The Des Headland Outburst!

[NMWBloods]

True.

But in Bloods' defence he did make that comment before the entire alleged transcript came to hand.

Thanks. I hope they give a full disclosure of what happens, so it can be cleared up. The Selwoods want to mount some sort of defence. Apparently everyone who knows the Selwood boys and family are quite shocked by the events as they are not the type you'd expect that from.

As it is it looks very bad for his (and West Coast's) reputation as that is really taking sledging too far. If his comment had been a reference to having sex with the female in Headland's tattoo then that is normal sledging if it wasn't possible to tell from the picture it was a little girl. But once Headland said she was his 6yo daughter, Selwood's alleged comments are beyond the pale. I'm wondering if it Headland's response was a surprise to Selwood and he's just blurted out something without thinking. Will be interesting to see the outcome of this.

[Xie Shan]

There's no question Selwood's alleged comments went too far, but seriously, who gets a tattoo of their daughter's face?!

[swansrock4eva]

I totally agree with you Wardy. I have more contempt for WC right now than I have had for any club since Port Adelaide in 1981 (The Grainger incident in the 1981 SANFL GF). WC are making the NRL Bulldogs look like choir boys. And the WC club appears to do little or nothing to control the players. They are a disgrace and the AFL must now take control.

Talk about bringing the game into disrepute... A couple of years back, during one of the many NRL Bulldogs scandals, I was chatting with a die-hard league supporting mate who was genuinely embarrassed to be following the code at that time, even though he supported another club. He was amazed at how well behaved the AFL boys seemed to be by comparison (aside from some wry comments about good legal and media teams!) and how he wished the NRL would employ some of the tactics that seemed to give the game such a great image.

Last night he asked if it was really true that an AFL player told another player that he'd "******" another player's 6y.o daughter. When I said that was what seemed to be the case his response was "and we thought the Bulldogs were bad up here... I take back everything nice I ever said about AFL, that's just beyond it."

I doubt he's the only one thinking it, and if that's not bringing the game into disrepute I don't know what is.

Selwood has just gone so far over the line that it'd almost be funny if it wasn't about something so serious and shocking. What amazes me is that he a) thought to say it in the first place b) felt it was ok to then say it and c) then went on with it even after Headland had said she was his 6y.o daughter! To me that spells sick puppy BIG time - that sort of sentiment has to come from somewhere and it scares me to think of where.

[NMWBloods]

What amazes me is that he a) thought to say it in the first place b) felt it was ok to then say it and c) then went on with it even after Headland had said she was his 6y.o daughter! To me that spells sick puppy BIG time - that sort of sentiment has to come from somewhere and it scares me to think of where.

Does anyone know what the tattoo looks like? As I said, the initial comment was a perfectly normal sledge if the tattoo just looked like a girl. The follow up is bizarre and pretty sick, but it also appears to me a little bit like a response that was done without thinking or Headland's response really registering.

[hammo]

Apparently everyone who knows the Selwood boys and family are quite shocked by the events as they are not the type you'd expect that from.

That's the West Coast culture for you and it starts from the coach down.

Sheedy was spot on when he said of Worsfold last year:

"I only want my boys to play exactly like Johnny Worsfold, just like that and I'll be proud of them," Sheedy said.

"John Worsfold -- the cleanest footballer I have ever seen, the man who never hit anyone."

[JF_Bay22_SCG]

This sort of stuff goes on regularly and sometimes, it hits a raw nerve with the intended recipient. Michael Long/Damian Monkhorst was the landmark case. I believe Montgomery from Port Adelaide was ridiculed for his distasteful remarks to Adam Ramanauskas a couple of seasons back re: his cancer.

This stuff happens all the time. It is gamesmanship, testing out to see whether how mentally tough you are. Players will do whatever they can to unsettle their opponent, to make them lose their concentration, to make them lose their cool. The fact that some people will go so low is an indication of how desperate they are to get an advantage. And also an indication of how sometimes things that happen on the field, protected by the age-old "what happens on the field stays on the field" players' mentality you still get in modern day sportsmen, is often a law onto itself & does not mirror what is & isn't acceptable in everyday life.

The sad thing is though that the retaliators are generally always the people who get punished the most. As was the case with Zinadene Zidane in the World Cup final.

JF

[swansrock4eva]

Does anyone know what the tattoo looks like? As I said, the initial comment was a perfectly normal sledge if the tattoo just looked like a girl. The follow up is bizarre and pretty sick, but it also appears to me a little bit like a response that was done without thinking or Headland's response really registering.

Maybe I'm thinking like a girl here, but if someone has a serious likeness of a person tatooed on them, my first thought it "what does that person mean to them?" - a bloke with a female tatooed on him, my first thought would be a female relative of some sort (e.g. sister, mother, wife/girlfriend etc etc) - someone who means an awful lot to him. Also, given how publicised it was that Headland moved to Perth from Brisbane for family/personal reasons, it tells you that his family means a heck of a lot to him. Even if the sl** part was a knee-jerk reaction, it says an awful lot about Selwood that he doesn't have enough self control to go "ooh that's a 6y.o I'm talking about" and either stop or say "jeez that was crossing the mark mate, I'm sorry" immediately after. He did neither, so either he was in fact misheard or he doesn't think that sort of comment is even worth apologising for if he did make it. If it was the latter then there are still issues there that need sorting on many levels.

