David ClarkeSam Sam Sam…
May 2nd 2008 06:34
John ‘Sam’ Newman could be just about the most despised man in AFL footy. But then again he could be the most loved too. There are few figures in the game which create such division, cause such controversy, or offend so many.
Sam Newman is called a ‘bigot’, a ‘racist’, and a ‘chauvinist’, he’s a man from another generation who doesn’t understand how the world works today. Sam doesn’t understand that women can do all the things that men can do, and do them just as well. He’s archaic, old-fashioned, and out of touch.
Or so they say.
But what has he done now that still has the footy world talking 3 weeks after this ‘incident’ occurred? I’ll tell you what Sam Newman did.
He did nothing.
He did nothing but exactly what he has been doing for the last 15 years that The Footy Show has been running, and that is, as Sam himself puts it, ‘taking the piss out of people’. While this may sound like a ridiculous comment, please, bare with me. In my opinion, Sam Newman is the least discriminatory man in football.
Discrimination indicates the unfair treatment of certain types of people through prejudice. Had Sam spent the last 15 years of his life on The Footy Show picking solely on say, Indigenous players and players from ethnic backgrounds, then you may well say he is prejudiced. Yet Sam will vent his anger, his sarcasm, and his ‘piss taking’ abilities at anybody who he thinks deserves it. If you find yourself in Sam’s line of fire - woman, man, or child – the chances are you will get stung. Hey, I never said he wasn’t offensive, just that he doesn’t discriminate in being offensive.
If anything, Sam’s attitude to this world is before his time. We still live in a society where the injustices and inequalities of people based on gender, race, and religion are fresh in our minds. It wasn’t so long ago that women were second class citizens, and being a ‘European’ consigned you to a life with reduced rights. And whilst some of this intolerance still exists today, as a society we have made great advances in bringing equilibrium to all people within it. In theory, we are all equal, yet in reality, the oppression that some sections of society have felt in the past has made for some sensitive topics.
Sam Newman can go on the Footy Show on a weekly basis and spend ten minutes making fun of Jason Dunstall with varying skits and images, calling him a big ‘Silverback Gorilla’ and generally insulting the ex-Hawk star. Yet Sam spends a single minute awkwardly handling a scantily clad mannequin with a cutout of Caroline Wilsons face on it, and all of a sudden he is a sexist. Why then, in a world where everybody is perceived to be equal, do we have such obvious double standards?
Samantha Lane can sit on a panel with four other men on Channel 10’s Before the Game and laugh at fat jokes directed at Carlton’s Nick Stevens, yet she sees no hypocrisy in writing an article for The Age condemning Sam’s antics as sexist and offensive. As a society we strive for the equal treatment of everybody within that society, yet the truth is, we are not quite ready for that equal treatment. Caroline Wilson had every right to feel embarrassed and insulted following what occurred on The Footy Show, but why should anyone else? The fun made at Jason Dunstall does not insult me as a male, and women should not feel insulted by Sam’s behaviour either, unless it happens to be directly aimed at that individual.
Perhaps in 100 years we as a society will TRULY be able to say that every person within that society is equal. But today we live in a world where everything must be politically correct. We walk on eggshells making sure we don’t make any reference to the fact that people are different from each other. But that is a fact is it not? Why is it that when someone throws on a red wig and pretends to be Geelong’s Cameron Ling, it is hilarious, yet when Newman painted his face black many years ago whilst imitating then-St. Kilda star Nicky Winmar, he is the biggest racist on television? Nicky Winmar has dark skin and Cameron Ling has red hair. It is the same as asking why imitating a German accent is funny, yet we cringe awkwardly at hearing someone pretending to be Chinese.
Why is that?
Well, it just is. And until we are able to allow our past indiscretions as a society to heal, it always will be. In my eyes, AFL football is a world where women are not discriminated against to the level they are in general society. Sure there still remain some macho attitudes and ignorant ways of thinking in regards to women within the game, but people like Caroline Wilson and Samantha Lane have proven that there is definitely a place for females in football, and it doesn’t have to be beneath any male. Wilson, amongst other things, is the chief footy writer for The Age and is regarded as one of the best minds in the game. Samantha Lane, amongst other things, appears on Before the Game and is deservedly given the role as the only genuine journalist amongst her co-panel of males, who are mostly part-time football fanciers. Furthermore, numerous AFL club boards employ women in some of their top positions. This is without even mentioning that almost half of the games supporters and viewers are women.
Therefore, by certain female footballing personalities, as well as some of their male counterparts, complaining to the extent in which they have about the Caroline Wilson ‘issue’, there are merely destroying the foundations women like Wilson have worked hard to build in creating genuine credibility for females in the game. Over two weeks ago, Caroline had publicly dealt with the issue and wished to move on from it. The fact that it is being sustained as an issue by certain people is insinuating that women deserve special treatment and exemptions from this sort of treatment, that they are too weak to handle such treatment. Yet ask Caroline Wilson what she would have wanted from day one in her journey to become a top footballing journalist, and she would have replied: ‘To be treated equally.” The truth is that Sam Newman treats everybody equally. Sure he offends nearly everyone he interacts with, yet the point remains that it is done indiscriminately.
When a man like Sam Newman can openly poke fun at any person based on his or her character, and not be branded a racist, a chauvinist, a bigot, or any other term you can think of, we will know we are truly living in an equal society.
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Comment by Tyronne
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Comment by dazedandconfused
I do agree however that there is a double standard in society where if women bark, men collectively jump at the sheer terror of being labeled a "chauvinist" and shunned by men and women alike. I salute Sam Newman, who doesn't give a rats what people think. He is a real man.