Kokoda cop-out

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  • vagary
    On the Rookie List
    • Jan 2003
    • 157

    Kokoda cop-out

    found this in the fitz files from yesterdays herald

    Kokoda cop-out

    Listen, on this subject, TFF makes no claims to being dispassionate or even remotely objective. As one writing a book on the battle of the Kokoda Track - where in New Guinea in 1942 a vastly outnumbered group of Australian diggers fought magnificently against overwhelming odds to see off Japanese plans to invade Australia - my admiration knows no bounds for those now elderly gentlemen. Many Australians feel the same way and all of us were thrilled last year when the Sydney Swans committed for five years to having an annual Kokoda memorial game between the Swans and another AFL team at the Telstra Stadium to honour them. Sixty diggers were flown in and tribal dancers from New Guinea. The Department of Veterans Affairs got behind it, and diggers who wore their medals got in for free. Australia Post ran an education program and produced a series of special stamps. Things were moving. The diggers were being celebrated and acknowledged in the way they always should have been. The commitment and initiative of the Swans, backed by the AFL, was warmly applauded by all and sundry. Not only that, but over 40,000 people attended that game, in part because they were drawn by the legend of Kokoda, and what the Swannies were doing to highlight it. This week though, with no apology, the Swans and the AFL suddenly made it known that they were going to renege on their commitment to stage the Kokoda memorial game. Concerned that the level of sponsorship wasn't what they were expecting, they simply pulled the pin. Finished. Kaput. One of the many tragedies of what happened on the Kokoda Track was that the diggers were at first ignored and then betrayed by petty officialdom. This decision is extremely disappointing.


    Waiting for the day i see Barry Hall with HAIR!!! and when i say HAIR, i mean LOTS OF HAIR!!!
  • Charlie
    On the Rookie List
    • Jan 2003
    • 4101

    #2
    It's dissappointing, but the club IS in financial strife... the average cost of the three SA 'themed' games last year was about $300k - that's crippling. As unfortunate as it is to see it being dropped, I can't see that the club has much choice but to cut extra costs, if it wants to survive.

    I think 'cop-out' is rather harsh.
    We hate Anthony Rocca
    We hate Shannon Grant too
    We hate scumbag Gaspar
    But Leo WE LOVE YOU!

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    • Jon
      On the Rookie List
      • Mar 2003
      • 162

      #3
      Originally posted by Charlie
      It's dissappointing, but the club IS in financial strife... the average cost of the three SA 'themed' games last year was about $300k - that's crippling. As unfortunate as it is to see it being dropped, I can't see that the club has much choice but to cut extra costs, if it wants to survive.

      I think 'cop-out' is rather harsh.
      Absolutely. The Swans did their part. The real cop out is the fact that after the Swans/AFL tried to get this whole thing up and running, Aus at large didn't come to the party.

      Where was the Govt interest, where were the sponsors? The people responded to the event, so why didn't the corporates?
      Just another bookmark in the history of IGNORING what those heroes had to go through, I guess
      Time to march for the Red and White

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