[hammo]

Does anyone know what the tattoo looks like? As I said, the initial comment was a perfectly normal sledge if the tattoo just looked like a girl. The follow up is bizarre and pretty sick, but it also appears to me a little bit like a response that was done without thinking or Headland's response really registering.

There is a photo in the Tele & Herald Sun today. Its an image of a girl with the name "Madison" underneath. Quite obvious I would have thought that its a relative of Headland's.

[AnnieH]

i'm thoroughly disgusted. i only heard about this now.
that is foul.

[cruiser]

Does anyone know what the tattoo looks like?

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/new...696758430.html.

I believe it's on the front page of today's The Age too.

[NMWBloods]

Maybe I'm thinking like a girl here, but if someone has a serious likeness of a person tatooed on them, my first thought it "what does that person mean to them?" - a bloke with a female tatooed on him, my first thought would be a female relative of some sort (e.g. sister, mother, wife/girlfriend etc etc) - someone who means an awful lot to him. Also, given how publicised it was that Headland moved to Perth from Brisbane for family/personal reasons, it tells you that his family means a heck of a lot to him. Even if the sl** part was a knee-jerk reaction, it says an awful lot about Selwood that he doesn't have enough self control to go "ooh that's a 6y.o I'm talking about" and either stop or say "jeez that was crossing the mark mate, I'm sorry" immediately after. He did neither, so either he was in fact misheard or he doesn't think that sort of comment is even worth apologising for if he did make it. If it was the latter then there are still issues there that need sorting on many levels.

I believe you are thinking like a girl here, rather than a guy on the footy (or any sporting) field.

Players sledge each other about their wives and girlfriends in professional sport all the time. There is nothing unusual in that.
They do not think in depth about the personal lives of the other players (and there are other examples of this). They look for an advantage. A tattoo of a girl on your arm is often going to bring about such sledging.

[NMWBloods]

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/new...696758430.html.

I believe it's on the front page of today's The Age too.

Thanks - at first glance it just looks like a girl, hard to determine age. I'm not excusing Selwood (and I've already made my feelings clear on his comments and sledging in general), however I am simply trying to understand his comments. From what I've heard it appears possible that Selwood would not have realised it was a picture of Headland's 6 yo daughter when he made his first comment.

When he realised his mistake (assuming what Headland said registered) I think it highly unlikely he would have said "sorry mate" in the middle of the football match. I suspect another player probably would have then said nothing. The options to explain Selwood's subsequent response are (i) he didn't hear Headland, (ii) he panicked and blurted something stupid out, (iii) Headland misheard him, or (iv) he's a nasty piece of work with problems.

I'd be surprised by (iv) from what I've heard and read of Selwood and his family.

I see from the Age:

It is alleged by Headland that during the third quarter Selwood, pointing to the tattoo of Madisan on Headland's left bicep, said "I f---ed her last night" to which Headland is understood to have replied, "What do you mean, she's my daughter?" The West Coast player is then alleged by Headland to have added: "Yeah, she's a s---. I f---ed her."
It is believed Selwood's version of the incident, which set Headland after him in fury, is that he compared the image of Madisan to the likeness of a woman with whom he had recently had sex.

Unbelievably tacky and distasteful, but not quite the same as the paedophilia references, particularly if he wasn't aware that the girl was 6. Although that is still pretty stupid as Headland obviously couldn't have a very old daughter, so was he stupidly not thinking, or being deliberately provocative realising the daughter would be young, or in Selwood's version he didn't realise it was Headland's daughter.

All very messy.

[ScottH]

Well it will be interesting to see what WC and the AFL do on this

I understand they are sending him to a $3000 a day Rehab centre in LA.

[Chow-Chicker]

This stuff happens all the time. It is gamesmanship, testing out to see whether how mentally tough you are. Players will do whatever they can to unsettle their opponent, to make them lose their concentration, to make them lose their cool. The fact that some people will go so low is an indication of how desperate they are to get an advantage. And also an indication of how sometimes things that happen on the field, protected by the age-old "what happens on the field stays on the field" players' mentality you still get in modern day sportsmen, is often a law onto itself & does not mirror what is & isn't acceptable in everyday life.

The sad thing is though that the retaliators are generally always the people who get punished the most. As was the case with Zinadene Zidane in the World Cup final.

JF

OK, we understand how it happens, but what do you do once it has gone beyond a sledge? The comments resulted in a provoked attack. They dealt with the player that demonstrated violence, so what do they do with the one that provoked the attack?


The AFL is a workplace. There are guidelines in regard to workplace bullying and violence - and harrassment, particularly of a sexual nature, has to be dealt with.

Whether we like it or not, when these things get out of hand, it is no longer a matter of what happens on the field, stays on the field. I thought the Michael Long issue was the landmark for that.

[Doctor]

There are no excuses for this at all. If indeed Selwood didn't realise she was Headland's daughter, once he told him it was that should have been the end of it. Did anyone see the bit at the end of the game where Headland went back and confronted Selwood again and got an evil smile in return? It suggests he knew exactly what he'd done and didn't give a toss.

As a father of a little girl I feel sickened by this. If it's true as reported, the Eagles are culpable if they defend it.