In 2003 a little known MP from western Sydney and future federal leader of the opposition in Australia, Mark Latham, made a memorable crack about the “conga line of suckholes” in the Howard Government when it came to US–Australian relations and in particular Australia’s support for the war in Iraq.
He was a straight shooter, Latham, which made him (for a while at least) endearing to voters but ultimately too combustible a quantity to fit in among the Ken Dolls of the faction-ridden Australian Labor Party. When I met him in the weeks before the 2004 election, which he would lose to John Howard, he admitted smuggling a bin full of beer into the Sydney Cricket Ground to watch a one-day cricket match when he was 17 years old – technically underage. Even when his media minder told him to change his answer and say he was 18, he insisted he was 17.
This from a prime-ministerial candidate. Candid. Honest. Refreshing. Unapologetic. Real.
Latham has since walked away from public life altogether and Australian politics is, in my view, much the poorer.
But the conga line of suckholes lives on. It’s just moved from the front benches of Parliament House to the sports pages of newspapers and the studio sets of broadcasters.
There you’ll find a shrilling chorus of sycophants and bootlickers who, dazzled by the number of zeros in the bank balance of Football Federation Australia chairman Frank Lowy, have suspended all critical faculties.
Instead of lambasting him for (in my view) crummy management of the FFA they’ve recast him as a football senex for the times. The reasoning seemingly being he makes a lot of money so therefore he must be competent in everything he does – and, well, who else could possibly fill his redoubtable private jet-flying billionaire’s shoes?
Indeed finding someone other than The Australian’s Maltese truth pill Ray Gatt in the mainstream Australian press that actually has the cojones to dare criticise Lowy without the attendant regurgitation of where the game was in 2003 and where it finds itself now (all thanks to the Midas touch and infinite wisdom of Prophet Frank) is a task up there with cracking the Hodge conjecture.
What all these apologists don’t tell you is the FFA has received more get-out-of-jail cards from the Australian government than virtually any other national sports body. They don’t remind you that taxpayers foot the bill for quixotic World Cup bids and “lemon” Asian Cups. They cast outspoken critics such as Clive Palmer who have called out Lowy’s administration for being the dystopia it is as being nothing short of lunatics. And they stay silent while those who do rock the boat, like brave Davidde Corran, sacrifice their careers by speaking out of school about questionable FFA business decisions.
The vast majority of these apologists, too, stay away from associations that are fighting for transparency, accountability and a better deal for all football journalists, such as the Football Media Association, because it suits their own ends to keep schtum and go on sucking corporate toe.
Their grovelling isn’t isolated. One or two suck-ups might be forgiven (personal circumstances, pressure from bosses or a combination of both sometimes make people do things they otherwise wouldn’t). No. This is professional habit.
These FFA apologists are fractions of what they should be. That is, journalists that don’t allow power to corrupt the truth.
But sadly most Australian football fans are too apathetic to notice or even care they are being fed PR bilge as news or “comment”.
And that’s the biggest disgrace of all.
This column was originally published by ESPN STAR Sports. Please check for new columns by me every Thursday at www.espnstar.com. Love to see you there.
31 Comments
What’s wrong little man? Annoyed that the FFA aren’t stuffing West Sydney up? hmm? Losing some ammo?
Poor Finky
Yeah, it’s a miracle effort from the FFA. Amazing stuff. Read all about it on one of the back pages today and was impressed with the balance of the coverage. But I always am when it comes to spoon-fed FFA drivel.
Good afternoon Jesse Fink,
Where did it all go wrong . . . . . ? Ah yes the SBS / thewoldgame experience.
The problem with your articles these days is that you have been so badly hurt by what happened at SBS that you have been on such an endless crusade against the ‘football man’ that it has pretty much clouded every article you have ever written since then. I have read the majority of your writing and not one positive article since that period in my mind (yes, my mind) sticks out. All negative. All what a shambles the game is in in this country has become. There comes a point (and it has come and gone) where people will simply dismiss whatever effort and time you put into your articles and attribute them to the bitter person you have become. That is the case now!
Where is the balance?
Take a happy pill man. Interspersed with all these negative articles write a positive one. how about an article about how well Ange Postecoglou’s reign at the Roar was. Write about how John Kosmina (who as a Syd FC supporter I absolutely despise) has taken a club from the depths of the A-league to the top of the group at the end of the group stage of the ACL. How a perennial number 2 man Ian Crook has been given a chance to show his worth as the manager of Syd FC.
Those are just a couple ideas i have thought of while writing this comment. It’s not hard Jesse.
Until such time as you provide a bit of balance in your work the ‘most’ of us are simply going to dismiss your work as sour grapes.
You owe it to yourself to applaud the good, as well as highlighting the bad and until such time as you do your articles will not be given a second thought.
F.
Frank, thanks for your post. I don’t need to write “how well Ange Postecoglou’s reign at the Roar was” or “how John Kosmina (who as a Syd FC supporter I absolutely despise) has taken a club from the depths of the A-league to the top of the group at the end of the group stage of the ACL” or “how a perennial number 2 man Ian Crook has been given a chance to show his worth as the manager of Syd FC”. You get all that in the mainstream press. What you don’t get is anyone prepared to take on the big man, Lowy, and call him out for his record of failure. You get apologia.
