A kick in the guts

May 6th, 2013  |  Published in Social Issues

This letter was published in The Sunday Age dated 17th February 2013, featured as lead letter in response to the opinion piece titled, A kick in the guts.

Although I don’t share Bruce Guthrie’s passion for football, I share his disappointment over the state of him team. Football, an Australian cultural icon, has been debased. It seems that once again the big boys have turned their authority and responsibility to the club into their brand of celebrity and quest for personal power.

The only thing that will restore football to being a game that connects people is to shift the emphasis away from the big boys calling all the shots by forcing them to be responsible, accountable and not overpaid.

The problem with large organisations and institutions in most of the western world is that too much power is awarded to the already wealthy and powerful. It is time for the people to speak up and demand real accountability. For football this begins with Andrew Demitriou.