It is inconceivable that an AFL club president of Eddie McGuire’s standing has escaped punishment for his inexcusable comments during a radio broadcast.
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McGuire, who is certainly no stranger to making the odd offensive comment, along with North Melbourne president James Brayshaw and former Richmond coach Danny Frawley recently joked about holding Fairfax football columnist Caroline Wilson’s head under water.
When the proverbial hit the fan soon after, the trio held up their hands in self-defence and claimed it was all just a joke.
Unfortunately, most fair-minded, modern-thinking people simply didn’t get the punchline, obviously.
To put it mildly, the pretty clear insinuation of violence made against Wilson was utterly disgusting and offensive.
Have we somehow magically been transported back to the 18th century, to a time when misogyny and chauvinism was rampant? Because that’s certainly how it all felt when certain quarters came out in defence of McGuire and his bumbling mob.
Promoting violence against anyone, particularly women given the strong focus against domestic violence, is inexcusable and cannot go unchallenged.
How the AFL has failed to act against both McGuire and, to a lesser extent Brayshaw, is astounding given the fact they represent senior clubs.
What made the incident even more perplexing was the league’s harsh stance taken against Kangaroos coach Brad Scott, who was fined $30,000 and the club $50,000 for comments he made accusing umpires of bias.
In other words, it’s fine to joke about drowning a woman, but simply inexcusable to question an umpire.
What a farce.
But even as McGuire fumbled around an almost apology, there was still one final twist in this sorry saga when the Collingwood honcho’s former media mate Sam Newman rushed to McGuire’s defence.
During a segment on Channel Nine’s The Footy Show, Newman called Wilson an “embarrassment”.
Pardon, Sam? She’s an embarrassment because three men joked about holding her head under water? What a disgrace.
Sadly, it would appear that in some circles of the male-dominated media, when it comes to matters of equality and enlightenment, we still have a long way to go. A very long way indeed.