in order to court the corporates. Privately, I've heard quite a bit of murmuring and muttering about the way this affects the day-to-day running of the club.

Consider the lot of one property steward - let's call him Bob. Bob's one of those club stalwarts who ensures that the footballers have water, jumpers, shorts, boots, jockstraps, et cetera delivered on time for training and for matches. He and his dedicated team of volunteers lug huge baskets of stuff from one venue to another before and after every match. Once Bob would have been a veritable fund of info about goings-on around the club.

These days, like everyone else at the club, he's instructed to keep his mouth shut. If you were doing a light-hearted story about the lot of a property steward, and wanted to convey a bit of spontaneity, forget it. These days Bob can't allow you to photograph him until he's donned a sponsor's T-shirt and cap. He'll quietly tell you it's a wank, but to refuse to do it would be risking losing his job.

Recently Bob ran through an inventory of football gear for my benefit. The players have eleven different pairs of shorts, all with a different logo, and twelve different jumpers. What they wear depends on which venue they're playing at, and which sponsor appears on what item of apparel. Let Acme find out that they appeared on the shorts when, that week, they should have been on the front of the jumper, and all hell would break loose.

Calls to the President from the highest level, who calls the club CEO, who storms down to the bowels of the stadium, where poor old Bob is reminded in no uncertain terms how much sponsorship money his negligence will cost the club.

Fortunately, Bob's indispensable, but then the Social Security queues are full of indispensable people.

View entire issue - print all of the articles!

Issue 103 contents

Interview: Political Witch Hunt
CFMEU national secretary John Sutton on the mooted Royal Commission and what is really needed to clean up the building industry

E-Change: 1.3 The Nation State in Crisis
In the latest instalment in their study on the new politics, Peter Lewis and Michael Gadiel looks at the rise and fall of the institutional State.

Unions: Industrial Violence
Rowan Cahill agrees with Tony Abbott that thuggery and violence are part of Australian industrial relations landscape - but it's the bosses who do most of the bashing.

History: Total Recoil
Neal Towart looks at how Royal Commissions designed to kick unions have typically come back to haunt their architects.

International: Behind the Eight Ball
Jubilee Australia's Thea Ormond looks at the international activity being generated around this week's Group of Eight Summit in Genoa

Politics: Now We The People
A new group believes there is an alternative to corporate gobalism and economic rationalism

Satire: Marsden Now to Sue Himself
Sydney solicitor John Marsden is suing himself for defamation, claiming the recent libel case he brought did irreparable damage to his reputation.

Review: In The House
Resident Four-Eyes Mark Morey attempts the impossible with this attempt at a serious analysis of Big Brother.

» Survey Shows Majority Support for Unions

» Howard's Union Stooge in Hot Water

» Unions Cash in on Big Brother

» Big Boys Bully Over Della Compo Changes

» Where's WorkCover? Safety Prosecutions Drop Off

» Telstra's Ultimatum: Stay Away From Kim

» Workers Win Stake in New Bank

» Hours Test Case Gets Green Light

» St John of God Workers Pray for Justice

» Five-Star Action From Security Guards

» Howard Plans to Stop the Vote

» Rio Outrage Heads for Court

» Nurses To Fight For Pay

» One Hundred Reasons to Save Aussie Post

» Rail Track Sell-Off Part of Privatisation Push

» Coles Myer Abandons Regional Jobs

» Qld Wage Rise Still Not Enough

» Activists Notebook

» The Soapbox

» The Locker Room

» Trades Hall

» Tool Shed

» Problems with Hunter Decision

» A Lost Cause

» High Farce

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