Thursday, August 31, 2006

Tickets turn to Ashes

Good on Cricket Australia for trying to stop scalpers. I applaud their moves to stop scalpers from preventing ordinary cricket fans buying tickets to see the match, and I think it will stop scalpers getting such good mark-ups on their tickets in future.

But, I don’t applaud this: "CA will not disclose which seats have been targeted meaning that fans who obtained tickets on eBay will not know if theirs is valid until they arrive at the turnstiles." The Age.

So here’s the scenario, like many thousands of people you missed out on Ashes tickets (because the scalpers got in first) and so you had to resort to getting them on eBay. You are now going to punished three different ways,

1) you will have paid well over the ticket price to get in,
2) when you get to the ground you find you dont get to see the cricket at all,
3) you are publicly shamed when the little light goes red instead of green. Just because you wanted to go to the cricket.

If it is true that CA feels "It is very important to us that normal fans have access to tickets at the prices we set. Otherwise we are at risk of losing our connection to the people," Then they should allow those people who have bought the cancelled tickets the opportunity to present them before the game and to buy a new valid ticket at the gate price from CA. After all it is the normal fans that are forced to buy the tickets from scalpers in the first place.

And then they should impose a maximum number of tickets that can be purchased by one individual. Lets say 4 tickets per person. That will end professional scalping for good.

Democratic process?

Thursday is the day I pretend I am going to work from home. So I stay in bed too long and listen to talkback radio until I’m so angry I have to get up. Then I work from home.

This morning Jon Faine was talking about the recent right-to-life campaign against Steve Bracks and Rob Hulls, which has consisted of a massive flyer drop of a letter and graphic drawings of partial birth abortion. The letter suggests that Steve Bracks wants to sneak into the homes of all pregnant women and kill their babies while they are sleeping, or something to that effect.

Anyway, Faine went particularly hard at a woman from the ALP women’s lobby this morning when she suggested that while she advocated removing abortion from the crimes act (what this debate is actually about) she did not have alternative legislation to present. He suggested that she was either naive or ignorant or both for proposing the change without having a ironclad legislative alternative. Which is just plain silly. Plenty of lobbyists advocate change without coming up with the laws themselves, because that’s what the government are for. Perhaps I am missing something but I always thought it (democracy) went like this, the public vote in politicians to represent their views and enact laws which best reflects those views.

NOT public changes mind on important issue, writes up whole new load of legislation and consults with itself, before handing everything ready to go to the politicians (who spent the morning having high tea at the Windsor one presumes). Am I wrong?

Monday, August 28, 2006

A-League of their own

As is often the case on Friday night I drink too much, and too quickly. This Friday past this behaviour resulted in a long, vocal and ill-advised argument about the threat, or lack thereof, that soccer poses to the glorious game of AFL. This has got me thinking – now slightly more rationally than on Friday night.

Its important to disclose that have long been a fan of the round ball game, and will admit to standing* more than once in the outer at Bob Jane Stadium in the torrential summer rain or scorching heat watching the boys of the blue and white flog their guts out. Yes that right, I am South Melbourne Hellas Supporter. It is also important to note that the greatest years of my obsession were the most successful years in the club’s long history. We won two grand finals, took part in another and frequently found itself near or at the top of the table. South Melbourne Supporters expected results.

I feel that this gives me at least a little authority with which to say, The football SUCKED. It was bad, defensive, boring to watch and the structure of the competition was dissatisfying to both players and supporters. But what else can be expected of players who train twice a week and spent the rest of their time behind the counter at the local servo? The clubs frequently lost money and the only publicity the league ever got was when the mounted police were called in to stop a riot or there was particularly spectacular flare thrown against the night sky (news is all about the pictures after all). For god sake, patrons were not allowed to keep the cap of the soft drink bottle they bought just in case they then used it as a missile!

So, it is with a healthy amount of scepticism that I approach the A-league. I will concede that many of the worst problems encountered by the old competition have be solved. For instance the clubs and competition now have money. They have a healthy, wealthy backer with lots of rich friends who are now willing to clubs’ calls. The TV deal and the sponsorship packages the NSL only dreamt about are now a reality.

