WARNING: this may get deep. Bring your waders.
One of the reasons I enjoy watching Australian and Canadian football (besides the fact that I frankly love those versions in their pure form more than the American brand!) is being able to steep myself in their cultural waters. Australia in particular this season has provided a plethora of scenes worth an essay on each, although I've written some about certain issues already this year. As an American, born and bred, my understanding of our own assumptions is heightened by seeing the differences in other countries, especially those of close relationship to our own.
Within the Aussie Rules Football community this season, we've watched them deal magically with the grief following the death of a beloved up-and-coming head coach, a violent death apparently perpetrated out of the blue by his adult son after an argument. The way the AFL community came together to support not only the family and the team involved, but anyone with a passing connection to a really good man (by all accounts) - Phil Walsh, first year coach at Adelaide, formerly assistant coach at Port Adelaide (which suffered this year when he left, as much as their crosstown rivals blossomed), and West Coast, which happened to be the first opponent Adelaide played following his death - a team which could truly empathize with the death of a man they loved as well. Impromptu circles after the game, pouring emotions side by side with playing the game "the way it should be played, for Phil's sake"...it's all culminated in his team making a surprise run to the finals, sitting seventh and playing for a shot at a fairy tale title this year.
They've also dealt with an uglier issue: the vestiges of racism in their society. Watching the rabble's hatred of a proud and outspoken indigenous man, Adam Goodes of the Sydney Swans, who has not been afraid to stand up for his ethnic class and culture, reminds me of how we've treated our indigenous class, our Native Americans, who more than anything have simply stepped aside and let the "white man's culture" overwhelm them and wipe theirs out. More closely, though, the Australian situation resembles the treatment and hatred of the black man by the "redneck" portion of society, the brute who cannot stand the "uppity nigger who doesn't know his place" in society. In the Goodes case, he was getting booed every time he touched the ball by that certain segment of the audience who thinks buying a ticket is a license for churlish behavior. One Sunday afternoon. in Perth, the West Coast audience had a particularly virulent group of booers, and by the fourth quarter, although Goodes himself didn't show it, his "apprentice" Lewis Jetta had heard enough. After scoring a goal, Jetta took the liberty of aggressively performing an indigenous dance of celebration (as Goodes has done during the actual Indigenous Round) and made a point of calling those "fans" out. It became the talking point of the week, and Goodes had decided he'd had enough. He withdrew from the team for a week, citing mental fatigue, and didn't indicate when or if he'd return. The response from the footy community was immediate and intense: Condemnation after condemnation of the racist behavior, followed by every conceivable show of support for Goodes and the indigenous community imaginable. It brought tears to the eyes of many supporters - for me, the most interesting one happened in Sydney itself. Adam Goodes wears number 37, so in the 3rd quarter, at the 7 minute mark, the audience spontaneously stood and started a standing ovation for Goodes, for the indigenous people of Australia, and for the vast majority of good people in that beautiful country. Play went on unabated, with no obvious reason to cheer, and the players said later how confusing and amazing the experience was. Goodes has not had any more issues since returning the next week...but the Sydney Swans return to the west coast again this weekend, playing Fremantle on Saturday. It will be interesting to see how that crowd reacts to him. Will we ever learn our lesson as a people? Not entirely. But little by little, like cancer, it's being eradicated.
Speaking of "cancer", of insidious diseases, Swans superstar Lance "Buddy" Franklin is out indefinitely after a pair of situations have arisen in his life. He had been out for a rib injury, and he'd battled that for a month or more, playing sporadically when he could. Franklin is the sport's first million-dollar-a-year contract, and it's nicknamed him the Bondi Billionaire - Bondi Beach being the resort part of Sydney where he lives. He's also a handsome, well-spoken, Adonis of a man (and indigenous ethnicity, by the way; except he isn't outspoken about it like his teammate Goodes), and engaged to a supermodel named Jesinta Campbell to boot.
In a shocking revelation, two conditions were revealed which will keep the full forward out indefinitely: he has a mild form of epilepsy (and the story came out today about his having a seizure Friday before playing against Gold Coast on the following day, Saturday, to the shock of many medical experts randomly selected by the media for opinions. He played reasonably well that day, however.), as well as "an undisclosed mental health condition" which most of us assume is a form of depression, anxiety, or some such illness as that. The news, for me as a Yank looking on from afar, is the way the Australian culture has embraced him for the sharing of the news (although in the end it seems as if the club was fairly well forced into explaining why their star still wasn't playing when he seems physically healthy), providing strength and comfort from afar, to the delight if not particular surprise of his teammates and his fiancee. "This is no surprise really, in the end we are one family," said teammate Josh Kennedy. His fiancee added, "Thinking of the many others who also live with this everyday and are not as fortunate to have the support we do. I am incredibly proud of Bud's strength and courage; this has not been an easy journey."
How do we treat people with announced "mental illnesses"? Are we in America nearly as accepting? I would argue we are not. Were I to step down from my current post with a "mental illness", even for a temporary sabbatical, the job may not be there later if I want it back. No real sympathy comes in the US for someone dealing with depression or anxiety. Take this from personal experience from a lifelong sufferer - your friends and family, they're the ones who will stand by you. As a culture we only keep the best, and you defectives need to step aside.
Makes me want to move to Australia, except for the 1279 different species of wild animals that can kill you....
No comments:
Post a Comment