"Zero tolerance" McGuire must resign

On the weekend, Eddie McGuire made the very strong point that there is "zero tolerance" for racial intolerance in response to the 13 year old Collingwood fan calling Adam Goodes an ape.  Yesterday, Eddie broke his own rules when he suggested that Goodes could be used to promote the musical King Kong.  Zero tolerance is what it says - Eddie must resign, and his comments overnight indicate that he may do that.

Toorak Eddie or the Broady boy

Eddie McGuire really has been a leader in the public debate against racial intolerance. For decades, he has been a respected businessman and media personality.  Yet, he is still the boy made good from the rough streets of Broadmeadows to the rarefied air of Toorak.

Eddie McGuire - the statesman

Playing to his audience, the lowest common denominator

Here is where the Eddie McGuire story gets murky. He is a positive role model in so many ways, but he also understands his audience because that is where he has come from. He was the successful host on the lowbrow "The Footy Show", playing the straight man to the highly politically incorrect Sam Newman. 

On Triple M, he knows he is talking to largely the same audience as the Footy Show, and his role is to pepper the show with humour, even lowbrow humour. This is the unfortunate background to his comments yesterday - the environment in which he operates is one in which an off-the-cuff racial comment is commonplace.

Eddie on The Footy Show with Sam Newman and Trevor Marmalade

Eddie's slip of the tongue is clearly racist and his audience are too

Eddie understands the depth of his error.  Unfortunately many of his listeners do not.

Reading the comments to his official statement posted on Facebook is simply depressing, and reflects the ingrained racism and lack of understanding of these people...

Liz Gazeas I didn't think the comment was racist at all. Not Eddie's comment nor the young girls'. If the comment was racist to me I believe that would mean I think ALL indigenous people look like apes. I don't think that so to me the comment was not about race.

Sandi Pike This whole Adam Goodes issue...is a joke...freedom of speech...have a shave Soft cock Goodes because you look like an APE...

Zac Godfrey Eddie wasn't being racist. He was making a tongue-in-cheek reference that has been received badly. What if an indigenous 13 year old girl had called Goodes an ape? Are people from different races allowed to say different things? That doesn't seem right to me. I lovingly call my nieces little monkeys all the time...

...and on and on they go, demonstrating the incisive truth of what Collingwood player, Harry O'Brien said yesterday that casual racism is ingrained in parts of our society, who simply do not acknowledge their racist content.

Eddie, you are not a racist, but what you said was racist

You have been a great role model, but what you said was unacceptable by your own standards and you must set an example by standing down.  You need to reach out to those commenting on your club's own page to make it clear that they are missing the point. 

Australia is developing an unfortunate reputation as a racist country, and you can continue your good work by reaching deeper into your own audience.

Let me know what you think

Mark S

We underrate the fast thinking of footballers, nurses and police

Doug Hawkins - famous in AFL for footy smarts despite low IQ

What are the fast thinking qualities that make a great poker player, midfield footballer, chess player or many other pursuits where there is very limited time for complex decision making? What we do know is that traditional intelligence doesn't measure it very well at all. Football (all codes) is littered with examples of players with  football smarts who are very unintelligent in the "real world". Chess success is also less correlated with IQ than you might imagine.  So what are these smarts?

Let's take a look at what makes good decision making.  

There are four key elements. 

1. Background knowledge.
For example, in football, you really need to understand the rules and the various strategies. If the coach talks about a zone v man on man defence, you have to have all of that knowledge stored away. You need to know which side your opponent prefers to kick with, and a champion Chess player needs to know all of the main opening lines.

2. You need to capture the relevant information at the time.
Scientists and analysts conduct research to collect their data (I'm in that category) but footballers need to gather a lot of critical information in a few seconds. Where is the ball, where are the players, where are they all moving to and more.  Collecting the relevant information quickly is vital. 

3. Processing the information. 
When the high IQ people in the world process information they often use statistics, computers, data models and a whole range of techniques. You can't do that in football and unless you are a computer you can't in Chess either. There isn't enough time.  So, smart players have an alternative method of processing this information that they've captured almost immediately. We know that some of this is innate and some is learned.  We also know that the thinking system they are using is a completely different one to the system I use when I am doing rigorous analysis. 

