29th November, 2011

In the first of a new column in which you get to have your say on an issue you're passionate about, BRUCE C. WEARNE responds to an article he recently read concerning former AFL footballer Nathan Ablett...

I saw an article in the Geelong Advertiser last week which immediately annoyed me.

The headline caught my eye: "Mooney says Nathan Ablett 'could have been anything'." Cameron Mooney, one of Nathan Ablett's fellow premiership players of 2007 is quite entitled to have his view about a fellow player who, having received his premiership medal, promptly decided to stand down from the team. But why does the Geelong Advertiser and the Sydney Morning Herald have to turn Mooney's interview on SEN radio into this banner headlined article? Why do they need to hound a guy who, on Mooney's own admission would go and hide as quickly as possible as soon as the media came anywhere near him? You read the article and you can't help suspecting that the Advertiser's journalists were listening eagerly to the interview in order to find some juicy sound-bites and thus make an article worthy of the headline.

PICTURE: © Kolbz (www.istockphoto.com)

You get an ambiguous impression about Mooney's attitude because of the way the editor has tweaked the article under that headline. But from what is then reported in the article, Mooney clearly respects Ablett - despite what the headline says. It is even possible that the Advertiser journalist has done Mooney a disservice by reporting him in a way that sounds as if he is trying out some hard-hitting shirt-fronting kinds of comments on his former team-mate. A first reading of the article had me wondering if Mooney was trying, in some subtle way, to get Nathan all fired up. Or was this interview given in order to show those in charge at SEN what Mooney might sound like if he were to join their panel of football experts? Who knows?

But when you read all the quotes given in the article - and we don't know the questions that were put to him, and we don't know the original order of these statements either - you get the impression that Mooney was actually trying to offer public support for his former team-mate and not just announce that he was 'the greatest waste of AFL talent.'

Given no AFL team has decided to take Nathan on after he nominated for last Thursday's national draft, I have another idea he might consider.

Let's look again at what Mooney says about his former team mate: Nathan was highly skilled and highly sensitive. He has enormous talent but somehow didn't want his life to be dominated by the hard physical work that seems to be a footballer's lot these days. (I see the local Queenscliff team where I live has already started its regular pre-season for 2012). Nathan seems to have a heavy load to carry because he comes from such a famous football family. But he is obviously a guy of great talent and feels things deeply.

There's much more in that 200 word article that is worth pondering, not least Cameron Mooney's appeal to what is self-evident to him - AFL has been the way "to get good money and enjoy life" but it only comes to those who are prepared to "work hard". From Mooney's comments it seems that for this to become a reality Nathan would have to be truly converted to that "AFL world-view". And that, I believe, is where we get close to the problem that Nathan has been dealing with. AFL is ruled more and more by an approach that makes demands upon players, they must in effect adopt the AFL world-view. AFL becomes the road to salvation for those who play football along that path.

I am reminded of the reports of what Nathan was saying when he stepped down which included his comment that he was wanting to find out what Jesus wanted of him in this life. Christians who are keen on footy might pray that the joy of the game itself actually returns not only for Nathan Ablett but for all footballers (and all netballers) and to return in a self-evident Holy Spirited way that not only challenges the AFL world-view but offers real joy in playing the game for all who might otherwise be trapped by the lure of the "good money to enjoy life", that failed ethic that continues to be joylessly recommended and which shows itself in parts of that Advertiser article - it was this joylessness, I guess, which got me so fired up when I first read it.

So is it Nathan's underlying spiritual commitment, His allegiance to Jesus Christ, which is at work in his heart, turning him away from the limelight? It might be and if it is I have a suggestion for him and others like him who no longer think it is worth it. Why not become keen on Aussie Rules again as a Christian and yes leave AFL, or more exactly leave the AFL world-view behind, and get involved in the efforts in, say, Fiji to promote the game in the South Pacific. My Christian friends in Suva, Robert and Lupe Wolfgramm are helping to develop the game for young Fijians and could do with the help of experienced footballers like Nathan to act as advisors or coaching assistants. It could also open up a whole world of service, helping people to develop their lives happily, and to promote justice and social development as a Christian - such efforts might even help the players of Fiji Tribe and Fiji Power (the under 16 team) and their families to see that footy make sense in terms of the Kingdom of God. How else?

Something that you want to get off your chest but just haven't had the opportunity? Sight's Soapbox is a new feature allowing you to have your say on a subject of your choice! Send all items for consideration to editor@sightmagazine.com.au.