Last night, a banner which said:
“Go Pies! Stop the mosques”
was displayed under the scoreboard during the Richmond/Collingwood football match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Security staff removed the banner and several fans associated with the display were ejected from the ground.
The incident has created a media sensation in its wake, with Eddie McGuire calling for a lifetime ban for those responsible, and the boss of the Australian Football League (AFL) Gillon McLachlan stating he will not tolerate the game being “used to vilify” members of the community.
It might come as a surprise to Gillon McLachlan that no one was actually vilified in the banner, but such heavy handed and politically correct control of expression including who can be “booed” at football games is what we have come to expect from the AFL in recent years.
I’ll leave the final word to cartoonist and social commentator Larry Pickering who commented on the ‘banner incident’ earlier today:
“Once a week we put three hours aside to enjoy a thoroughly Aussie competition devoid of socio-political slogans….
… Right message, wrong venue.”
XYZ Quote of the Day, Saturday 2 April 2016