
Issue No 111		14 September 2001

LaborNET	Ask Neale	Tool of the Week

The Locker Room

Jim Marr Fires Up

Public interest in footy, our most savage and beautiful game, lasts all of a fortnight in this day and age, and right now we're on the cusp of the 14-day explosion.


	Bring it On

It's a September window through which a sport can be glimpsed as it should be. Not as the twisted, lop-sided thing into which it has been stretched by all manner of marketers, money-men and morons who wouldn't know a fend if it was flung in their faces.

Trouble with footy is, it still hasn't recovered from the days when Murdoch, Burchett and co were hogging the headlines. There have been encouraging signs, like the court-forced readmission of Souths, but potential won't translate into reality until all the "fans-first" baloney is given some substance.

In order to pay for the "vision" we now grind our way through a ridiculous 26-week minor premiership.

Come the end of that revenue-driven marathon and eight of 14 "franchises" qualify for something loosely described as a final series.

If you have a good memory you can probably recall the time when finals were intense, cut-throat affairs.

Last weekend the NRL partnership committee - which, for the uninitiated, is a shotgun alliance between a rich bugger whose into everything that moves and a sporty old dear who's been around long enough to know better - got the sort of intensity it deserved.

Brian Smith delivered a gratuitous insult to his former apprentice by playing the final 10 minutes a man short. It was, he intimated, training for Parramatta in case they had a player sin-binned when the finals-proper came around.

The real worry about the Parramatta-Warriors contest, though, was that the visitors and their media cheer squad had actually been celebrating the fact they managed to finish eighth out of 14. Fair dinkum!

The day before, the Roosters had had their necks wrung in Newcastle. Admittedly, the winning margin had been a somewhat more respectable 34 points.

All of this has chugged along against a background of an out-of-control judicial system that seems to change rules and processes by the day.

The game has never been cleaner, yet combatants are being rubbed out at an unprecedented rate.

Unfortunately, it is going to have an impact on the two weeks that count, most noteably by eliminating St George-Illawarra skipper and strongman Craig Smith.

But, because at its core, the sport is so compelling, it will rise above that.

When Andrew Johns, Trent Barrett, Darren Lockyer and co manage to wrestle the spotlight away from the likes of David Moffett and Jim Hall punters will vote with their feet, wallets and hearts.

Not that it's all sweetness and light, even at that level.

Part of the game's fatal attraction is the larrikanism-bastardry that has flickered at its heart since year dot.

Johns epitimosises its positive element. His unbridled joy when one of those sweet moves comes off is a buzz for all except immediate opponents. And the delight in a beer and a bet, which has him constantly on the borderline with officialdom, is still appreciated by those with a feel for the game's culture.

Not so flash is footy's long-established disregard for honouring agreements, even when been set out in contract form.

Popular coaches Graham Murray and Royce Simmons both signed extensions earlier this year. Last week they received the order of the boot, sadly in Simmons case with the apparent collusion of Telstra's man in the camp, Ryan Girdler.

Wayne Bennett is another coach in the news. The surly Queenslander has brought down the cone of silence, apparently, because he has the pip with the way the media has handled his decision to banish a promising youngster to Toowoomba.

Fair play, Wayne, but everything, with the possible exception of your bank account, would have been a lot better off if you had shut your gate when it actually meant something, six or seven years ago.

Still, that's water under the bridge.

Over the next fortnight intensity levels will rise and the real stars will shine. Bring it on, I say.

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Issue 111 contents

Interview: Amidst the Debris
ACTU President Sharan Burrow surveys the wreckage from a week that rocked the world.

Politics: Consequences of Empire
The horror of the events in New York has not led to all American and international observers feeling committed to bloody revenge.

Industrial: Grounded
Ansett workers lay bare their feelings at seeing their company driven into oblivion.

International: Election Results from East Timor
Fretelin as expected has topped the poll in East Timor�s first free democratic election and the violence predicted by some has not eventuated.

E-Change: 3.2 The Electronic Consumerist
In their latest instalment Peter Lewis and Michael Gadiel ask how effective has the law become in safeguarding the things that really matter to us?

Legal: Howard's Falkland War
Zoe Reynolds chronicles the bizarre tale of the Tampa and how a group of refugees bacame pawns in a bigger political game.

Compo: Round Two Begins
Nancy Searle reviews the Sheahan Report and highlights some of the areas of concern to injured workers.

Economics: Knowledge, Power, Banking
Raj Patel questions whether a new World Bank initiative is actually designed to control the way the Third World thinks.

Review: Political Theatre
The Naked Theatre Company is a youthful, adventurous, professional, Sydney theatre company committed to the development and production of Australian playwrights.

Satire: Howard US Visit "Marginally Overshadowed"
Australian Prime Minister John Howard has said his US trip was a complete success, if slightly upstaged towards the middle.

» Howard Deserts Ansett Workers

» Trans Tasman Battle for Entitlements

» Qantas Workers Move To Protect Their Entitlements

» Unions Denounce Muslim Attacks

» Fund Established for New York Workers

» Australian Unionist Lost in New York

» US Flight Crews Support Ansett Workers

» Compo: Threshold Too High

» Della Moves on Premium Evasion

» Travel Site Severs Burma Links

» Paint Company Wants Strike Declared Illegal

» Casino Staff Locked Out Again

» Tax Staff to Strike Back

» Union Applauds Deet Ruling On Clothing

» Unions Take Message to Migrant Workers

» Get Ready to Wobble

» Activists' Notebook

» STOP PRESS: Howard Rolls Abbott on Entitlements