Chicks and league

So the new rugby league season was launched last night, somewhat overshadowed by the alleged doings of certain Dogs in Coffs Harbour. Apparently the NRL has commissioned an ad targetted at women that features, among other things, a bikini clad woman seeking an autograph. This got me thinking about how I, as a woman and a kind-of follower of league, felt about the controversy and the attempts of the NRL to get more women going to league matches.

Whatever happened in Coffs has turned a light on bonding rituals carried out in male sports teams. It is nothing new to discover that sexual conquest features as a method for teams to increase their cohesiveness. In fact, there is no secret that there is an underlying current of sexuality through much male sport. Let's face it, there are some strange, almost Oedipal, tones to the South African rugby team's method of punishing lateness to training: the whole team slapping the offender on the backside. (Ok, so the South Africans are a special case but you get the picture). I won't even go into soccer, that's in a league of its own . What passes for expressions of joy on the field would provoke derision and sometimes violence off it.

It's not the almost-sexual nature of the team that bothers me, it's when this is taken off the field and played out on (usually) women. It's the inability to live in the real world for the time when they're not on the field that bothers me. Although I would admit that professional sportspeople live in a cocoon that is nothing like the average punter has ever experienced, does this excuse on-field behaviour being taken off the field? That is essentially what it is, the attitudes and mores of the field and the team being applied to life in general. This sometimes translates as behaviour that is illegal and/or socially unacceptable. As long as clubs, who essentially own their players, act like protective but blind parents players will continue to believe that the rules that apply to the rest of us don't apply to them.

So what does this kind of behaviour, or even allegations of it, do to a woman's perception of rugby league? I am probably not indicative of the female population at large but these are my feelings on it: I am not suprised by what has been alleged and as such it doesn't change my view of League. I understand these blokes live in a vacuum that could have created the environment for something such as the alleged Coffs Harbour incident. That does not mean I excuse it and I would be outraged if wrong was found to have been done and the perpetrators excused or allowed to get away with it. I would be irate if the Canterbury Bulldogs club felt that their 'punishment' would be all that was required. If proven true, these allegations require legal action, not just suspension, sacking or a fine.

Why is none of this whole affair a surprise? Because women are not really part of League. As long as there are cheerleaders wearing very little and doing nothing but applauding their 'heroes' as they enter the field women will have no real meaningful place in League. As long as League players are allowed to get away with treating women with disdain, League will remain a man's world. This does not upset me, nor do I seek a place in this world. Women can watch league and enjoy it but they will never be part of it. And lately I'm thinking that this isn't such a bad thing.