bruce potterGreg Inglis and the Arresting Love
August 21st 2009 12:16
I'm having another moment of wondering if I woke up in some weird dimension where the rules of common diplomacy are non-existent and moral compasses are smashed, their needles dangling like hanged men.
Greg Inglis joins the conga-line of professional sportsmen who have been charged rightly or wrongly with having done something awful to a woman.
Of course leading the conga is Greg Bird who is about to start his jail term for driving a broken glass into the face of his partner and then blaming the act on his mate.
This “glassing” is a trully horrendous practise that has now entered darkly into the zeitgeist. Glassing came out of the pubs of Northern England in the early nineties when some impeccably evil football hooligans realised they had a weapon at arm's reach that was just perfect for maiming opposition scum for life. It's not like stabbing someone in order to kill them; glassing is about slashing some-one's identity leaving a permanent reminder of the evils of football fanaticism.
Everything about Bird's actions was repellant and he is being justly punished.
But the astonishing revelation about Bird and many of his conga line mates, is that their victims- sorry – partners are standing by them. At least five of the recent defendants in acts against women have had their women proclaim their undying love for their men. These men who abuse them, beat them, and glass them.
Greg Inglis' partner has now changed her statement to soften the fall from grace of Inglis and show that once again being a footballer's WAG may just be worth dying for.
Now I have no qualm with the dignity and perhaps nobility of an act of genuine love, and if that's the case in all of these stories, then I understand. But if that's the case in any of these stories then I will be astonished. And I believe any of these girls should seriously consider their life path if staying with a man who abuses you is the best choice.
Yes, we all should practise forgiveness, but that is for small stuff. If your man borrows your car and wrecks it accidently, then perhaps he should be forgiven. If he breaks a glass and attempts to drive it through your ocular cavities- not so much. You should be a speck on the horizon.
Imagine if a professional sportswoman got drunk and smashed their husband in the face with a fist or a glass – I can't really picture the man standing by their woman because he was so looking forward to being on the Red Carpet beside her at this year's Logies.
I do really hope that that isn't the motivation. That being on the arm of Greg Inglis or Greg Bird or Brett Stewart on the Red Carpet is worth forgiving the most heinous of sins for. If living in a house overlooking the sea with a Porsche Boxster in the garage and not having to work because your man makes $400,000 a year, is worth tolerating the fact that he occasionally gets drunk and has State of Origin flashbacks.
But then again maybe I have woken up in some bizarre new world. My moral compass seems perfectly fine, but it casts an increasingly weak shadow when this kind of dark behaviour is around.
Can you help me find the beauty in this truth?
Greg Inglis joins the conga-line of professional sportsmen who have been charged rightly or wrongly with having done something awful to a woman.
Of course leading the conga is Greg Bird who is about to start his jail term for driving a broken glass into the face of his partner and then blaming the act on his mate.
This “glassing” is a trully horrendous practise that has now entered darkly into the zeitgeist. Glassing came out of the pubs of Northern England in the early nineties when some impeccably evil football hooligans realised they had a weapon at arm's reach that was just perfect for maiming opposition scum for life. It's not like stabbing someone in order to kill them; glassing is about slashing some-one's identity leaving a permanent reminder of the evils of football fanaticism.
Everything about Bird's actions was repellant and he is being justly punished.
But the astonishing revelation about Bird and many of his conga line mates, is that their victims- sorry – partners are standing by them. At least five of the recent defendants in acts against women have had their women proclaim their undying love for their men. These men who abuse them, beat them, and glass them.
Greg Inglis' partner has now changed her statement to soften the fall from grace of Inglis and show that once again being a footballer's WAG may just be worth dying for.
Now I have no qualm with the dignity and perhaps nobility of an act of genuine love, and if that's the case in all of these stories, then I understand. But if that's the case in any of these stories then I will be astonished. And I believe any of these girls should seriously consider their life path if staying with a man who abuses you is the best choice.
Imagine if a professional sportswoman got drunk and smashed their husband in the face with a fist or a glass – I can't really picture the man standing by their woman because he was so looking forward to being on the Red Carpet beside her at this year's Logies.
I do really hope that that isn't the motivation. That being on the arm of Greg Inglis or Greg Bird or Brett Stewart on the Red Carpet is worth forgiving the most heinous of sins for. If living in a house overlooking the sea with a Porsche Boxster in the garage and not having to work because your man makes $400,000 a year, is worth tolerating the fact that he occasionally gets drunk and has State of Origin flashbacks.
But then again maybe I have woken up in some bizarre new world. My moral compass seems perfectly fine, but it casts an increasingly weak shadow when this kind of dark behaviour is around.
Can you help me find the beauty in this truth?
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Comment by bruce potter
The Beauty Of Truth
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The Beauty of Truth
But sadly, not as shocking as all that. Now he's a got a 12 month deal with the Gold Coast, he's probably somehow an attractive prospect, despite the obvious character issues.
I wish I could say I was surprised, but it somehow validates my point.
That moral compass is not looking too healthy.
Thank you very much for the feedback.