You will recall, you older ones, the days when we used to smoke in the office and when planes even had the absurdity of smoking and non-smoking sections. Much older Australians will remember when the Aboriginal people weren’t allowed to vote, and when it was OK to take a new-born baby home from the hospital, sitting on its mother’s lap. In all three cases, in a more enlightened age, knowing more, we look back in wonder that we could ever have thought such things OK.
I reckon no more than 10 years from now, a majority of Australians will look back on this weekend’s Manny Pacquiao v Jeff Horn fight in much the same manner. Yup, millions from around the world will watch, and more than 50,000 paying customers will turn up, and there really is a touch of Rocky to the whole thing with the likeable school teacher getting a shot at the legendary world champion.
But what does it boil down to?
It boils down to people roaring with glee as one man tries to smash another man in the head so hard that it will smash his skull and he will fall to the ground unconscious. If Pacquiao or Horn manage that, they will have reached the highest attainment of their sport, and the people will cheer, and walk away, already waiting for the next time they can see something as thrilling. But the one with the battered brain will never be the same. Knowing what we know now, we know that every blow struck will be causing irreversible damage, and if that damage continues in a sustained way, they risk developing early dementia, CTE and a dozen conditions that sound scary enough in medical terms but will be an absolute nightmare for them and their families to deal with. SHARE Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Link Illustration: Simon Letch
And there is more and more info emerging on this by the year, and ever more examples of the tragic consequences of this kind of stuff. So, tell me, 10 years from now, what are the chances this kind of blood sport will be allowed to continue. I say just about nil. And yes, I do say blood sport, because when the very aim of the game, the highest attainment is to smash your opponent’s brain into his skull, what the hell would you call it?
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Listen, when it comes to the spread of Aussie rules, I can accept that school after school in the rugby heartlands of Sydney are now running successful programs. I don’t mind that my own son has been raving about the Swans-Essendon match he attended a week ago, that what my own extended family wants to do on a forthcoming visit to Melbourne is see the Swans play Hawthorn. But when I’m in the back of a cab in London, as I was on Monday evening, and look out on togreen and pleasant fields of Clapham Common sprouting Aussie rules goal posts, things are getting ridiculous!
