Any attempt to remove any form of violence from the game is seen as a slight to their masculinity and is immediately met with resistance.
That's a good way to put it. So is your argument that the game/players are acting up for a perceived demographic? Is there a sense that if they
don't take those cheap digs they're afraid the game will be seen as soft and they'll lose viewers? If so, to what? What other sport is on Aussie TV as much as NRL that scratches that violence itch?
In a way it reminds me of Michael Clarke telling Jimmy Anderson "get ready for a broken fucking arm" in the cricket; a lot of Australia -- or at least a good bit of the sports media -- seemed to get a real charge out of that, looked at Clarke differently, like he was finally a man and worthy of being captain, and then got all excited about the game. I'm not there, and just found it weird -- why'd they need the threat of violence to get up for a freakin' Ashes cricket game?
I'm admittedly an outsider, with some family and friends down there, so I don't really know how things work. But especially after the British and Irish Lions tour, I became fascinated with Australian sports culture (especially the media) and the way some of it seems to be just teetering on the edge of an all-in brawl, or encouraging that kind of thing. In a lot of ways it reminds me of American sports culture reflected in a funhouse mirror, just a little distorted out in ways we don't recognize and shrunken in places we might be more expansive. It's a hell of a lot less sanitized than our sports media, and that's fun, but there are times that it also leaves me shaking me head in bemusement. That must be why I started half-following the NRL; when rugby wasn't on, the NRL was there, and it was weeeeird. Their media tip-toes up to the brink of what's unacceptable, and then winks and nods and pulls back a bit, complaining about political correctness. Just recently I heard them talking about the recent betting scandal and the problem of players betting on games, and then they segued to their sportsbet.com.au segment. That's like an emphysema seminar being sponsored by Marlboro.
But this violence culture raises another question for me: Why aren't there more Australian boxing, kickboxing and mma fighters competing at a high, global level? Given the way violence is prized in other sports, you'd think combat sports would be massive down there. But I don't see very many of them competing outside of regional competitions or the occasional UFC event in Australia or Asia. The NRL even imports some of their wrestling coaches, which suggests to me there aren't enough there who can adequately meet the demand. So maybe Aussie spectators are really only into vicarious violence from a distance and aren't so willing to experience violence up close, which means fewer people would shake out of mainstream sports and end up in more fringe combat-oriented sports.
You people fascinate me.
