1 post from October 2006

Wce

It was Grand Final weekend for the two major football codes in Australia over the weekend. While I only really follow the AFL, I did also watch the NRL final and must say that I did enjoy the game. The AFL final was a cracking game and the West Coast Eagles had a great 1-point victory. Not having a team in the Grand Final allowed me to sit back and watch the game as an unbiased outsider and both teams put on a great show. The absolute low-light of the game however was the behaviour of some of the West Coast players after the game. Every player on the winning team gets a medallion which is presented to them from a young (I mean very young as in under 10 young) player from the Auskick league. Many of the WC players completely ignored the kids presenting the medals and a large proportion of them did not shake the kids hands. If the medals had been presented by an adult this sort of ignorant and impolite behaviour on the part of the players would be unacceptable but WC present the picture that its OK to be rude to the kids. At one point a player literally grabbed the medal from the young players' hands and started his victory gyrations, my 6 yo turned to me and asked me why the man 'snatched' his medal; there is no answer, they are just rude. It's important to note this behaviour was not across the board, many WC players accepted there medals with dignity, then celebrated a great sporting moment and the same time as allowing the kids one of the great moments in their lives.