Their web pages are flashy and attendances** are way up. Undoubtedly the game is a much healthier package. But is the soccer any better?

A quick survey of the team list finds that many of the old NSL coodabeens are still running around, and now they are backed up by washed up old international players coming trying to eek another years salary out of the game. And then there is the ridiculous media exercise of the ‘trio from rio’. So how much has really changed on the park? Is the football good?

I am willing to reserve judgement on the skill level of the games until I have seen more, but I fail to see how this competition can come close to the heights of footballing skill that supporters came to expect over the course of the World Cup. Until it does that, how can it possibly challenge AFL as the ntional game?

*As there was no seating yet installed
**at the first round of the season attendances were:
NZ 7,000
VIC 15,000
SYD, 19,000
PERTH 20,000

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

more than a little disturbed

For Christmas last year (yes I know that was a while ago now) my lovely significant other gave me a book called Do Not Disturb: Is the Media Failing Australia, a compilation of a series of essays by famous and interesting journalism and academic types. ‘What a romantic gift!’ I hear you say. Well, it gets worse, his mother gave him a copy for Christmas as well.

Sorry, I digress. I finally picked up this book this morning for the tram ride to work and found it an unpleasant but worthwhile read. While I have only read the first piece by Eric Beecher I confess to finding it a very enlightening read, not so much because it is saying something I didn’t already know about media, but because it is drawing connections between problems I had otherwise thought of as separate. Suffice to say I am finding it all very interesting in light of the bits and pieces coming out of the Australian and New Zealand School of Government’s Media and Government dinner that was held last night.

Crikey never seem to stop banging on about the media ownership laws, and while I always agreed with them in principle, I now know the laws are only going mean more of the same or worse from the media outlets in Australia. I dont know what the answer is, but I would like one if anyone has any suggestions?

Monday, August 21, 2006

Its all a question of narratives and themes

John Hirst has an illuminating article in The Age today, describing what he sees as the outcome of last week’s much discussed history forum.

The most interesting section is when he describes that ‘in teaching, the place to begin is with the questions; the narrative is the end; not the beginning.’ So, the forum decided that history teaching will now revolve around asking and answering important historical questions. And Hirst gives us some examples,
How did a convict society change into a free society?
What were the relations between Aborigines and settlers?
Why did Australia become so prosperous?
What were the relations between men and women?
What were the plans and dreams for Australian society?

As far as I can tell these are what are usually called ‘themes’ in the study of history. I should know, I’ve studied quite a few of them myself. But as I understand it the Prime Minister does not like ‘themes’ but he does like‘ narratives’. So we shall call them narratives from now on.

Everyone else happy to agree to that? I am.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

As easy as ABC



It appears that sheer bloody mindedness (and a hefty whack of cash) will mean that the ABC will most definitely have a decent share of the radio broadcasting pie when the new deals with the AFL are ironed out.

I love Gerard Whateley! Perhaps a little more than a grown woman with a perfectly lovely boyfriend should. But he’s just so absolutely wonderful and knowledgeable and is able to humour just about anyone including Red Symonds and wasn’t he cute when he began a little baby reporter on Channel 10, and then hit the big time doing the tips on Beyond the Boundary (kiddy football show in Saturday afternoon - you’ll be pleased to know the tipping section is now done by a dog). And earlier this year he said very clever things about the sham that was this years Tour de France on Offsiders on Sunday mornings and then didn’t even gloat about it when he was right. And he’s cute too, in a retired jockey kind of way. Sorry I digress…

Gerard and the rest of the team have waged a wonderfully successful campaign (with the support of the always enthusiastic ABC radio listeners), and have made it abundantly clear the AFL that they were being stupid to give the ABC the scrapings of the bottom of the broadcasting barrel. I particularly like the fact that the ABC have started podcasting the last quarters of the best grand finals for the last 30 years, just to illustrate to the AFL what they would be giving up. But the coup de grace was getting the listeners of Saturday football to call and sms in to tell them were they were listening from, showing the AFL they’d be mugs to give up the kind of coverage the ABC can offer them.

