Losing World Cup, again, won’t mean violence
Paddy Lewis
A GREAT piece of ‘shoot yourself in the foot’ PR by policy wonks at police national HQ has New Zealand pegged for a domestic violence explosion if the All Blacks fail to win the World Cup next year.
Citing a report that showed that after a Scottish Cup football final between Glasgow clubs Celtic and Rangers, Strathclyde police saw an 80 percent increase in reported domestic violence, some desk jockey at PNHQ has now got Women’s Refuge and the mainstream media in a lather over the same thing happening here next year.
Let’s just take a step back for a minute. Strathclyde covers quite a large area, including Glasgow. In 2008, their police force dealt with nearly 8000 violent crimes. There are 170 gangs in the Strathclyde area and as everyone knows, Scottish football fans are nutters.
It’s hardly a good comparative measure for making the “more women are going to get bashed if we don’t win the World Cup” statement.
We haven’t won it since 1987, for God’s sake. There’s no evidence to support a spike in bashings and using the police’s rationale, we should be seeing them, given we seem to exit the World Cup in the most soul-destroying fashion.
I should disclose I have been prone to violence after World Cup exits. The front door in Levin in 1991, the shotgun incident at Taft St in 1995, the glass coffee table in Cleveland St in 1999 and the pent-up anger of 2003 when I couldn’t find anything suitable to break. In 2007 we just made breakfast and swore a lot for no apparent reason.
But just because we lose in such a frustrating and infuriating manner doesn’t mean that men all around the country suddenly turn feral and look for a woman to bash. We kick the front door, the coffee table and spend a day moping and not talking.
Our biggest concern for next year should be that given all the hype around the All Blacks’ chances, a loss could bring the sort of ugly scenes normally played out at major football games.
We lose in a quarter, semi, or God forbid, final, and then I wouldn’t want to be an opposing fan filing out of Eden Park.
Again, however, most Kiwis are not prone to outbursts of random violence against others. Most visiting rugby fans also don’t operate under the principles of football hooligans, winding up the hosts to breaking point.
As I noted above, it is our propensity for hyping up the All Blacks’ chance that offers the biggest risk and that will not necessarily lead to greater violence.
The risk is that if they lose again, the slavish devotion to rugby could take an enormous hit.
We already have the creeping public perception that most rugby players are overpaid and underworked, that the attention to professional forms of the game is strangling grassroots’ rugby, and that its near year-round prevalence is too much for everyone to stomach.
An early exit from next year’s tournament might not cause a corresponding rise in domestic violence, but it would certainly be grievous bodily harm for the national game.
Citing a report that showed that after a Scottish Cup football final between Glasgow clubs Celtic and Rangers, Strathclyde police saw an 80 percent increase in reported domestic violence, some desk jockey at PNHQ has now got Women’s Refuge and the mainstream media in a lather over the same thing happening here next year.
Let’s just take a step back for a minute. Strathclyde covers quite a large area, including Glasgow. In 2008, their police force dealt with nearly 8000 violent crimes. There are 170 gangs in the Strathclyde area and as everyone knows, Scottish football fans are nutters.
It’s hardly a good comparative measure for making the “more women are going to get bashed if we don’t win the World Cup” statement.
We haven’t won it since 1987, for God’s sake. There’s no evidence to support a spike in bashings and using the police’s rationale, we should be seeing them, given we seem to exit the World Cup in the most soul-destroying fashion.
I should disclose I have been prone to violence after World Cup exits. The front door in Levin in 1991, the shotgun incident at Taft St in 1995, the glass coffee table in Cleveland St in 1999 and the pent-up anger of 2003 when I couldn’t find anything suitable to break. In 2007 we just made breakfast and swore a lot for no apparent reason.
But just because we lose in such a frustrating and infuriating manner doesn’t mean that men all around the country suddenly turn feral and look for a woman to bash. We kick the front door, the coffee table and spend a day moping and not talking.
Our biggest concern for next year should be that given all the hype around the All Blacks’ chances, a loss could bring the sort of ugly scenes normally played out at major football games.
We lose in a quarter, semi, or God forbid, final, and then I wouldn’t want to be an opposing fan filing out of Eden Park.
Again, however, most Kiwis are not prone to outbursts of random violence against others. Most visiting rugby fans also don’t operate under the principles of football hooligans, winding up the hosts to breaking point.
As I noted above, it is our propensity for hyping up the All Blacks’ chance that offers the biggest risk and that will not necessarily lead to greater violence.
The risk is that if they lose again, the slavish devotion to rugby could take an enormous hit.
We already have the creeping public perception that most rugby players are overpaid and underworked, that the attention to professional forms of the game is strangling grassroots’ rugby, and that its near year-round prevalence is too much for everyone to stomach.
An early exit from next year’s tournament might not cause a corresponding rise in domestic violence, but it would certainly be grievous bodily harm for the national game.
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