
Issue No 67		18 August 2000

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Sport

When Brash is Beautiful

By Joe MacLoughlin

WHEN NRL spin-surgeons next swear their game is back on top just look them in the eye and say - fair dinkum? Whatever you do don't forget that quizzical look, the human equivalent of a question mark.

You could point out that barely 16,000 fans rolled up to the SFS to watch a knock-out semi between the Sydney Roosters and Canberra but it would be a waste of time.

You see these people, not their game, are the problem.

They are responsible for deliberately dumbing-down Rugby League. Witness the continued insistence on young females prancing about, freezing their extremities off, although their actions "bare" no relationship, whatsover, to the footy.

Then there's the booming music, apparently so you can't talk to anyone else during a break in play.

Their latest ploy has been to bombard punters into shouting encouragement for their teams via paid, and noisy, inducements from DJs on the big-screen. The possibility that footy fans couldn't work themselves up to provide encouragement in a semi-final is a concern in itself.

But what is the overall message? The cynic might conclude that the product, minus the bells and whistles, just wasn't good enough.

That, however, is far from the case. When you have players like Laurie Daley and Brad Fittler going around the star quality is there in abundance. And it will only get brighter when Andrew Johns and his mates come out to play.

Unfortunately, when the shot-callers decided to put a fractured game back together, faced with a choice of two blueprints, they unerringly chose the dud option.

Super League brought us American pre-match entertainment; salaries that couldn't be afforded; the concept that brash is beautiful and the idea that management "technocrats" should run the game and its clubs.

That's what David Moffett and his off-siders are. You're entitled to wince when he talks about taking the game back to its traditions because he wouldn't recognise them if they jumped up and bit him on a very tender part of his anatomy.

A giant crowd will turn out for this weekend's grand final because league fans are blessed with faith, hope and charity - they've proved that often enough. And, to be fair, because a slick marketing team can do a sales job on one-off event.

They won't keep coming back, however, if they can't eventually be convinced that it is once again their game. The NRL, in its current guise, has neither the inclination nor ability to make that happen.

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Issue 67 contents

Interview: Slyly Selling the Silver
In their recently published book Privatisation, Sell-off? or Sell out? (ABC Books), Bob and Betty Walker took a long hard look at the major government asset sales of the last decade. Here they tell Workers Online what they've learnt.

Politics: Dysfunctional Society
Noel Pearson looks at the plight of Aboriginal people through a prism of class and comes up with a challenging perspective on Aboriginal welfare, law and order and the state of our society.

History: Money Power
Should the People or the Banks Rule? Reserve Bank Governor McFarlane thinks he knows the answer. Eddie Ward was pretty strongly of the opposite view when the ALP introduced the Commonwealth Banking Legislation in 1945.

International: Soccer Pro Tackles Nike
Olympic sponsor Nike is under pressure over its human rights record in the run up to the Sydney Games.

Economics: Globalony
Frank Stillwell looks at the contradictory nature of the globalising economy and fears it is turning into a race to the bottom.

Satire: IVF Debate: Federal Government Tells Lesbians: "Get Fucked"
MELBOURNE, Monday: The Federal Court decision to allow single women and lesbians to use infertility treatment in Victoria has been attacked by the Federal Government, the Catholic Church and by pro-family community groups.

Review: Confessions Of A Union Buster
It's not a new tome but the threat for Australian Unions remains the same if not greater as when this book appeared five years ago.

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