I’m actually not bitter at all. I just enjoy taking on the FFA because no one else, other than Ray Gatt and occasionally a few others, has the balls to do it.
Those article suggestions was just that Jesse, suggestions. I was merely pointing out the fact that you are all doom and gloom at the moment and this impacts on the way that people respond to your articles.
It’s all well and good to take on the big man but like i was trying to point out a bit of positivity from you wouldn’t go astray (ala 15 days in June positivity).
I’ll be honest, you say you are not bitter with what happened at SBS, but your posts (glaringly) seem to indicate otherwise.
I don’t expect you to respond to the comment made in this reply, but I would like for you to answer one question. If Frank Lowy is no longer fit to be FFA chairman – then who do you feel should take his place?
PS please don’t brush off the question by saying you are merely highlighting the failures of FL and its not your place to pick a successor. If Lowy is no longer fit I would like to know who in your mind would be worthy to take on the role.
I have never seen Fink as a ‘football journalist’ as such, but a football politics journalist. Anyone can write about groins, coaching roles, exquisite ball skills, new appointments & so forth. Not everyone can write what Fink does and so eloquently. I don’t always agree with him, but I like anyone who calls a spade a spade and the sycophancy around Lowy, the fact that Ben Buckley still has a job, the favours obviously given to some journos, all deserve to be questioned.
Yes, I have never claimed to be such, though occasionally found something of interest in the on-field action to write about. The politics of the sport is what interests me most. Football needs more writers to write about politics, corruption and money and less game analysis. It’s a dirty business.
I am prepared to put my name to criticisms AND I have done so in tweets to football journos whenever warranted. Unlike you. As far as I am concerned this article is nothing but cowardly sniping at people you are not prepared to name. Makes you a bigger suckhole than those football journos. This article is yet another one in your unabated anti-FFA anti-Lowy agenda without the slightest observance of objectivity and truths where appropriate. There was a time I was on your side, Fink, but that was before you became as big a negative whinger as that racist FEMA f****** you give credence to.
Ah, ripe old pickled Ted Mulder. The attention-seeking white gnome who gets his underpants in a knot if no one replies to him. How you have bothered my football journo colleagues with your persistent emails and diatribes. Weren’t you the same guy who some members of TWGF made it their spiritual mission to humiliate? I seem to recall defending you a number of times while others ganged up on you. I have named plenty of journos who I consider suckholes or fellators, as anyone who intimately knows my work will tell you. This wasn’t a naming exercise. It’s not necessary. But you seem to think so. Incredible when you have the nerve to tell me I’m cowardly then throw out a “racist FEMA (sic) f******” to round out your rant. Who is that f******, Ted?
What does the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the US have to do with any of this? Or am I out of the loop here in Tasmania?
I congratulate the author for the article published. In my role as FMA Secretary I have witnessed first hand the themes Jesse Fink describes. Last season was a season of shame for football media, the likes of which I had not ever expected to see in any walk of life in Australia. What Jesse has published is the tip of the iceberg of an issue which is corrupting the heart and soul of football in this country. When a journalist becomes a PR piece for someone else, without disclosing to his audience that, he becomes a disgrace to the noble profession of journalism.
Hi Jess, I have followed you on the Roar and TWG websites. I have been for you and against you. I now find myself again supporting your views once more. As an ex Gold Coast United football supporter I am starting to understand your position you have taken with Frank Lowy’s style of management. I am now agreeing with a lot of what you have said about Frank Lowy who has too much power in running the FFA and how he runs it like his own toy thing as Clive Palmer was once accused of doing. I do think the FFA would be better served now run by a Football Commission as other football codes have turned to. Frank Lowy’s style of management is completely outdated and we need a Football Commission to take control.
Jesse, you might want to review this 2005 survey: “The sports press: The world’s best advertising agency”
http://www.playthegame.org/news/detailed/the-sports-press-the-worlds-best-advertising-agency-1448.html
Don’t disagree with what you’ve written.
Main reason for the conga line? Small pond, limited job opportunities.
And please correct me if I am wrong but I don’t recall you being this candid when you were drawing a wage at SBS.
I was well known for speaking my mind at SBS.
Can’t find anything of any real substance in this article. A rambling intro about how Mark Latham’s ‘real’ because he smuggled a bin(??) of beer into the SCG. OK, so you met him once. I get it, you’re important.
Then we get a whole lot of name calling of some anonymous journos, followed by a few rich man cliches (redoubtable private jet-flying billionaire’s shoes?).
A claim that a football tournament being held in 3 years time is already a lemon (see previous article – major AFL identity says this and is so and thus isrecast as a football senex for the times by Fink.
And finally shout outs for a couple of Fink mates (Trumper and Gatt). Or as the unkind might suggest, a couple of suckholes.
Criticism is all good and well. Some issues need to be discussed and brought out into the open, sooner rather than later. But this article is just pure, nonconstructive hate, and not as well written as the author likes to think.
