Let's nip a bad boy in the Bud
Article from: Herald Sun
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23811818-5000117,00.htmlNeil Mitchell
June 05, 2008 12:00am
HAWTHORN supporters, please do not read on. There's no point. You won't like it, and you probably won't understand.
Blokeyness and the passions of club loyalty pervert any discussion about football, so let's do away with some of that by excluding Hawks from what follows. It is quite simple.
Regardless of what Hawthorn forward Lance Franklin did or did not do in a nightclub at the weekend, he does not carry blame alone.
The club must share it.
Franklin is, after all, a kid.
He's a big, arrogant kid who has every right to be arrogant on the football field, because he's a beautiful player. But he probably hasn't enough wisdom to be humble elsewhere, because he is still young enough to be driven by things that have little to do with common sense.
Look at him on the paddock.
He doesn't walk, he struts.
He throws out his chest and arches his back and exudes an air of invincibility that only an extremely talented person could carry.
Supporters love that, because it says there is something special about this player. Dermott Brereton had it. So did Wayne Carey.
And it's a dilemma for football clubs.
The attitude that helps make these men great players can cause them and their club enormous grief off the field.
A sensible club will try to encourage the on-field confidence but tame the off-field arrogance before it becomes destructive. Hawthorn and Alan Jeans helped do it with Brereton, a proud and decent man.
North Melbourne failed spectacularly with Carey, who has no right to be considered either.
Now, after the past few days, there's reason to ask whether the Hawks are finding the balance with Franklin. He's got a patchy history, this bloke.
There are reportedly league clubs that recognised his abilities as a player but didn't want him as a person.
Glenn Archer, who understands the topic, says that Franklin is building a reputation as "a party boy", whatever that implies.
Earlier this year, a Collingwood player was booked for drink-driving when Franklin was a passenger.
He had done nothing wrong there, but this certainly looks like a man trouble will pick out of the crowd.
So, what now?
Early on Sunday morning, Franklin was ejected from a city bar.
That is beyond dispute.
Two young women say he made improper sexual suggestions to them, that there was pushing and shoving with a Collingwood player who was present, and that Franklin threw a glass of alcohol over them. That is disputed, and denied. It's ugly stuff.
It undermines the AFL pledge to improve treatment of women and puts Sam Newman's jokes into perspective.
But, if true, it's not the worst offence committed by a footballer.
What's important is what the club did, because the implications reach beyond one incident.
And Hawthorn did not react well.
Initially, officials tried to convince the media there was nothing to it.
Then Hawthorn chief executive Ian Robson said that, after investigation, Franklin had been cleared.
What "investigation"?
Robson spoke to Franklin and got his version. He spoke to other Hawthorn players who were present. He took calls supporting Franklin from two women who claimed to have been there.
All fair enough. But did he speak to the Collingwood players present? No.
He delegated his players that job.
Did he speak to the women who claimed to have been victims in this - Jade Taylor and Amber Harding?
No, though he says now he will, if they call.
Did he speak with the nightclub concerned? No.
Did he speak with the bouncer who evicted Franklin? No.
Did he believe Buddy? Yes.
And he saw nothing wrong with his player's memory allowing strong recollection of what he did not say but not much recollection of what he did say.
So, mostly on the evidence of the "accused" and his mates, and after asking nothing of the aggrieved parties, Robson declared "case closed".
In fairness, he agreed to investigate a two-year-old video that surfaced from a man who said Franklin and another player had obscenely abused his female friend and that Franklin had "mooned" the woman.
Perhaps that inquiry will be more thorough. This one was a sham.
That's not to say Franklin should be cleared to Wandong if he has done wrong. But if he is to learn accountability, the club must enforce it, not excuse and protect him.
Somebody is being loose with the truth here, and Hawthorn must establish who.
If it is the "victims", then Franklin learns a lesson in the dangers of profile.
If it is him, the club must teach him a lesson in taking responsibility.
That may not make him a better player, but it will give him the chance of a better life.
nmitchell@3aw.com.auNeil Mitchell broadcasts from 8.30am weekdays on 3AW
