Sam Newman has taken a break from his sexist jibes towards co-host Rebecca Maddern to rant about AFL’s decision to replace its logo with a ‘Yes’ outside its Docklands headquarters.
Although the league’s public support of same-sex marriage was nothing new, the tangible logo was a beautiful step up. Newman didn’t feel the same way.
“Before I start this, I know it’s going to get hijacked (by) the predictable people who will say what it’s not,” he said. “But if this was about the AFL putting ‘yes’ on the football about climate change, or save the whales, or greenhouse emissions or whatever, I would have exactly the same opinion.
“The very fact it’s about the Yes vote for gay marriage is irrelevant, so please don’t hijack this into something it’s not.”
Author’s note: Please permit me a quick aside: Why does climate change always come up when people are ranting about same-sex marriage? What do you mean if AFL put a ‘yes’ about climate change? Yes it’s happening and our world is dying and no one’s doing a thing to stop it? I don’t understand.
Anyway, Newman goes on to say: “But who in the hell are these people at the AFL who are telling the football public what they should do in their lives and who they should vote for in any political agenda — who are you? Who gives you the right to tell people and to put what people should do on the football field?”
He then pulled out a voting form to let people know we actually have a survey going on at the moment. If you haven’t heard about it, watch this fun video to know how you can get your vote counted on time.
“For god’s sake, there’s a plebiscite going on in the country! What right have you got to say what people should be doing?
“You are nothing more than obsequious, fawning, sycophantic political wh-res. You have no right to get involved in political messages. Let people go to the football and do what they want to do: just watch the game.”
“Keep your contrived and conflicted snouts out of people’s lives and let people do what they want to do,” he said. “It’s a release to go to the football. All you’re doing is virtue signalling and making yourself look grand when your overpaid executives make decisions on behalf of no-one.”
Co-host Eddie McGuire argued that the AFL has always stood for equality and was actively anti-discrimination.
“Okay, you’ve had a good go,” McGuire retorted. “Now, let me put a counter to you. There’s an old saying ‘if you don’t stand for something you stand for nothing’.
“What we have in our world at the moment, Sam, is a leadership vacuum with politicians who don’t do anything unless there’s a vote in it. We have media who are running agendas to get whatever they want. We’ve got churches have completely lost any credibility in what they stand for. But the AFL is an organisation that people do look to.”
He argued it wasn’t a political agenda, but a validation of the league’s code.
“If you put to the AFL: ‘Do you stand for discrimination?’ they’d put ‘no’ up on the wall,” McGuire said. “Because the AFL stands by ‘it’s not what you are, it’s who you are’.”
He added: “If you’re a 14 or 15-year-old and you’re gay, you can come to a football club and be a part of it,” he said. “It’s just saying they are welcoming equality.”
Newman, ever the gentleman, told McGuire to shut up.
“Shut up, Ed,” he said. “It’s nothing about gays, it’s about political agendas and the AFL has no right to tell people (what to do).”