So, Yay to the ABC for showing the AFL that’s its not always about money and for making sure that I don’t have to listen to the knobs in 3AW and Triple M to get my football fix. Oh, and a special hello to Gerard too.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Stick damn mud, stick.

Robert Walls is unpleasant. I don’t like the way he commentates and I don’t like the way he writes. Without trying to sound like a Sydney club official (I think the commentators are right, Sydney do play ugly football, particularly when they are beating my team on the weekend), his commentary is always negative and it isn’t nice to listen to. It seems to me the commentary of someone who would rather be doing than talking about it.

His recent article on the Geelong football club certainly doesn’t pull any punches, and what he says about their playing is largely true. To the outside world the players do need a good kick up the caboose.

His article is one of many in recent to carve up the cats in the last few weeks, and I for one would appreciate it if all of them would confine their commentary to the football at hand. I have a couple of friends with a serious love of the cattars and I must admit their love is infectious. This makes it very hard to watch as commentator after washed-up-ex-footballing-hack, writes really soul destroying things about them. The criticism of play I can handle, it’s the thinly veiled innuendo about the coach that I will not.

I don’t think there is a single AFL fan left in Melbourne that hasn’t heard the rumours, but there is a reason why they are still only that. No newspaper has got enough evidence to prove anything, and until they do Bomber gets reasonable doubt just like everyone else (David Hicks excluded, obviously). I don’t want to hear how he’s ‘going through hell’ or ‘lost a lot of weight in the off season’, it is deeply unfair and is clearly now damaging the club. Stop it. End of subject.

Ready arms

It appears that the history war is hotting up…again.

I consider myself a historian, not because I have a swag of books to my name, but because by both accident and design that’s the way my brain works. I love history and I think that if you teach it with passion and engagement you can encourage that passion and engagement in your student, but I know that is far from easy.

As the Howard government calls together a history summit this week, I would like to add my significantly smaller voice to that of Stuart Macintyre, and say that I like nothing more than to see history teaching and learning on the national agenda. But, I shall wait with baited breath to hear the results of this summit. With only 3 school teachers invited it is clear that school teaching is not the real agenda. The Howard government needs a win this week, and I can’t help but think that they might fall back on that favourite old ditty, national identity.

We shall see.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Shooting off at the mouth

I am sick of people in the public eye saying something they really shouldn’t, like say our friend Mel, and then denying they think that way at all in an apology press release.

Dean Jones has just been sacked for calling a muslim South African cricket player a terrorist on air, and then in his press release said this…

"Everyone needs to get away from perpetuating the myth, publicly and privately, that beards associated with the Muslim faith are somehow suspicious, and I intend to do exactly that."

"It does not represent who I am, how I think or what I believe."

That is quite clearly just not true. The reality is neither Mel nor Dean would have said the things they did if they didn’t think them. It does nothing to advance the causes of social and religious harmony when those who hold prejudice just deny it, get drunk (or into a commentary box) and say offensive things, and then deny it again.

Perhaps by discussing prejudice, rather than denying it we might go some way to actually solving it. But not while a lie in a press release is all that is required to sweep the matter under the carpet.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

The ubiquitous incident

Nothing gets under my goat* like the news of footballers making arses of themselves and causing physical harm to others in the wee hours of the morning when they should be tucked in bed at home dreaming of grand finals. More clinical study needs to be done into the effects of increased levels of testosterone, adrenaline and stupidity in the body, but anecdotal evidence suggests this is the outcome.

However, despite often getting on my high horse about footballers and abuse on a regular basis I did find myself rather amused by this excerpt from a news article on the misdeeds of NRL player Bruno Cullen,

"Seymour is alleged to have headbutted a woman while trying to kiss her on the dance floor at the Regatta Hotel at Toowong in Brisbane's inner-west early on Monday morning."


Ha, ha, ha.

I mean, poor woman I hope she is alright.

Ha, ha, ha…



*(a)Expression of inarticulateness dreamed up by my significant other and some of his former housemates, spread it around, see if anyone notices anything odd.
(b)A misuse of the English language particularly relevant to a discussion of footballers.