On March 31 the AFL granted the Gold Coast Football Club a conditional license which allows them to become the 17th team in the AFL competition. So Andrew Demetriou and his cronies are getting their way. It should all be smooth sailing from here; however there are still a few things that need doing, such as redeveloping the Carrara stadium, which seems to be getting the treatment it deserves as Anna Bligh made it her major election promise.
One little thing that stands in the AFL’s way is the fact that the Gold Coast has no players, but in the Mercury on April 1 they seem to be eyeing off Gary Ablett Junior as their first recruit. And I’m sure Ablett would happily leave Geelong, there’s no family history attached to that club at all… but of course these days – even with the global financial crisis – I’m sure they’ll make quite an offer to him.
The other problem is that people don’t actually like AFL in Queensland. It has and always will be a rugby state, the same with NSW and the AFL’s other bright idea of a West Sydney team (how can they grow interest in AFL up there if it’s not shown on TV until about 11pm?). People only suddenly became interested in footy up in those states because Brisbane and Sydney won some grand finals, but all that hype’s gone now, and is anyone really going to be that excited about a Gold Coast team? People that live on the Gold Coast are only interested in themselves and when the next big surf is, oh – and getting drunk on Australia Day and starting a riot at Burleigh.
The sporting idols of yobbos up there are people with no necks, not superstar athletes like what you get in the AFL. Rugby supporters are as unintelligent as the players so the recent sexual assault of a 17 year old girl by Manly’s Brett Stewart isn’t really worrying anyone, especially the NRL (until they were prompted by the media). With the NSW government’s new anti-bikie gang legislation they should also be cracking down on rugby players too… but of course the reason for all their stupid behaviour is alcohol, and with the Family First Party blocking the bill for a tax on alcopops there seems to be no attempt at tackling the issue of binge drinking, so we’ll instead let our children grow up to be just like their sporting idols.
We love sport in Australia, we hold our sports men and women in such high regard, and that’s why when they do something which breaks the law we sweep it under the carpet until we win the grand final, which is exactly what the West Coast Eagles did with Ben Cousins.
The media are now doing Cousins’ rise and fall and rise again to death. What an amazing comeback – what an absolute superstar, recovering from drug addiction and returning to AFL… to then do his hammy in his first game. And it’s not just our footy “stars” that act like idiots, now our swimmers are getting in on the action, none better than Nick D’arcy, and of course this all links back to alcohol. Well what are we going to do about it?
