Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Not good enough, Eden Park

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  • Carol Stewart, in reply to Russell Brown,

    No modern sporting franchise can afford to deter women and families.

    Exactly. I remember going to a rugby game at Eden Park a long time ago, when I was a very young student in my early 20s. It was utterly awful. Any woman who even stood up or was in any way conspicuous was subjected to this barrage of grossly sexist verbal humiliation. I just shrunk into my seat. And I stayed away from any big sporting event there for at least a decade. When I finally went back - to a one day cricket game - I was really pleasantly surprised how civilised it was. I totally agree that no-one should have to put up with what Hannah did.

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen, in reply to Jackie Clark,

    not sensitive flowers but decent human beings

    Can I be both :)

    And well said!

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

  • Erin Edwards, in reply to Carol Stewart,

    Earlier this year I attended the (yawn worthy) one day match beween the Blackcaps and England at Eden Park and was bemused by jibes from Blackcaps supporters directed at the English fielders. When they started yelling that the guy closest to us on the boundary was "throwing like a girl" I felt compelled to ask loudly what was so wrong with that. The Barmy Army were only too happy to join me in calling them out, and the taunts returned to the fantastically obscure.

    Auckland • Since Oct 2011 • 2 posts Report Reply

  • Carol Stewart, in reply to Erin Edwards,

    Go Erin! Good for you.
    And go Jackie too, your tirade was awe inspiring.

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen, in reply to Erin Edwards,

    “throwing like a girl”

    I always take that as a compliment given one of NZ's most successful athletes is a girl who throws.

    Although I did have to teach a number of the players in our social softball team how to throw - for some reason they hadn't spent many hours a day as a child throwing stones at lamp posts??? I mean really didn't everyone?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

  • Carol Stewart, in reply to Bart Janssen,

    I mean really didn't everyone?

    Some of us used mechanical advantage in the form of slingshots, Bart :-)

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Gareth Swain,

    I suggest you boycott Eden Park

    Surely the solution is for like-minded people to show up to games in huge numbers and drown out the boors. Much like Hadyn Green says over here:

    This should not be a reason to not attend. This should be a reason to attend in vast numbers. There will be so-many broadminded people that our non-gendered non-homophobic insults towards the opposition and referees will blot out the sun

    Japan • Since Apr 2013 • 45 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Also, can we appoint Lieutenant General David Morrison to take care of security at Eden Park from now on?

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Angus Robertson, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Your interpretation:

    In fact, Tracy Morgan did say something of the kind when she said “harassment of a patron would not be condoned and the men could have been evicted for that.” But then she said – bizarrely – that it couldn’t be harassment unless “everybody else around” was offended by it. That’s absurd. And it is not what the park’s own Conditions of Entry say.

    My interpretation:

    In fact, Tracy Morgan did say something of the kind when she said “harassment of a patron would not be condoned and the men could have been evicted for that.” But then she said – informatively – they couldn’t see harassment unless “everybody else around” was offended by it. That’s realistic in a darkened sports stadium. And it is an outcome in accordance with what the park’s own Conditions of Entry say.

    Auckland • Since May 2007 • 984 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle, in reply to Angus Robertson,

    Are you trying to get some sort of award from the Royal Society for the Wilfully Obtuse?

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Angus Robertson,

    Jesus wept.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Poole, in reply to Danielle,

    Are you trying to get some sort of award from the Royal Society for the Wilfully Obtuse?

    He's competing with James Bremner for that award.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart, in reply to Kyle Matthews,

    Also, can we appoint Lieutenant General David Morrison to take care of security at Eden Park from now on?

    I've watched this three times today (showing it to other people) and I cry every time. "The standard you walk past is the standard you accept." That's pretty much what I was trying to say.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Jesus wept.

    Shouldn't have come to the rugby anyway. Long haired girlie.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Angus Robertson, in reply to Danielle,

    Danielle its my defence.

    I was at the rugby where all this took place. I am not of the habit of paying attention to anything the crowd yells, ever. I know from experience that I cannot see what is happening more than one row in front of me. This could have happened within 3 m of me and I reckon I wouldn't have had a clue. You can poke the row ahead without being seen, you can direct comments at them without being heard by anyone else - fuck I was doing that shit in assembly at highschool and didn't get caught and that was a better lit, quieter, less distracting environment.

    And since I wouldn't be able to see it from right on top of it - how is a security guard 15 m away, scanning a crowd of hundreds supposed to see this shit? Answer: they fucking can't.

