Respect to Pussy Riot protesters for puttin' the boot in to inequality

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Respect to Pussy Riot protesters for puttin' the boot in to inequality

By Peter FitzSimons

Yes, yes, yes, I know that those pitch invaders at the World Cup final interrupted the action momentarily, and it was a pain that lasted all of a couple of minutes. But two things are worthy of note.

Firstly, how brave they were. In a repressive country like Russia, in the presence of Vladimir Putin, it was no small thing for the members of the punk band, Pussy Riot, to charge onto the field dressed as police to protest the lack of human rights in their homeland and the outrage of having people imprisoned simply for the fact that their politics are not in accord with those who rule. Members of the band had been previously imprisoned, you will recall, for performing a political “punk prayer” at the altar of Moscow’s main cathedral in protest against President Vladimir Putin.

To be applauded: One of the pitch invaders gives a high ten to 
French star Kylian Mbappe.

To be applauded: One of the pitch invaders gives a high ten to French star Kylian Mbappe.Credit: AP

The situation in Russia has not improved and so, here they are again – still bravely drawing attention to that fact. Bravo to them. We cannot, on the one hand, laud our own Peter Norman for his tacit support of  two American athletes with their Black Power salutes at Mexico Olympics – protesting the treatment of African Americans – and not support this.

And the second thing worthy of note was the reaction of the young French superstar Kylian Mbappe, who gave one of the invaders a high-ten, a rough equivalent of Peter Norman’s action – tacit support and commendation on their bravery. The resultant image was a classic: sport meets political activism, with humanity. Sport acknowledges that there really are some things more important than sport, even a World Cup final.

“He was fantastic,” the protester in question, Veronika Nikulshina, said of Mbappe afterwards. “I'm very glad he reacted like he did. He was probably not really happy [but he still gave a high-five] and communicated with me perfectly. We had eye contact and I think I brought luck to his team. It is a pity that we disrupted the sportsmen. FIFA is involved in unfair games unfortunately. FIFA is a friend of heads of states who carry out repression, who violate human rights.”

Blooming heck...

You know the Bloomberg crowd, yes? The last word on providing analysis on global Big Business, right? Of course you know them. They are the red-blooded, hairy-chested crusaders of capitalism. They love red meat, mergers, acquisitions  and biting the heads off whippets! They’re not your inner-city lefties, drinking soy lattes and whining about social justice. They live in penthouses  and eat lefties for lunch!

Big expense: Allianz Stadium in Sydney.

Big expense: Allianz Stadium in Sydney.

Well, how funny I should say that. Because this week, they put out a thundering editorial, written by the most hairy-chested of the lot, Barry Ritholtz. Take it away, Bazza:

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“Your tax dollars are being wasted, on an enormous scale, by uncompetitive socialist enterprises that ignore the basic rules of economics.”

Great opener. Who is Bloomberg Bazza referring to, do you think? Welfare payments? Tax breaks for basket-weavers? Some absurd environmental measure to prioritise saving the planet ahead of the figures for the next quarter?

Keep going, Bazz, we’re listening.

“I refer, of course, to the practice of politicians who give taxpayer dollars to subsidize the business of sports by paying for the construction and/or renovation of stadiums and arenas. These exercises in crony capitalism make no sense whatsoever. There has never been a decent reason to subsidize these successful businesses, which rarely produce a real return on the public’s investment.”

Goodness! But hang on, what about ...

“Nor is civic pride a justification. The bottom line here is very simple: The cost of building and maintaining these facilities should be borne by the people who attend these events via their ticket purchases, and not the people of an entire state and/or metropolitan region, the vast majority of whom will never set foot inside these enormously costly structures.”

Goodness! And this, friends, was written about building stadiums from scratch. The idea of knocking down 20 and 30-year-old stadiums within a few lazy kilometres of each other?

In Sydney’s situation, Bloomberg would blow a gasket!

Bad business

And of course, there is still no news from the Sydney stadiums mob about the mooted debate with the Western Sydney Forum on this matter of enormous public interest. Alan Jones has declined – though I am very willing to change the date – and no word back from our Premier, our Sports Minister, the SCG Trust or anyone else.

Pity.

I could give them another quick burst of Bloomberg, in their reasons why taxpayer money should not go to stadiums.

“1. Competition. Sports and live music are incredibly successful and profitable businesses overall. If a venue can’t generate the needed revenue, that tells you that it is either poorly managed or not needed by the marketplace. In either case, the local tax base should not subsidize it.

“[2]. Economic impact: The academics have looked at the data, and there is little doubt: Stadiums add little or nothing to the local economy. It certainly isn’t worth giving away billions of dollars to these businesses. The return on investment for the public is nil. These wasteful subsidies have demonstrated little if any positive economic impact on the municipalities and states.”

Friends, I repeat. This is focused on cities, on states, building stadiums from scratch. In our case, knocking down modern stadiums to redo them, it applies double.

Everyone after me and Alan: Down with those lefties at Bloomberg!

Stripe gripe

That Canterbury/Eels match?

Who's who: Many fans struggled to tell the Bulldogs and Eels apart.

