Farewell Johnny Shakespeare – a great artist, an even better man
Transgender athletes
Which brings me to last week's rant about ' hate-bait ' and the regular unleashing of murderous media mayhem on those who have no ability to defend themselves, in this case – STOP THE PRESSES, and SOUND THE ALARMS! ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK! – a 13-year-old transgender student competing in a school carnival in Adelaide, sometime last year. Inevitably, and you could set your watch by it, I became the target of a little hate-bait myself – like I care – which at least meant they were picking on someone their own size for a nice change.
I honestly couldn't be bothered to do more than glance at it, but the guts of it, I gather, is the notion that I am indeed all in favour of male truck-drivers in tutus, swarming and storming their way through girls dressing-rooms and back fields across our brown and pleasant land.
Yeah, nah. I am actually in favour of not monstering a 13-year-old kid who wants to be included in the activities of her school community, though being transgender. If the school and school community didn't have a problem with it – and we know they didn't because they were happy for the teen to compete, and the story didn't emerge for months – who the hell are the spitting shock-jocks and professional haters to carry on like the world is coming to an end?
I'd also invite the aforementioned to have a look at the calibre of people supporting their position on social media. When those getting all around you on an issue are that level of nasty, plumbing those depths of bigotry, transphobia and homophobia, there's a clue there.
I repeat, there is a sane discussion to be had about transgender athletes in sport, particularly at the elite level, and I'm happy to have it. It's why all sports have protocols preventing transgender athletes gaining outrageous advantage.
Sometimes they get it wrong, no doubt – mostly they seem to get it right. It is for the serious sports administrators whose job in life it is to do exactly that, to sort it out, in consultation with their communities. But on this issue both media and politics have a track record of being like slavering and starving bulldogs going after a piece of sausage – desperate for there to be huuuge problems, even where few truly exist. Hence, why, in this country, there has been such carry-on over one transgender athlete in a minor sports carnival, last year! If this was a genuine huge issue in Australia, wouldn't we be getting stories like this every week? Well, we ain't.
Politically, Scott Morrison made it an election issue by weaponising fear of transgender athletes. Yeah, nah. It was something for American politics, maybe, but we Australians were more disposed to live and let live.
This February in the USA, Donald Trump signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from competing, particularly focusing on college athletes. Guess how many transgender athletes there are in American colleges. To judge from the media hullabaloo, the op-eds, the carry-on, there'd have to be THOUSANDS, wouldn't there, wreaking absolute havoc and winning everything? Actually, last December, NCAA President Charlie Baker testified that there were 'less than 10' transgender athletes among the more than 530,000 student-athletes across NCAA member institutions.
As it happens, Australia has about that same number of netballers, a rough half million between friends. Know how many complaints there were from them about transgender athletes when Netball Australia last put out a questionnaire wanting to know any issues they had? Zero. Hole-in-the-doughnut.
Hence why the haters go so hard after a 13-year-old competing in a school carnival, last year.
Guys? Give it a rest. It's pathetic.
What they said
Lachlan Galvin, after scoring a try for the Bulldogs on debut: 'Full credit to the boys . . . I love going out there and playing with them.' He's got the whole repertoire, I keep telling you! Football's a funny game, Lachlan. Let your football do the talking, and rugby league will be the winner on the day.
Tottenham statement on Ange Postecoglou: 'Following a review of performances and after significant reflection, the club can announce that Ange Postecoglou has been relieved of his duties. This has been one of the toughest decisions we have had to make and is not a decision that we have taken lightly, nor one we have rushed to conclude.' In sum, in the third season they decided to kill the 'lead character'.
Postecoglou in response: 'The opportunity to lead one of England's historic football clubs and bring back the glory it deserves will live with me for a lifetime. That night in Bilbao was the culmination of two years of hard work, dedication and unwavering belief in a dream.'
Jonathan Liew, in The Guardian, in a weirdly harsh and personal piece, lined up 'our Ange': ' There may never have been a manager better at defining his own terms of achievement; a managerial reign so evidently built upon a towering silo of nuclear-strength bullshit.' Well, we never.
Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer reacted to the sacking by posting on Twitter: 'What a stupid game football is!'
An emotional Novak Djokovic after he lost in the semi-finals of the French Open: 'This could have been the last match ever I played here – I don't know. That's why it was a bit more emotional at the end.'
Coco Gauff on winning the French Open: 'I didn't think honestly that I could do it. But I'd like to quote American rap star Tyler the Creator, who said: 'If I ever told you that I had a doubt inside me, I must be lying. I think I was lying to myself, because I could do it'.' Must be the way he said it? And you had to be there at the time?
