Chips O’Toole
Just what inspired Adelaide forward Eddie Betts’ wonderfully compassionate call for forgiveness towards the fan who hurled a banana in his direction at the weekend, a response so at odds with the increasingly pervasive mentality of perpetual victimhood?
Perhaps Betts felt the culprit, distasteful though her actions were, had endured sufficient admonishment at the hands of both the authorities and the online lynch mob and that her punishment was beginning to outweigh her crime through continued calls for naming, shaming and blacklisting.
Perhaps he believed that continuing to pile on the hate might only serve to reinforce the offender’s negative views, and that extending an olive branch instead might be a far more effective means of encouraging her to re-evaluate her actions and underlying attitudes.
Or perhaps he simply wished to disempower other would-be racial abusers by showing himself impervious to such acts, thereby demonstrating that offence is indeed taken rather than given.
Whatever the case, Betts has shown himself to be just as classy off the field as he is on it.
Chips O’Toole: Australia’s favourite son and a real dirty, rotten scoundrel.
Photo by eosdude 
