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Forced AFL resignations were a holier-than-thou and sexist over-reaction

By Brendan O'Reilly - posted Tuesday, 18 July 2017


Why were the men sacked but seemingly not the women?  The men were married with children so that their philandering would have negative family consequences and generate moral censure.  One the other hand, society historically has also disapproved of those having affairs with other people's spouses ("breaking-up families"), so the women are not blameless on traditional moral grounds either.  Also, one of the women had been in a relationship with a high profile rugby player for "at least three years", a matter that the press has also publicised.

What if the two men, instead of carrying-on with younger women, had been having same-sex affairs with young men?  We can only speculate but my guess is that the AFL would have been reluctant to make a fuss.

The Lethlean and Simkiss controversy comes as the AFL is yet to finalise an upgraded "respect and responsibility policy", having engaged consultancy company Rapid Context to provide a report.  The league also has the Sex Discrimination Com­missioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission, involved in the process.  One senses a degree of political correctness here.

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The reaction of the women's lobby is interesting.  A commentary on the women's site mamamia is headed "Talk about the AFL scandal as much as you like, but keep the women out of it".   It goes on to say:

There’s nothing that says these women aren’t adult and don’t have agency. There’s nothing that says they were forced into relationships with co-workers. But the very essence of this story centres on the men involved, and the power they held.

No high-profile AFL executives, no story.

I don't agree.  The essence of the story was about forced resignations.  No forced resignations no story.  The alleged abuse of power is all claptrap.  There is no evidence of abuse of power.  While "it takes two to tango" only the men are to be censured or exposed in the media, according to mamamia. 

A remarkable aspect of this case is that the AFL does in fact have an existing code-of-conduct, and the two sacked managers do not appear to have broken it.  There are actually two codes of conduct, one for players and one for coaches and administrators.  While there is not one specifically for management, the second code of conduct can be taken as an official existing expression of the AFL's general expectations.

The code says that "A complaint concerning a breach of the code.... shall be in writing".  There was no complaint. 

The code later states that:

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Sexual relationships between Australian Football coaches or administrators in an objective position of authority and the adult athletes that they coach /possess power over should be avoided as these relationships can have harmful effects on the individual athlete involved, and on the public image of Australian Football.  Sexual relationships of this kind may be intentionally or unintentionally exploitative due to a disparity between coaches /administrators and athletes in terms of authority, power, maturity, status, influence and dependence.  Exploitative sexual relationships may be illegal.

There is no suggestion that the relationships between the two male senior executives and their lovers were in any way exploitative, and they don't seem to have been in a direct position of authority over the women concerned.  The code only says that certain sexual relationships should be avoided and does not go beyond that.

Overall, nobody seems to have benefitted from this episode, and the forced resignations, if anything, made things worse.  There would have been little public scandal had the AFL not made an issue of it.  The AFL has managed to showcase its own shortcomings and bad behaviours, and also seems to be applying a double standard with only the males being formally penalised.  The men concerned, their wives, and the "other women" have all been hurt by the unwelcome and needless publicity.

There are also suggestions of hypocrisy in that there is some suggestion that the AFL hierarchy had known about the scandal for some time and had even tried to cover it up.  It also looks as though the affairs had largely run their course, and that any issues were going away of their own accord.

AFL Chief Gillon McLachlan, for his own sake, had better be a paragon of virtue.  This is because, if he ever is found to have committed a moral transgression, he will be judged by the standards he has applied to others, and nobody is likely to show him much sympathy.

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About the Author

Brendan O’Reilly is a retired commonwealth public servant with a background in economics and accounting. He is currently pursuing private business interests.

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