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Do you rescind your support in the face of wrong doing?

I am a Brisbane Broncos rugby league fan. Have been since I was a 10-year-old Queensland boy, in 1988, when they joined the league.

I have followed them passionately! Seen them play at nearly every ground they've played at in Australia, been at some of their most epic encounters.

Fly to Auckland each year for the one game they play during the season here in New Zealand.

Have been a season member, despite now living in another country.

So, my loyalty to this club as a fan has been absolute.

However.....

A few weeks ago, it was announced that my beloved Broncos have signed a scumbag by the name of Matthew Lodge.

A couple of years ago, Lodge was on holiday in the States. He got very drunk, and then proceeded to actually terrorise a couple.

Kicked in their door, taunted them, threatened to kill them.

He was charged and convicted in the States.

He was banned from the National Rugby League competition (which would be the NFL if he was an American footballer).

Well, it's just been deemed that he's 'rehabilitated'.

I'm sorry. There's athletes doing dumb stuff, and there's this.

This guy should never play professional sports again. And my team has signed them.

I wrote a long and detailed letter to the club, in the end effectively telling them that until that cut this stain on the underpants of life, they have lost me as a fan.

That I hope club members and fans also vote with their feet, but not renewing memberships, by not going to the games.

It was an impassioned, yet logical plea.

I have heard nothing from the club. Nada!

It may not be a sporting team, but have you found yourself in a similar situation? Where you have flown in the face of something you generally love out of protest?

I'd be interested in hearing any potential stories.

It truly is a strange feeling not supporting this club; team flag has come down. Keychain removed. Team shirts packed away.

But there are things that transcend sport and other regular loyalties. There are issues that are important on a social justice scale.

Kreig 7 Dec 1
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10 comments

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0

My answer is yes, you have definitely made the right decision. That said, I have never understood why people become such fanatical sports fans. I live in Melbourne, home of AFL, and I can only remember the name of one footballer: Gary Ablett (and that's probably because there have been two of them).

0

Yes and it goes way beyond sports. To me this involves charitable organizations as well. If a group has a religious connection or if I feel the group uses emotion as a draw I will have nothing to do with them.

0

Hell Yeah, my choice, my conviction. I refuse to give a vote for any candidate that never served in the military. No excuses asked or valid to me. My vote, my choice of requirements, the DD-214 is just the opening of the door to examine the candidate, in other words I had not done too much voting lately but is my conviction. That extend to family and friends, I am not going to help you commit a crime just because... just reminded me of a recent departed that always seemed to ask the question "what's in it for me?"... his widow will miss that question more than anything else... I will abide and do the phrase just to humor her every now and then. EVERYTHING WE DO, SHOULD HAVE THE SUPPORT OF OUR CONSCIENCE.

0

There's a lot of that going on here in America. Louis CK, Kevin Spacey, Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose, Al Franken, and a bunch of others have all been exposed as being predatory perverts at some point or other. When it comes to sexual deviancy, it's easy to have the knee jerk reaction of wanting them in jail or whatever. But when it's someone you've admired and stood by for so long... I don't know...

1

I admire you for taking a stand. Sports fans can be as loyal as religious fanatics at times (look at the people supporting a pedophile running for office in Alabama, just because he is a religious nut). I think it says a lot for your character.

0

I’m not a big sports fan but I can sympathize because of political causes that have arisen lately in America. We must stand for what we believe in(like you did) and not remain still. I would recommend making social media groups and try to gather more people to your cause or that feel the same way.

0

I have very been a fan of professional sports, I consider it to be opium for the masses and part of the same control of those masses that has existed at least as long as "bread and circuses".
The question does transcend that context into politics, entertainment, education and business; so, i would have to say, yes.
Hypocrisy, greed, lack of empathy, taking advantage of people, criminal activity and corruption all seem to me to be good and reasonable reasons to withdraw support and I have withdrawn mine from many for these reasons. The morality and ethics of persons(in the legal sense) need to be an important consideration in your relationship to them tempered by a consideration of the scope of their transgression.
For example I don't shop at Walmart because of the greed, low wages and lack of social conscience.

0

I am not into football but anything with Michael Vick' s name on it would lose my support

0

My continued loyalty would depend on the nature of the grievance. Especially if it was unjust, I would hang in there. But if morally or legally out of line ... dunno.

Not to say I might get back in their camp, if there was honest remorse after the fact.

4

Not exactly, but I've experienced something similar. Bill Cosby's humor on vinyl was a fixture in our household when I was growing up, long before any Dr. Huxtable existed. When it became clear that he was a serial rapist, then my hitherto frequent allusions to Cosby's humor became abhorrent to myself. I had to stop reaching into that familiar but now toxic box.

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