4. Act on it
The best players sum up all this information and make a decision - generally within one second. Once they have made that decision they have to execute it. A kick to a player, a tackle, a chess move. Actually picking up a chess piece and placing it where you decided to is pretty easy. Kicking a ball through a small gap when you are running full pace is not. 

So what is all this about?

We know that different thinking styles exist and are relevant to different careers. Nurses and police are more like footballers than analysts.  We need more nurses and police, so we need to understand more about this fast thinking style.  We are only scratching the surface but rather than focusing only on analysts like me, let's make sure our education and societal systems recognize the importance of these fast thinking approaches. 

This area hasn't had enough study. I will keep looking out for more information and let's all start to champion these differences as equals.

Let me know what you think

Mark S

Homophobia and rape of lesbians in Africa places pressure on FIFA over Qatar

FIFA is proud of its record in addressing racism in football. The Say No to Racism and Fair Play campaigns have been publicised around the world. Despite this, a report in yesterday's New York Times has shown that homophobia is still rife, and FIFA has not progressed.

Lesbians routed from Nigerian World Cup squad

The NY Times article, In African Women’s Soccer, Homophobia Remains an Obstacle, reported on the entrenched anti-lesbian attitude of the Nigerian national coach, Eucharia Uche, who "used religion in an attempt to rid her team of homosexual behavior, which she termed a “dirty issue,” and “spiritually, morally very wrong.”".

Even more damning is the removal of players from the Nigerian team by former technical assistant for Nigeria, James Peters, who said he had "removed some players from Nigeria’s women’s team last year, “not because they were not good players, but because they were lesbians.”"

"Corrective rape" of lesbians is condoned in South Africa and Zimbabwe but the Chosen FEW are a shining light

The article reports that lesbians are beaten and raped in South African and Zimbabwe, as "corrective treatment". One particularly shocking example was the attack on Tumi Mkhuma, of Johannesburg's Chosen FEW, who was raped and left pregnant. "After losing her baby, she said she twice tried to kill herself.

The South African organisation, the Forum for the Empowerment of Women (FEW) was established in 2002 to support LBT rights. Their football team, the Chosen FEW, is comprised of 25 young black lesbian women from townships in and around Johannesburg, who are all activists for the rights of lesbian women in South Africa You can read more about this fabulous side and support the FEW here.


Shocking prevalence of corrective rape is placing pressure on FIFA

ESPN's E:60 program also investigated the issue of corrective rape in South Africa, and uncovered some shocking facts. 80% of South Africans believe homosexual sex is wrong, and they use this as an excuse to rape lesbians. Last year, a women's support group reported that there are 10 new cases of corrective rape each week in Cape Town alone.

Mvuleni Fana was raped in a stadium after
practice when she was 16 because she is a lesbian

The ESPN program (watch here) interviewed a number of inspiring, strong South African women who had been raped. But it is the story of Eudy Simelane which has attracted most notoriety. Eudy was 31 years old, a former national player, a respected coach and openly gay. She was gang-raped, and stabbed to death. Her friend is of no doubt that the crime was committed because she was a lesbian. And the chilling interviews with young men who said such things as "Lesbians get raped because men want to correct them and put them in the correct direction" leaves you in no doubt that Eudy's rape and killing were deliberate and homophobic.

Within this context, there were calls for FIFA to use the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to make a similar stand against homophobia as it has against racism. The Women's World Cup starting in Germany this week is being used as another opportunity to press this case.


But FIFA - what will you do about Qatar?

With this pressure starting to build on FIFA, President Sepp Blatter has been asked to justify why Qatar would be awarded the 2022 World Cup when same-sex relations carries a 5 year jail penalty. On one hand, his response was encouraging:

“It’s another culture and another religion, but in football we have no boundaries. We open everything to everybody and I think there shall not be any discrimination against any human beings, being on this side or that side, left or right or whatever. Football is a game that does not affect any discrimination. You may be assured … if people want to watch a match in Qatar in 2022, they will be admitted to matches.”

But, on the other hand, when he was asked what gays should do to avoid being sent to prison, he replied:

"They should refrain from any sexual activities.”

Surely President Blatter, if there is no discrimination, all people should be allowed to have sex after a great match they have watched at the World Cup - gay or straight

Let me know what you think

Mark S