#buddyfranklin

[sublimeobservationarcade]

Australian Men Love Sport

This is how the equation goes. Australian men love sport. Therefore, the money men saw it as an opportunity and so we got professional sport. Football being the sports of choice in this regard with AFL and NRL being the main codes professionalised and commercialised. Sponsor logos on the jerseys and signage around the ground soon spread to every which way you look there be a commercial association between team and company. The players now earn salaries in the million dollar vicinity if they are any good. Some getting overs and many just under to do the thing that, in many cases, they love. Aussie Blokes Sporting Biggest Loser Reputation The fans and club supporters watch their teams religiously every week. Some go to the games and many more watch on screens. Young men take to the field with great expectations upon their form. Coaches are interviewed pre and post-game by a media full of ex-players turned talking heads. Intermittently, gambling ads are shown as this interactive but exploitative side hustle sponsors the game. Australian men love sport, famously so, as it has become a well known national preoccupation. Australians are the greatest losers per capita in the world via their gambling habits. The Glorious Nature Of Sport Sport is a billion dollar industry, which manufacturers very little in the tangible way. The origins of sport date back to the ancient Greeks, in the recorded sense of history, but probably much further via what was never written down. Sport has always, at its roots, been about glory. Naked blokes with fig leaves around their scones dashing here, there and everywhere. Today, players and team functionaries are walking billboards. These sponsors are funding the million dollar salaries for the playing group. Now, we get to the absurdities in this commodification of sport equation. Highly paid players putting their hands up as sufferers of mental health issues. We the fans get to feel sorry for our heroes too boot. The weight of expectations upon these richly renumerated football stars has ‘done their head in.’ They just can’t cope and have to take time out from the game to deal with mental health issues. The Weight Of Expectation The normally very loud, well paid, footy pundits have to whisper in hushed tones about ‘mental health.’ The shockingly judgemental brethren of FLOGs cannot apply their usual condemnations but must muster a much neglected balm called empathy. Footy shows feature pantomime segments where former warriors pretend to lovingly care for the vulnerable mental health of superstars being paid millions. Buddy Franklin, Harry McKay, and Jamarra Ugle–Hagan are all forwards. It is the goal kicking forwards who must bear the heaviest cross, it seems. Kicking straight is a curse upon the game in that it is the final requirement and most judgemental aspect of them all. “STAR Sydney Swans forward Lance Franklin says he never considered retirement despite taking a temporary break from the game to battle mental health issues last year.” - (https://www.afl.com.au/news/152143/mental-health-battle-would-never-make-me-quit-buddy) “Carlton forward Harry McKay has encouraged people to open up about their mental health while reflecting on his struggles earlier this season.” - (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-10/afl-carlton-blues-harry-mckay-speaks-about-mental-health/105277692) The Commercial Ramifications Of Professional Sport Thus, we have blokes running around, who, in all likelihood would play the game for the love of it, but are being paid the big bucks to perform. A growing number of them are not coping with the weight of expectation and buckling under the pressure instead. Australian men love sport and the cost of this is being felt. The extreme commercialisation of sports like football is seeing the glorious pursuit weighted down with all the greedy passengers it must carry. We the fans are then asked to feel sorry for the generously endowered athletes facing the expectations of the sporting superstar lifestyle. Billions and millions of dollars fund this festival of machismo, where clubs, players and fans long to witness the holding up of a cup. Young boys and fat old guys have daydreams about elite sporting lifestyles. Of course, the reality of such lives are far more demanding than these dreams can ever know. “It was reported last month the former No. 1 draft pick (Ugle-Hagan) had checked himself into a health retreat in a key step towards reviving his AFL career.” - (https://www.thechronicle.com.au/sport/afl/afl-icon-casts-doubts-over-video-amid-suggestions-bulldogs-players-arent-happy/news-story/56f0e6433f92bc46fa2e2be3a30c1b15) The Equation The equation again: Australian men love sport; the money men see commercial opportunities; the players of sports like football get paid big bucks; their lives are owned by the sponsored sporting club for the duration of their careers; some young men buckle under the weight of expectation; their love of sport is sullied by the business of it; the fans scratch their heads at a situation where million dollar superstar lifestyles equates with mental illness WTF? What can we all learn from such things? “As an AFL footy fan it pains me to say Melbourne centric Fox Footy sucks. Too many Victorian commentators and ‘so-called’ football experts populate the game day commentary on Fox. I mean Hawthorn is way over represented with Jordan Lewis, Jason Dunstall and Dermott Brereton. These blokes cannot help but be partisan when push comes to shove during AFL matches. Garry Lyon is another prominent analyst and talking head with strong Melbourne leanings. It is the complete absence of ex-players from Sydney teams, WA sides or SA that grates with viewers. Too much bias in the calls.” - (https://www.golfdom.com.au/melbourne-centric-fox-footy-sucks/) Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer and America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump. ©GolfDom Read the full article

[sublimeobservationarcade]

Sydney Swans: Marketing Over Matter?

