AFL compromised in case of Cousins v Pratt

by Tim Lane

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/c ... 73091.html

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NOW YOU'RE JUST SOME CLUB THAT I USED TO KNOW.

Written by the same bloke who continually condemned the club for broadening its horizons by leaving Princes Park.

To Tim Lane I give the same message as I'd give to Patrick Smith: Pratt was not found guilty of any criminal offence, therefore there was no legal reason why Pratt should've stepped down.

Righteous indignation might make for a good headline, but it's not much good for those of us who prefer facts.

Old news. This has been his viewpoint all along.

Cousins was shafted by West Coast and the AFL IMO.

Yeah, old news. Tim's a Carlton man ..in a different kind of way

Cousins was more a victim of AFL incompetence.

My reading of the article, and the motives for writing it is for Tim Lane to show the world, especially the world of footy journalism, that he holds no bias towards Carlton, and can be critical of the decisions and movements in the Club. Unlike another Age Senior footy write.

The article in itself reminds me of the lines from Macbeth: A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

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And so while others miserably pledge themselves to the pursuit of ambition and brief power, I will be stretched out in the shade, singing.

I thought it was a pretty thoughtful article. He made some good points, and lets face it: if Collingwood had been on the verge of bankruptcy and was then bailed out by a wealthy benefactor who was the subject of federal investigation, we'd all have a go at them.

Carlton can't live in glass houses. I saw no problem with him continuing whilst the matter was restricted to civil considerations. Once it became a criminal matter, it was the right decision to go. Should he have gone sooner? Possibly. But it's better to look forward than to look back.

No one disputes that Pratt has been great for Carlton. That aside, Tim Lane and anyone else (with the exception of that agenda-ridden moron Patrick Smith) is entitled to their opinion about whether he should have been allowed to stay there.

I thought the article was generally pretty fair. Demetriou and co are rightly saying that Pratt is entitled to a presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Counsins was deprived of that fundamental right and so the two matters have been handled inconsistently.

However, I do not like Lane's final paragraph:




I do not think this is a reasonable conclusion from the facts and reasoning that precede it in Lanes article. The past five years aside, survival has not been an issue at our club, and a that bleak period was preceded by the events of black Friday which would have signaled the end for almost any other Victorian club.

That period aside, I cannot see how it can be sensibly argued that the 'management style' of our club can be inferred as childish or less deserving of respect than others.

I'm of pretty much the same opinion.

I agree about the Cousins bit, and I disagree about the growing up bit. I reckon it's a good thing to have wealthy autocratic presidents.

Cousins did get shafted, should have fought the suspension.

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Between our dreams and actions lies this world

Tim Lane is an intelligent journalist and i can understand where he is coming from but i think he`s forgetting a few major points in this article. Without RP we were gone. Does he think its wrong of our supporters to want to compete against other clubs both on and off the field and to stand on our own two feet?
He accuses RP of being an autocratic leader yet he had to be coerced into the roll and heads a Board of 13 which, in contrast to the previous Board, is stable and unified.
RP made sure we identified ways of raising revenue for the club without him just pouring money in personally.
Record memberships occurred in spoon seasons when there was no white knights and nobody wanted to know us.
Up until 2002 the members didn`t know of the salary cap rorting of Elliott(other than the amnesty which many clubs were involved in)and promptly voted him out.
What club doesn`t have a wealthy President?Thats why they are there.Thats the nature of business and football is business like it or not.
There have been question marks against other club`s presidents over the years as well but it seems we are the only "dodgy" club.
To have a crack at us in our current situation is poor form.

i dont know why people get worried about this kind of stuff...

Football isnt a business per sey... it doesnt manufacture anything material...
it manufactures emotions and feelings and a sense of belonging

its closer to entertainment than it is to building cars..

At the end of the day its all about "One day in september"

To the winners on that day is glory....

So if we win a premiership.... who flower cares what bananas trying to philosophise footy think... COS WE HAVE ANOTHER FLAG AND TROPHY IN THE flower TROPHY CABINET!!!... wich means our emotions and entertainment and sense of belonging was hightened....!!!

which is what we all follow a footy club for....

This other over philosophising what footy is .. is fantasy....

Its not what it is....!!!... its about your club and winning a flag!!!

These people are wankers!!!.. theyre so far removed from what footy is about that theyre just flogging themselves to death now with pseudo intellectuaism...its like theyre handing in a thesis for their PHD on stupidity...

@#$%&! off wanKers!!!

We have a premiership to win!!!

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Is Lane ever happy with anything Carlton related?

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And preferably in a competition that is fairly structured.

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THEY LIKE TO SEND UP!!!!!!!!

Until each team plays each other the same number of times, the AFL, as a fair dinkum competition, cannot be taken seriously.

He (Mr Swann) said the honour and pride associated with the club's traditional navy blue jumper was priceless.

structured it is... there is a ladder... there are x amount of teams and there is a fixture.. home and away grounds and games...

Should everything be contrived so there is an artificial competition???

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

And, as this picture shows, you can reach the top.



The problem is, some will be favoured in their attempt to reach the top,





















and not just because of their superior playing list.

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THEY LIKE TO SEND UP!!!!!!!!

Until each team plays each other the same number of times, the AFL, as a fair dinkum competition, cannot be taken seriously.

He (Mr Swann) said the honour and pride associated with the club's traditional navy blue jumper was priceless.

I don't know about the inference that we are childish...regardless it is time that we realised that we can't always buy our way out of trouble.

The "we are Carlton **** the rest!" attitude is outdated.

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Just because I'm offended, doesn't mean I'm wrong.

You seem to be forgetting the powers that be and their ability to rain on our parade.

You have to work within certain constructs to an extent or it might all fall down on top of you.

I'm sensing 'poor man's' (figuratively speaking) John Elliott in all of this.

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Just because I'm offended, doesn't mean I'm wrong.

Must admit one thing, though, I wasn't happy seeing John Ell..tt on Channel 7's Game Day show today.

He has had his time in the sun - 20 years in the sun. Please let the club move on and respect where the club has to go without your embarassing media comments.

Gave up on Tim Lane long ago, like Fatpat gave devoting any energy to them at all.

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A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty" -Winston Churchill

L.M 35-06

I think it is a fairly pointed article actually. What Lane is doing more than anything else is showing up the AFL for it's lack of consistency.

I find it disappointing that as soon as any journalist writes something negative about Carlton, people on here jump down their backs and declare them to be morons.

As fmurphy says, we can't live in glass houses. Fact is, CFC is not perfect. Fact is, CFC over the last 6 years has been diabolical. There has been plenty to criticise the Club over.

And yet, every time it happens, there is an outcry on here from many (not all) about these so-called morons.

We need to be better than that. We need to be able to accept criticism when it is given, even when it may not be 100% deserved. We need to be strong enough to take it on the chin, imrpove, and move forward.

And we need to accept that different people have different opinions (and within that, different agends, but we all do, even on here. To refer to fmurphy once again, if this was all about Eddie and Collingwood, how many on here who are defending Pratt would be calling for Eddie's resignation?), and tha they are entitled to them.

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Mens sana in corpore sano.

Bring back the laurel wreath logo!!!