Who's who: Many fans struggled to tell the Bulldogs and Eels apart.Credit: AAP

It brings to mind that old conundrum about whether a zebra is black with white stripes, or white with black stripes.

For what the HELL was that about? Quite seriously, back when league was no more than a parish pump game run mostly by volunteers, at least common sense ruled, OK. Who was who in the zoo? I had no idea, and clearly no-one else did, to judge by the reaction on social media.

As to Canterbury losing and firming as favourites for the wooden spoon, I’ll say it again: in the history of rugby league, I suspect that there has never been a worse move than pushing James Graham and Josh Reynolds out of Canterbury to replace them with who knows who, now gone.

What they said

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Australian basketball player Liz Cambage after breaking the record for the most points in a WNBA game with 53: “It’s pretty big, you know. I’ve had big numbers in China, I've had big numbers in Australia. I thought a lot of people said I could never have big numbers here in the WNBA.”

Illustration: John Shakespeare

Illustration: John Shakespeare

French national soccer coach Didier Deschamps: “I told them that from now on they will be different. They’re world champions.”

Croatian coach Zlatko Dalic not happy with the penalty in the World Cup final: “You don't give a penalty like that in a World Cup final. We wanted to win the World Cup so much, but that's football.”

Croatian captain Luka Modric: “We have no regrets because we were the better team for much of the game. Unfortunately, some clumsy goals swung it their way. They will be celebrating, but we can hold our heads high. When the emotions settle, we will be able to analyse more clearly.”

Novak Djokovic on winning Wimbledon, his first grand slam since 2016 French Open: “There were several moments where I was frustrated and questioning if I'd get back to the desired level. But that makes this whole journey even more special for me. I'm really grateful to go through these mixed emotions and turbulence mentally. I'm human and we all have to go through that.”

Cristiano Ronaldo on signing with Juventus and snubbing the A-League: “It’s a big club and usually players of my age go to Qatar or to China, with all due respect, so coming to such an important and outstanding club at this point in my career makes me very happy. That’s why I’m very grateful to Juventus for this opportunity.”

Tim Cahill: “Today’s the day that I'm officially hanging up my boots on my international career with the Socceroos. No words can describe what it has meant to represent my country.”

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Brad Thorn on drugs at the Reds: “I don't want [cocaine] to be around this team, this club or the kids around this club. I'm a dad – I've got four kids and on my wife's side one of her siblings had some issues with drugs and it's a tough thing. I know they call them party drugs and stuff now but you can call them whatever you want – they cause issues in people's lives.”

Channel 9’s Director of Sport Tom Malone on Origin. “There is no other sporting franchise like it across the world. While Origin III wasn't a decider, it was still the fourth most watched program of the year. It will probably only be beaten by the NRL and AFL grand finals.” Thank you, I know.

Commentator Dwayne Russell on Carlton: “Carlton is the 19th-best team in the comp right now. Daylight is 18th.”

Carlton coach Brendon Bolton on his team’s season: “We'd love to just sprinkle fairy dust over it all.”

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Darren Lockyer on the Wally Lewis Medal: “We thought the gap was significant enough to then award the medal to Billy. We were sure that that wasn’t always going to be popular, particularly below the border, but we’ve got to live by that decision and we’ll stand by it.”

Serena Williams after her Wimbledon final loss: “To all the moms out there, I was playing for you today — and I tried.”

John Isner after losing 26-24 in the fifth set of the Wimbledon semis  to South African Kevin Anderson: “I can’t say enough I think the rule needs to change. It’s not fun.” Isner had previously been involved in a Wimbledon match that finished 70-68 in the final set! Surely the obvious thing is to have a tie-break if it gets to 12-12 in the fifth set?

A supremely gracious Anderson, after his victory over Isner. “Thank you John for being an incredible sportsman and friend. It’s an honour to share this piece of history with you. #wimbledon”

Team of the week

Waratahs. Host the Highlanders tonight in a quarter-final.

Too much class: France celebrate winning the World Cup.

Too much class: France celebrate winning the World Cup.Credit: AP

France. Won their second World Cup, just having too much class in the final for Croatia. And they were there for the taking in the opening game against Australia!

Pat Hughes. The matriarch of the famous Canterbury players and stalwart of the Petersham Oval canteen she ran for over 60 years passed away, age 90.

Buddy Franklin. Became just the ninth player to kick 900 AFL/VFL goals. I TOLD you he’d be a disaster for the Swans!

Novak Djokovic. Won his thirteenth grand slam title.

Angelique Kerber. The German woman won her third grand slam singles title.

Aliir Aliir. After a tough couple of years, bounced back with the winning goal in an extraordinary match against the Kangaroos.

Samantha Kerr. She is one of ours and she has just been voted Best International Women’s Soccer Player of 2018. Beyond the Matildas, she is currently playing with the Chicago Red Wings.

Australian Country Stockman Rugby team. They’re looking for club and regional players to play in the game against the Western Force in late August. The Stockman side includes likes of Mark Gerrard, Nathan Charles, Guy Shepherdson, Nic Henderson and James Holbeck.

Twitter: @Peter_Fitz

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