I noticed Green liked the club’s insta posts about our two losses but didn’t like the club’s posts when we won. Might be trolling us just a little himself.
So now we get the answer as to why Green retired. I had suspected for some time that his feet were farked.
As to social media, they all seem to cop it. Coons dreaded it. I think they should just disconnect from social media.
FCS I would never suggest that any Essendon player or their family even look at this forum, especially the perennial whipping boys like Stants, Zaka and Myers.
The world has changed I guess. The old adage of “sticks and stones” has been replaced by sensitivity to many things.
I remember Crackers Keenan being told some choice things by a resident in Napier Street as he was walking to training at Windy Hill one day. Cracker pushed over the blokes brick front fence, and there was no more dialogue.
Your story is a good example of the difference between now and then.
Back then the criticism was pretty much limited to “You are weak as pi$$ Crackers” from over the boundary line on game day or the very occasional person who might have a crack in person to your face. If you’d played a bad game it might be worth a line in the newspaper.
Now days, everybody is a keyboard coward happy to throw out insults that they wouldn’t dare say in person. In the old days you could brush off one or two insults. These days, on social media, you might get 100s or 1000s of nasty comments.
These days if you have a bad game you could well be the subject of days of discussion in the media on all the various (100s of) radio shows, tv shows, podcasts and newspaper stories. Even if you try to tune out from it all and not be on social media or read/watch the mainstream media, every second person that comes up to you will ask “how are you coping with all the crap since Paul Roos called you weak and slow?”
Maybe Ant, and I am not defending what my Mum taught me, but it was a widespread view in her era and well into mine. It is hard to change the habits of a lifetime.
Think we all now should understand that some people can cope with verbal abuse better than others, and as my experience with Aaron Francis taught me, that you do not judge anyone on yourself and even a passing remark can have dire consequences.
All that said, I still maintain that I was one of those who boo-ed Adam Goodes because he sniped a Bomber player from behind and acted like a tool in staging for free kicks at that particular game. I didn’t boo him because of his race, and I would not boo Gary Ablett for a “like” on social media.
Even if true, then you just gave cover to the racists. Unless you have some other compelling reason why Goodes was singled out by most opposition teams’ supporters for two years to boo him?
I think it’s more the fact that if it was ever true, the saying wouldn’t have been necessary in the first place. It was something a Mum said to her kid to make them feel better after someone said something ■■■■■■. It’s no different than telling someone to “ignore the trolls” today.
Josh Green mentioned the online bullying fairly extensively on the Lunch Time catch-up podcast several weeks ago. Given that most of the game is played above the shoulders it’s hard enough to deal with self-doubt - and once others jump on your back it actually compounds the loss of form. Greeny said these people had no idea about the hours of hard work and sacrifice put in - even to make it at AFL level. He didn’t leave anything on the table when trying to get the best out of himself.
While correlation isn’t causation, most psychologists believe that the recent ‘hockey stick’ curve of increased suicides (particularly in teens) is due to social media. With normal bullying you can always go home and get away from it. These days with phones and tablets sending notifications you can’t even sleep without people having a go at you.
After listening to Green, I had a bit more appreciation of what it’s like.
Fair point. My parents taught me the same thing. It has no relevance to the world we live in today though where there is simply no escape, especially for a troubled mind.