This thread discusses the Content article:
You Know Football (ii)Those who attack the fremantle football club for 'lacking culture' or not having a 'winning culture' are simply pawns of a strong cultural narrative.
AFL as a culture gives authority to ex-football players, the greater the on feild acheivment of the player, the greater their off feild authority. This hegemony has produced a cultural narrative derived from the dogma they themselves we're taught: 'my team is great, your team is weak'.
Australian culture gives authority to age - the older it is, the more authority it has, which partly explains our reverance for Europe and it's ancient culture.
the effect here is that the oldest and greatest players now have the most authority, and these players are ofcourse entirely victorian. It is this hegemony that produces condescending spectacles such as VIC Vs the rest of the Universe.
It also produces narratives such as "Collingwoods is great, Fremantle is weak" and such a narrative is of course immune to objective or scientific judgement.
This narrative is then proliferated by the media, who are private businesses trying to maximise profit. Hence, they choose sports journalists with the most authority, and allow them to publish their dogma when it has the most currency, that is to say, when fremantle are losing.
That's the score.
And so I am constantly asked by my 'peers': why does fremantle not fix their culture.
And I answer them: "Get F***ed".