Homophobia is missing from the great debate.
The great debate surrouding Eddie McGuire rages about racism. Australia is a racist country and has been since 26 January 1788.
Racism is endemic in the soul of many Australians and wave after wave of migrants and settlers of many hues are, or become racists by absorption and the "tradition" has continued down the ages.
The worst glaring example has been in the treatment of the indigenous population of Australia from day one of white invasion and settlement.
AFL or "footy" as it is widely known is a religion in Victoria and has been racist since its inception or development as a rugby code, so it is interesting to see the latest outbreak in Collingwood due to a report published - commissioned by Collingwood football club itself.
In some respects, racism is easy to see when it is directed against players of colour, by which is meant those who are not of white skin and so are usually fairly easy to distinguish.
There have been some outstanding players over the years, amongst which have been men of colour and they have suffered racism when playing from spectators but of course from white players and officials in dressing rooms and elsewhere.
I know a great deal about racism, being a South African and living in Johannesburg during some of the worst times of apartheid in the police state which South Africa had become.
I came to Australia to live in 1978 having been born in Johannesburg and lived there until 1978 when it became very difficult to continue living there with all that was going on which made those of us who did not accept the racism that made every day living more and more unpleasant.
I knew that there was racism in Australia - it was obvious when one was able to see the treatment of the indigenous people on a daily basis, and continues to this day, but the uproar occasioned by the Eddie McGuire event - read all about it in the mainstream media - is fairly rare.
What is left out of the equation is the fact that Collingwood and all the other clubs in the AFL game are also extrememly homophobic, which is also evidenced on a daily basis, because not one gay player is openly identified amongst the hundreds of players and officials associated with footy.
What is also not mentioned - and don't forget that gay people are not always as easily identified as people of colour - is that Eddie McGuire has come out abusively against gay people of sport on a few occasions most appallingly.
When is something going to be done about homophobia in the AFL where it is as rampant as the racism?
It is now 2021, people who identify as sexually different from the accepted "norm" need to be able to live happy lives free of the horrors of discrimination, so blatant in many spheres of our lives.
So far homophobia has not been mentioned in relation to the racism outcry.
We are not holding our collective breaths!
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