Get Real!

So there is an Aussie Rules player called Will Minson who is in all sorts of trouble for what he said on-field the other day to an opposition player, Danyle Pearce.  Minson's club, the Western Bulldogs, have suspended him for one game after it erupted all over the media like a giant pus-filled pimple that he made a sledging comment to Danyle Pearce allegedly about sleeping with his mother.

I'm a female, and I don't find what Will Minson said offensive because I know something.   I know that Will Minson was not being serious. An eight year old child can tell the difference between stuff you say to try to razz someone you're playing against and the truth. It's a completely different scenario than if he had been saying it with intent. Does context not count at all in any situation?

And then all the bobbleheads on the TV are all nodding up and down and saying yes, hmmm, it shouldn't be tolerated and  blah blah blah.  But maybe the problem is that there is not enough tolerance for untolerable behaviour.  What Minson said was stupid, and totally unfunny.  And the fact that nothing at all should have been done about it says nothing at all about my stance on women's rights and respect for women.


This is not about right or wrong morality where the AFL is concerned. It's about an arbitrary line that the AFL has drawn that says "This is acceptable" and "This isn't" which is exactly why Daniel Giansiracusa skirted around an answer to AFL 360's question when they asked him if Danyle Pearce maybe shouldn't be so reactive. This is about the AFL wanting to be seen to be doing the right thing, not doing the right thing. And those are two quite different things.