The Swans never stop trying but list management has let the side down. Yes, injuries have cruelled their chances this season so far but a lack of big man talent is pretty bloody obvious. Lance Franklin is seriously out of form and one needs to ask whether this year is one year too long? Has it been a case of Sydney Swans: Marketing over matter? Too many ‘feel good’ stories and not enough hard-nosed substance has been exposed. Paddy McCartin down back has been a vulnerability waiting to happen, like a boxer with a glass jaw.

Swans List Management Mistakes

Sydney has prided itself on intelligent club management over many years. Indeed, they have been a leading light in the AFL via their quality management. However, there comes a time in every club when some wrong headed decisions get revealed by trying circumstances. Where are the quality hard men in the next generation of Swans? Will Gould should have been blooded some time ago in preparation. The Swans lack height and strength out on the field and are paying the price for it. There are too many of the same types out there every week.

Sydney Lack Quality Big Men

The Swans defence has been decimated by the loss of 3 first string big defenders. However, it has been thus for 6 weeks and where is the next level of defenders? Horrendous lightweight defence leaking goals like a sieve has been the weekly result. A good team has players capable of coming straight in to replace those out. Why do the Swans have so many undersized players? Recruiting and development has been poor in this regard if the outcome is anything to go by. The proof is in the pudding.

Franklin: One Year Too Many? Sydney Swans: Marketing over matter means not enough grunt across the team. Buddy Franklin has been great, a true champion that the Swans were lucky to get. However, they have paid handsomely for his services and it has come at a cost in terms of list depth. Ruck stocks at the Swans have been dire for a decade or more. Underinvestment in quality big men has not delivered a premiership in ten years. The Swans have come close on 3 occasions by making the grand final but could not get the ultimate job done. It is time to end the relationship with Franklin and move on. The thrashing by the Cats in last year's grand final is looking more and more like a source of PTSD, especially as another serve was dished up in April this year. Put aside the over emphasis on marketing concerns and get some grunt back in the side via some quality big men. ©WordsForWeb Read the full article

[sublimeobservationarcade]

Collingwood Fans Boo Buddy Franklin

The AFL has a problem with crowds booing players during matches. Collingwood fans boo Buddy Franklin at the MCG. St Kilda fans booed young Jason Horne-Francis the weekend before against Port Adelaide. Booing is mob rule and sends a blunt and loud message to the targeted individual. It is prone to misunderstandings and is not a good look for the game. Sure, those fans who go to the game get passionate about what happens during a match but booing is not the way to express those heightened feelings. The booing of Lance Franklin, a Swan’s champion of the game, echoes the treatment of another Indigenous AFL former champion Adam Goodes.

Racist Booing By AFL Crowds

The AFL failed Adam Goods, as he was booed out of the game by racist fans around the country. Football attracts the lowest common denominator, in terms of Australians who follow the game. Racism continues to plague AFL around the edges, despite the fact that the clubs and AFL have done a lot to improve the experience of Indigenous players. Small minded people want to see sport apart from the bigger cultural picture of life in Australia but it is very much a mirror for what goes on here. Nasty name calling and booing fans, who attend the games, are making a political statement whether they realise it or not.

Collingwood Apologises for Crowd Booing of Lance Franklin at MCG

There are, obviously, people organising this booing, as it is a concerted crowd act. There are groups within the crowd who are starting this response from over the fence and many more joining in. Racist elements within supporters of teams are likely present and then there are those who just follow the crowd on the day. The result is a mass act sending out a very visible message, which is beamed around the country via the TV coverage. Clubs don’t want this and the AFL abhors this kind of thing in 2023. Collingwood have apologised and called upon their fans to respect champion players going forward.

AFL matches are a bit like World Championship Wrestling from the 1970s in that there is a lot of argy-bargy going on between combatants. Bumping off the ball and pushing and shoving is de rigueur these days. The fans, perhaps, get carried away in their positive affirmation of this byplay. The supporters take it all too seriously, whereas the players are professionals and shake hands and smile after the contest. Booing is not the way to go in 2023. Supporters will need to find other means to safely express their passions at the game. Players risk their bodies and careers every time they run out on the field. They do not need to have their souls denigrated by dickheads and racists at the game and on social media. Social media is the home of cowards, of course.

©WordsForWeb Read the full article

[childsphotos]

Back to my roots shooting my team @sydneyswans and the greatest player @buddy_franklin23 in the @afl! Only few weeks till the first bounce! Bring it on! 📷(c)childs #buddyfranklin #aussierules #aussierulesfootball #sydneyswans #childsphotos #afl #aflgreats #afl2018 #coffsharbour #aflpreseason #goalmachine #goalkicking #indigenousart #australianmade #australia (at Coffs Harbour, New South Wales)

[jasonpilgrimblog]

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Sitting next to #KurtTippett in the corporate box while #BuddyFranklin nails another! #swans 10goal quarter! #GoSwans #lovinglife (at Corporate Box, Sydney Cricket Ground)

[caitlinmaryc]

🔮ASYLUM SISTERS...... Guest: Ricky... @shlkv your mate? #goth #music #guitar #melbourne #carltonclub #shanewarne #rocknroll #fakefender #black #yourmate #justinbieber #taylorswift #nineinchnails #marilynmanson #metal #popmusic #radiosucks #buddyfranklin #cool #street #icypole #summer

[skinnnn-ylove]

Go da swannies! it's k buddy your still mint.