Aboriginal team for the combined rules??

[dread and might]

Interesting, even though lots of people dislike the hybrid game this would be cool IMO



read this (http://www.realfooty.theage.com.au/realfooty/articles/2004/11/26/1101219749610.html)

[swansrule100]

agreed

[NMWBloods]

This could be something worth seeing!

[Troy G]

Great idea! The International Rules series could be used as a promotion for the later AllStars game, which I think should be annually too.

[Swansinger]

Picking a sports team along racial lines - great idea.

What a shame they weren't playing AFL in S.Africa a few years ago - Botha would have loved the concept.

[NMWBloods]

I'm looking forward to the responses on this...

[chammond]

Originally posted by Swansinger
Picking a sports team along racial lines - great idea.

What a shame they weren't playing AFL in S.Africa a few years ago - Botha would have loved the concept.

Your point is valid, but overtaken by history.

Sporting teams and sporting events based on race, nationality, gender, sexual preference, disability, or whatever discriminatory qualification you care to choose (other than sporting merit, of course) have been going on for long enough to be able to say that they generally have a unifying effect . . . the exact opposite of apartheid in fact.

If aboriginal people choose to have teams restricted to indigenous australians, wouldn't it be racist to try and prevent it?

[NMWBloods]

Originally posted by chammond
If aboriginal people choose to have teams restricted to indigenous australians, wouldn't it be racist to try and prevent it?

What if we wanted to have a team restricted to white Anglo Saxons - wouldn't that be construed as racist?

[chammond]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
What if we wanted to have a team restricted to white Anglo Saxons - wouldn't that be construed as racist?

Lots of situations can be construed as racist . . . and what is popularly (or legally) considered to be 'racist' changes with time.

Personally, I don't see how having a team called WASP United would be any different to having one called Hellas or Olympic or whatever.

If you had a team called "Australia" that was restricted to WASPs (or Aboriginals, or any cultural group), then that would be racist.

What if you had a national team that called itself the "All Blacks", would that be racist?

[NMWBloods]

I don't see most of those club things as racist, as I think people should have some right to form their own clubs and have restrictions as they choose. Of course there is always a fine line, but the current PC world is crazy.

However I do find it interesting that teams/clubs/societies restricted to certain minorities, such as Indigenous peoples, or Greeks or Italians or Chinese or whatever, are perfectly acceptable in society, yet if white Anglo Saxons attempted the same thing, it would be considered racist and exclusionist.

So, yes your distinctions are very good examples. However, do you really think setting up a club called WASP United and only allowing whites to join would pass unnoticed and without criticism?

[chammond]

Originally posted by NMWBloods
So, yes your distinctions are very good examples. However, do you really think setting up a club called WASP United and only allowing whites to join would pass unnoticed and without criticism?

No, of course not . . . but it would fun :)

But really, it shouldn't attract any more attention than, say, setting up a national team called the Matildas, and restricting it to females?

And while I'm having a dig, is the Australian cricket team restricted to males only?

[chammond]

Originally posted by Sanecow

Not if it referred to the colour of their shirts.

What if an All Black was dropped because he didn't like wearing black . . . would that be colour prejudice?

[chammond]

Oh dear, another sparkling intellect has crawled out of the primordial slime.

I guess it will help to pass the time.

[ROK Lobster]

Originally posted by Sanecow



Not if it referred to the colour of their shirts.
The were the all blacks before they wore black shirts. They wear all black because that it what they are called. The term all blacks came from a newspaper typo apparently. Instead of the report saying that they played as though they were all "backs" and extra "l" was accidently inserted - well that's what I was told anyway...

[ROK Lobster]

Fair enough