Sorry, where do I refer to Ezequiel Trumper? And how on earth do you link McGuire’s “lemon” comment with my description of Lowy as a “football senex for the times”?
Let me paraphrase your article:
Instead of lambasting Eddie for running the AFL’s anti-football agenda, you’ve recast him as a football senex for the times.
Got it? You’re as equally uncritical of Eddie’s Asian Cup comments as these supposedly sycophantic journos are about Lowy’s management.
And as for Ezekial Trumper, you mentioned the Football Media Australia of which he’s a secretary, which perhaps I should’ve explained further. Instead of Ezekial, just list all of FMA as your own personal conga line of suckholes. (except Lynch, I quite like him).
And anyway, why don’t you name them? I’m not going to trawl through your archives trying to find who you’re talking about, although I’m sure I can discount anyone in FMA. There just doesn’t seem to be any point in your article.
Are you a halfwit? Or do you work for the FFA? Or both?
“Instead of lambasting him for (in my view) crummy management of the FFA they’ve recast him as a football senex for the times.”
Refers to the suckholes of the football media. How have you interpolated Eddie McGuire in that sentence?
Are you fucking stupid or what?
As explained in my previous reply, I interpolated Eddie McGuire in that sentence to show that you’re as equally uncritical of Eddie’s Asian Cup comments as these supposedly sycophantic journos are about Lowy’s management.
You have an agenda and you used quotes from an anti-football person to push it, without asking the blindingly obvious question ‘why would he say that?’ Wouldn’t put it past you to quote Peter FitzSimons.
And no, I don’t work for the FFA, but appreciate that you thought I might.
You truly are a dill. I wrote a whole column on McGuire’s “lemon” comment a week ago, which was why it was hyperlinked. I don’t necessarily think he’s wrong. Or did you miss that, numbnut? As for McGuire’s motives, doesn’t take a fucking rocket scientist to figure it out. Or do you need it spelled out for you like everything else?
A claim that a football tournament being held in 3 years time is already a lemon (see previous article – major AFL identity says this is so and thus is recast as a football senex for the times by Fink.
An edit for my dodgy para
TP, with all respect, you refer to people by name, and comment on reputations. I could respond but I refuse to do so when somebody hides behind a nickname I cannot identify. Unless you do, I won’t say any more. My suggestion to you is that until you do, you shouldn’t either. It is simply not appropriate regardless of your views.
Or will it be necessary to engage a forensic expert to track down your IP address to identify you? It would be troublesome but not difficult or expensive.
Apparently when I post using my real name (Travis Patterson) my comments require moderation and are then rejected. Ask your pal Jesse what the hell is going on there.
Now that you know my real name, what does that tell you? Nothing, because you don’t know me and before I read the appalling article above I’d also never heard of you.
However, I’m incredibly disturbed by your bizarre and paranoid threat to engage a forensic expert to track down your IP address to identify a person who has posted comments on a blog that you don’t own, and can only guess at your motives in doing this.
You’re all class Jesse, can’t imagine why SBS gave you the flick (but keep running with the ‘they want to silence me’ line, eh!).
I’m off to bed so I’ll leave the last word to you, I’m sure you’ll come up with some choice insults. All the better for getting your arguments across!
Oh, poor baby. Can’t handle it, huh? Happy to call me fucking stupid and an ignoramus but when I point out you’re a flaming dope you want to get your mum to rub a big V for VapoRub into your chest? Shall I tuck you in?
FWIW I’ve been involved in strayan sockah probably long before you bought your first console game. Make no mistake; big, fat, juicy juicy lemon. No surprise why most others in AFC weren’t interested.
Edit
In reply TP
I’m sure you’d like to see that too. Would put all those new football wankers back in their place. I mean, you were there on the terraces, back in the day before I got my first Atari 2600. It’s not their fucken game, it’s yours.
The only lemons I see see are the ones you and Fink spend your days sucking on.
OK, so my reply to E Trumper using my actual name was rejected. WTF?
@ Frank V, I think what Jesse is trying to say is that Lowy should be replaced with a gentlemen called Tony Labozetta. It just means that there’ll be no more A league(as it is only currently just surviving via Foxtels 20M/year deal, which somehow Lowy managed tomacquire at a time when there wasn’t even a product to sell! Remember, compared to the MlS, they had to PAY the major tv networks early on to show their relaunched league!) Australian clubs participating the ACL( yes it hasn’t taken off yet but the AFL would kill to bea part of such a comp) would be a distant memory as we won’t be part of the
Asian confederation, which also means we won’t be qualifying for world cups via Asia(which ‘almost’ guarantees us qualification each time around). Then we have the grassroots development and five a side games which will disappear, as well as the ‘lemon’ that is the 2015 Asian cup(which Eddie would be rapt about). The current negotiations for the next tv deal would cease(shame really, as the next deal is supposed to be significantly greater than the current one). ‘Ethnic’ clubs will be brought back in(yes i am of Croatian background)which will provide for family friendly environments again, as well as appealing to the broader mainstream public. Yep, gotta say I miss Labozetta since Lowy took over! By the readers, you may want
to sprinkle my blog in with Jesse’s pies to get what’s called a ‘balanced’ article