RUGBY LEAGUE NEWS:
| Footy Follies | ||
| Written by: Cheesie-the-Pirate (Bluebags) | ||
| January 28th 2010 10:03 PM | ||
“His Foe was Folly, and his Weapon Wit” This is a beautiful summation on the very purpose of the satirist. Gilbert, in his partnership with Sir Arthur Sullivan created a cannon of works that not only gave rise to modern musical theatre but stood in performing arts as testaments to the role of the satirist as an esteemed and enlightened commentator on life. Unfortunately, it seems to me that many of those responsible for writing and speaking the words of rugby league represent the very opposite of this Gilbertian wisdom. Indeed, we might say that; “Their Foes are Wit, and their Weapons Folly” I’m quite sure that the very best (or perhaps more accurately, worst) example of this is the Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield. Rothfield is a successful sports journalist and he knows much better than me how to convert column inches into newspaper sales. However, in literary and logical terms he displays a populist appeal to folly that can be truly astounding. Rothfield demonstrates a mundane tendency towards the petty, seeming to specialise in elevating squabbles involving himself to the pages of The Daily Telegraph and his Buzzwords blog. The childishness can perhaps be best demonstrated by his preference to refer to Phil Gould by his full name, including his middle name of Ronald. Apparently some correspondence from Gould’s lawyers to Rothfield referred to the former by his full name, so therefore it’s a running joke. Meanwhile, he’s not content to simply slug it out with fellow rugby league journalists. In recent times Rothfield has decided that Association Football (Rothfield demands we refer to it as Soccer) is also deserving of a few good kicks. In particular, coach Pim Verbeek has become public enemy number one for his safety-first strategy to qualify for the world cup. Verbeek and the FFA can look after themselves I’m sure, but it demonstrates the juvenile squabbling that characterises one of the more influential journalists in rugby league circles. By no means is he the only example of this folly-filled journalistic world. Certain ex-players in the media have made it their defining characteristic. Amongst a cast of thousands, Mark Geyer stands out as a classic exponent of the former footy player boofhead journalist. Can anyone ever recall something said or written by Geyer that was not obvious, nostalgia-ridden or just plain absurd. Geyer proposing that players should be able to elect to be suspended for a large number of NRL games instead of a single State of Origin fixture demonstrates the lack of serious thought that exemplifies his contribution to the game. What club would allow one of their best players to be suspended for a serious part of the NRL season just to play a single game of Origin? We might as well propose that players can avoid suspension from Origin if they can catch a bullet with their teeth. You might ask- who cares? The squabbles and silliness elements of the rugby league commentators and writers reflect the forces of the market at work. Their populist grandstanding and simple messages appeal to parts of the audience and it’s clear that the employment of these people by the media is a commercial success. We must ask ourselves though, what should commentators on football provide? As a satirist, Sir William Gilbert was a commentator on late Victorian Britain. With Sullivan he entertained, and continues to entertain, people around the world. Yet the entertainment was based on wit, challenging the audience through irony, wordplay and other such devices to think about late Victorian life and to confront the follies that Gilbert demonstrated. Rugby league commentators in writing and in broadcasting provide the entertainment, but where’s the wit? Where’s the innovative approach that challenges the reader, listening or viewer to look at issues in rugby league in new ways? I don’t expect dramatic irony; these people are journalists, not dramatists, and it is not to their detriment that they do not approach a rugby league issue with a well-stocked mind full of 19th-century literary devices. Surely though it’s possible to be entertaining, witty and meaningful when talking about rugby league. Much of what we get at the moment provides the first, but does so in the easy way that means the latter parts of the equation are left wanting. Lord knows there’s plenty of folly in footy. Our commentators should fight against it, not with it. Posted in the F7s Matches forum in July 2009 The F7s is an article writing competition hosted on The Front Row forums here on LeagueUnlimited.com To join a team, click on the banner below  FOR ALL F7s MATCHES, CLICK HERE |
