JUNE 1 2019 LISTENER 45
O
ne of the few defences available to
Israel Folau is that notable sportsmen
are always saying silly, objectionable or
inflammatory things.
I use “sportsmen” advisedly, since sports-
women don’t make a habit of giving verbal
hostages to fortune. However, one who does
spring to mind is Margaret Court, the Austral-
ian tennis player who won 24 major singles
titles, a record that remains unsurpassed.
Now 76 and a Christian minister, Court is on
record as saying the biggest problem facing
women’s tennis is “predatory lesbians” and
comparing gay-rights activists to Hitler. She
defended Folau, claiming that “he really just
wants people to come to Christ”. What the
people in question want clearly doesn’t enter
into it.
Last week, for instance, we had this: tennis
player and ticking time bomb Nick Kyrgios –
no prizes for guessing which country he calls
home – launched attacks on two greats of the
modern era. He called Rafael Nadal a “super
salty” sore loser and said Novak Djokovic has
a “sick obsession with wanting to be liked”.
Kyrgios also labelled veteran Spanish player
Fernando Verdasco “the most arrogant person
ever”, which would come as a surprise to many
people, particularly historians.
Recently retired cricketer Shahid Afridi
revealed in his autobiography that, as a
“conservative Pakistani father”, he won’t allow
his four daughters aged from 10 to 20 to
compete in public sporting activities.
Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli, obviously
not a man to spurn a money-making oppor-
tunity no matter how naff, appeared in a TV
advertisement for an anti-pimple facewash.
That’s bad enough, but what’s really bad is
that he sings, “Walking like a dude/Feeling all
cool/You’ve got the look/you’re gonna rule.”
WBC heavyweight boxing champion
Deontay Wilder said opponent Dominic
Breazeale’s life would be on the line in last
weekend’s title bout – “and I do mean his
life. I’m still trying to get me a body on
my record”.
The fight lasted two minutes
17 seconds. Breazeale
lost but lived to tell the
tale. US researchers have
documented more than
1500 deaths resulting from
injuries received in the ring
since 1890.Speak no drivel
Talking rubbish is all part
of the game, apparently.
GE
TTY (^) I
M
AG
ES
but also some of their opponents.
In March, South African
commentator Mike Haysman noted
that reverse swing has “died” in test
cricket since that fateful game last
March. His implication was that
it’s more often than not the result
of ball-tampering, which, since
Sandpapergate, has become a high-
risk tactic. Ball-tampering, it seems,
was similar to insider trading: lots
of people were up to it but hardly
any got caught.
F
olau’s Waratahs and Wallabies
teammate Karmichael Hunt
made what may be
a more pertinent
comparison with
former San Francisco
49ers quarterback
Colin Kaepernick, who began the
practice of kneeling rather than
standing during the pregame national
anthem as a protest against racial
injustice.
Kaepernick hasn’t played a game
since late 2016. As with Folau,
his supporters claim his career
has suffered as a consequence of
exercising his right to free speech; as
with Folau, his critics argue that the
nub of the issue is a player publicly
and repeatedly adopting a stance at
odds with his – or a prospective –
employer’s values. (Earlier this year,
Kaepernick withdrew a grievance
action against the NFL alleging
blackballing after reaching an out-of-
court settlement.)
Again, there are differences. Rugby
Australia is the governing body
of a sport that is under pressure
on a number of fronts, including
financially. The NFL consists of 32
independent corporations, mostly
owned by white billionaires, with
an average value of $3.9 billion and
annual revenue of $18.5 billion. As
I’ve written previously (Sport, June
9, 2018), “The athletes who take
the knee are up against a powerful
coalition: [Donald] Trump, the
Republican Party, the new right-
wing populism and the American
plutocracy.”
Furthermore, Kaepernick made
his stand on behalf of a beleaguered
minority; Folau, it seems, wants
to turn the clock back and make
homosexuals as beleaguered a
minority as they used to be. l
Wounding words:
Margaret Court, left,
and Deontay Wilder.
Folau, it seems,
wants to turn the
clock back and
make homosexuals
as beleaguered a
minority as they
used to be.