Aryna Sabalenka on how she will recover from losing to Gauff in the final: 'I already have a flight booked to Mykonos [to enjoy] alcohol and sugar. I just need [a] couple of days to completely forget about this crazy world and this crazy – if I could swear, I would swear right now – but this crazy thing that happened today. But yeah, [there will be] tequila, gummy bears, and I don't know, swimming, being like the tourist for couple of days.'
Gold Coast Suns coach Damien Hardwick not happy with a valiant defeat against Geelong: 'We don't take any honourable losses. That's not us any more.'
Saudi Arabia manager Herve Renard ahead of their World Cup qualifier against Australia: 'The door is closed, but we have to try to qualify even if it is through the window.'
Loading
Billy Slater on bringing Tom Dearden into the Queensland team to replace Daly Cherry-Evans: 'We just want Tom Dearden to do his job and be the best version of Tommy Dearden that he can be.'
Olympic swimmer Mollie O'Callaghan on her friends: 'I noticed I don't have friends outside of swimming because I have dedicated such a strong amount of time from school to now.'
After 16-year-old Sienna Toohey secured her spot at next month's World Aquatic Championships by beating all the veterans home to win the women's 100m breaststroke at the Australian Swimming Trial, she enthused: 'All of these people being my idols, now I get to be on the team with them.'
Team of the week
Coco Gauff. Won her second grand slam title.
Summer McIntosh. The 18-year-old set three world records at the Canadian swimming trials this week – including slashing a staggering 1.2 seconds off our own Ariarne Titmus's mark in the women's 400m freestyle – and appears to be the next big thing.
Erin Phillips and Daisy Pearce. First women inducted into AFL Hall of Fame.
Jannik Sinner/Carlos Alcaraz. Played out one of the best finals in a tennis major. In the fourth set, when trailing 3-5 and 0-40, Alacaraz stared down three match points before going on to win the whole thing in five hours and 29 minutes, the longest final in Roland Garros history.
Socceroos. For the first time since 2014, didn't require a playoff to qualify for the World Cup! I don't quite know why, but they and the Matildas, both seem to have come good – ish – all of a sudden?
Novak Djokovic. Hasn't won a grand slam title since 2023 US Open. I'm calling it: Father Time and Mother Nature have finally caught up to the last of the Big Three. In terms of winning any more majors, he's done. (I've done what I can, Novak. Good luck at Wimbledon.)
Haumole Olakau'atu. Stood himself down from the NSW Origin squad, after telling coach Laurie Daley that he preferred birth to Perth, as his partner's due date clashes with Origin II. Bravo.
RIP Johnny Shakespeare.
Loading
RIP Stu Wilson. Former All Black Captain died age 70.
Number of the week
59,878. That was how many spectators turned up for the Bulldogs/Eels match last Monday, the second-largest regular-season attendance in the league's history. The Bulldogs won going away, and Lachlan Galvin scored a try on debut off the bench.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sydney Morning Herald
4 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘I got the chills': Singing LA Rams star vows to pack the MCG in historic NFL match
'To come here a year early and know that we are going to be the home team, we have the opportunity, right, and almost the responsibility as well to be the liaison for the NFL as well to be able to branch out in Australia. 'We get the opportunity to put our brand on the line, the Rams, the NFL brand on the line. But that also gives us a tremendous opportunity as players to become world-wide names, household names.' The NFL has played 55 regular-season games outside the United States, with London, Madrid and Berlin confirmed as venues this year. Australians have already made a splash in the NFL, led recently by Eagles' Super Bowl winner Jordan Mailata, who has a $100 million contract, and Seattle Seahawk Michael Dickson, the league's highest-paid punter signing a new $25 million deal. By hosting a game here, where the Rams share international marketing rights with the Philadelphia Eagles, the NFL hopes to inspire more Australians to take up the sport. Loading Turner, whose job is to pressure the opposition quarterback and contain the run, has also made a name for himself off the field. Entering his third NFL season, Turner is widely known as the 'The Conductor' because his post-sack celebrations include choral and orchestral-inspired movements. The 188cm, 135-kilogram muscle machine can also sing. During the off season, he performed the national anthem before a Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings NBA game. He has also been a contestant on the television show The Masked Singer, making it to the quarter-finals before he was eliminated. So, how would he go singing the anthem here, then donning the helmet and pads. 'That's a possibility. I have done an anthem before games. That's a whole other experience where your mind has to be completely locked in for that moment. It would be interesting to try to do that, then also be completely locked in on football,' Turner said. 'It'll be, preparing for the anthem, then the second that stops, go out on the field and smash somebody.' The NFL has yet to confirm a date or kick-off time for the first game of a multi-year deal, but league executive vice-president Peter O'Reilly has said it will probably be held in week one of the season, meaning it could clash with the first week of the AFL finals. It could also be held during the pre-finals bye.