    Now it so happens that according to the horde of commenters here my normal and quite frankly typical behaviour in a crowd makes me an assenting party to verbal and physical attack. Moreover I regularly attend a sporting venue where it is concluded this sort of behaviour is practically enabled as policy.

    A great swathe of commentators here are (in my humble opinion) practitioners of grade A level fuckwittedness. At best they are wilfully drawing the worst possible connotations from a poorly worded press statement.

    Auckland • Since May 2007 • 984 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    I’ve watched this three times today (showing it to other people) and I cry every time. “The standard you walk past is the standard you accept.” That’s pretty much what I was trying to say.

    I think he's made himself just about everyone's hero with one short video clip. *mancrush*

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    If you see/hear someone being abused - and you cannot tell me that no-one saw/heard anything apart from the woman being abused - then I am dreadfully sorry (not) to tell you that the bubble you must walk around in is of considerable size. I have been to many events in my longish life - sports events, arts events, whatever event it may be - some held in places where your sight isn't up to much. But people notice things, you cannot say they don't. And those people when they notice things draw those things to the attention of a security or other pertinent person. That no-one did this does, indeed, mean that they were assenting to the behaviour being engaged in. And poorly worded or not, the facts are clear. Hate filled slurs were being bandied about, a young woman addressed her concerns to the people bandying them about, the people bandying the hatred about turned their hatred on her in a most vile manner. You cannot, I repeat, cannot tell me that no-one, no matter how dark it was, heard or saw nothing. I, unlike those in this community who believe this behaviour is acceptable, and that even if it were not, Eden Park cannot do anything about it, did not come down in the last shower. I also repeat, you must be living in a bloody big bubble. We see what we choose to see, we hear what we choose to hear. Being a compassionate being is about choosing to hear and see, and to act on what we witness. We are already becoming a culture of people who choose to ignore the hatred around us, I do not wish to have people included in this community who perpetuate that culture of lack of care and compassion. Those of you of whom I am speaking should examine your motivations for arguing as you have. It is disingenuous to argue about such acts of hatred as though it were a matter of no concern to you

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Angus Robertson,

    none taken

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Angus Robertson,

    this sort of behaviour is practically enabled as policy

    So you are incapable of reading and responding about the venue's terms and conditions being discussed here? How about you go do something you're better suited to. Finger-painting, perhaps.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Max Rose, in reply to Angus Robertson,

    You can poke the row ahead without being seen, you can direct comments at them without being heard by anyone else – fuck I was doing that shit in assembly at highschool and didn’t get caught and that was a better lit, quieter, less distracting environment.

    So you were one of those people in high school. Good to see you're so much more humane, mature and socially aware now.

    Wellington • Since Sep 2011 • 83 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    Again, if I was at the games and heard such slurs flung about, I’d video the whole thing instead of complain afterwards, and post it on the Web. Nothing like a good dose of public humiliation – just like those bigoted frat boys in Borat.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson, in reply to Angus Robertson,

    And since I wouldn’t be able to see it from right on top of it – how is a security guard 15 m away, scanning a crowd of hundreds supposed to see this shit? Answer: they fucking can’t.

    That's pretty much true. They can, however, be complained to about that behaviour, at which point they can warn the people concerned and hang around nearby to make the point. And if they do that, then people are encouraged to use them if necessary (something that most people would only do if they really needed it).

    If, however, the park makes a press statement that they won't do shit to help, it rather undermines that. It's also a stupid thing to do, because the majority of people there don't actually like drunken idiots making a scene near them.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Ben McNicoll, in reply to Angus Robertson,

    And since I wouldn't be able to see it from right on top of it - how is a security guard 15 m away, scanning a crowd of hundreds supposed to see this shit? Answer: they fucking can't.

    For what seems like the hundred bajillionth time* on this thread: the post was not about whether the security guards should have seen it, but that, given it did occur, for Eden Park to come out with a media response that minimises or excuses the behaviour in any way undermines their own stated policies, sets back any efforts to change the culture, and is just wrong.

    Never mind that it's also an own-goal on the PR front.

    *totally a real number, subjectively

    Grey Lynn • Since May 2007 • 115 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown, in reply to Ben McNicoll,

    For what seems like the hundred bajillionth time*

    Which, coincidentally, is the threshold number.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen, in reply to Russell Brown,

    Thank you

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

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