The Age
4 hours ago
- The Age
‘I got the chills': Singing LA Rams star vows to pack the MCG in historic NFL match
'To come here a year early and know that we are going to be the home team, we have the opportunity, right, and almost the responsibility as well to be the liaison for the NFL as well to be able to branch out in Australia. 'We get the opportunity to put our brand on the line, the Rams, the NFL brand on the line. But that also gives us a tremendous opportunity as players to become world-wide names, household names.' The NFL has played 55 regular-season games outside the United States, with London, Madrid and Berlin confirmed as venues this year. Australians have already made a splash in the NFL, led recently by Eagles' Super Bowl winner Jordan Mailata, who has a $100 million contract, and Seattle Seahawk Michael Dickson, the league's highest-paid punter signing a new $25 million deal. By hosting a game here, where the Rams share international marketing rights with the Philadelphia Eagles, the NFL hopes to inspire more Australians to take up the sport. Loading Turner, whose job is to pressure the opposition quarterback and contain the run, has also made a name for himself off the field. Entering his third NFL season, Turner is widely known as the 'The Conductor' because his post-sack celebrations include choral and orchestral-inspired movements. The 188cm, 135-kilogram muscle machine can also sing. During the off season, he performed the national anthem before a Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings NBA game. He has also been a contestant on the television show The Masked Singer, making it to the quarter-finals before he was eliminated. So, how would he go singing the anthem here, then donning the helmet and pads. 'That's a possibility. I have done an anthem before games. That's a whole other experience where your mind has to be completely locked in for that moment. It would be interesting to try to do that, then also be completely locked in on football,' Turner said. 'It'll be, preparing for the anthem, then the second that stops, go out on the field and smash somebody.' The NFL has yet to confirm a date or kick-off time for the first game of a multi-year deal, but league executive vice-president Peter O'Reilly has said it will probably be held in week one of the season, meaning it could clash with the first week of the AFL finals. It could also be held during the pre-finals bye.
Courier-Mail
7 hours ago
- Courier-Mail
‘One for the ages': UFC rocked as icon retires on the spot
Don't miss out on the headlines from UFC. Followed categories will be added to My News. Jon Jones, regarded as the greatest mixed martial arts champion of all time, has retired, UFC CEO Dana White announced on Sunday morning Australian time. White said that 37-year-old Jones informed the UFC of his decision to retire the day prior. A heavyweight title unification bout between Jones and interim champion Tom Aspinall had been touted, but Jones' decision elevates Aspinall to undisputed champion. UFC 317 Topuria vs. Oliveira | SUN 29 JUN 12PM AEST | One of the biggest fight cards of the year has arrived. Spain's Ilia Topuria looks to capture the vacant lightweight title against former champion, Charles Oliveira | Order Now with Main Event on Kayo Sports. 'Jon Jones called us last night and retired,' White said at a press conference in Azerbaijan. 'Jon Jones is officially retired. Tom Aspinall is the heavyweight champion of the UFC.' White went on to say that the UFC will work with Aspinall on finding him his first title defence, but Jones is yet to comment publicly on the announcement. The American (28-1) moved up from the light heavyweight division to become the heavyweight champion in 2023. Jon Jones took the heavyweight belt. Photo by Sarah Stier / Getty Images via AFP. He defended his belt once during his time on top, against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 in November last year, and had repeatedly played down talk about an impending fight against Aspinall. The potential matchup would have been one of the biggest in UFC history, but Jones continually suggested it would not change his legacy. Fans accused him of ducking the 32-year-old Englishman, and there was so much outrage that an online petition to strip Jones of the title collated more than 200,000 signatures. X SUBSCRIBER ONLY 'I obviously feel bad for Tom that he lost all that time and money, but we'll make it up to him,' White said. 'Tom Aspinall is a good guy. He's been incredible through this whole process that we've gone through. 'He's been willing to do anything — fight him anywhere and anytime and do this, and now he's like, 'I'll fight anybody. You tell me who, and I'll fight him'. 'So Aspinall has been great. He's going to be a great heavyweight champion for us, and I'm excited to work with him.' White's words came as Khalil Rountree Jr. dominated former champion Jamahal Hill in a five-round decision in their light heavyweight bout in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Baku, Azerbaijan. Jones became the youngest ever UFC champion at just 21 years of age, and he went undefeated in championship fights with a 16-0 record despite taking on more of them than anyone else. He is one of only fighters to boast titles in multiple weight classes, and his 22 wins are the equal fifth most in UFC history. Jones also attracted plenty of attention outside of the Octagon. He was arrested and charged for a hit-and-run in 2015 after he fled the scene of a vehicle accident which injured a 25-year-old pregnant woman. The following year, Jones was banned from competition for one year as a result a positive drug test, but he has long maintained that the positive result was due to contaminated legal supplements. Originally published as 'One for the ages': UFC rocked as icon retires on the spot
