The AFL knows it's never going to win a popularity competition with most of the game's supporters, but there are times you'd swear it deliberately tries to put people offside. I reckon we might just have seen another example.
In the current hyperbole-filled media environment, you probably saw it labelled the "Harley Reid Controversy" on one of the now-dozens of TV football shows breathlessly opining on every skerrick of footy news.
But I'd suggest 99% of the rest of us, including most pretending to wag scalding fingers at the West Coast youngster for "flipping the bird" to opposition fans in Brisbane last Sunday, knew the incident was about as controversial as an episode of "Play School".
Andrew McQualter on prospect of Harley Reid being fined for this:
— David Zita (@DavidZita1) March 23, 2025
"We try to bash the theatre out of this game sometimes don't we? He's just having a bit of fun. Sometimes that's good for the game I think." @FOXFOOTY pic.twitter.com/tizryvyGtk
We know how conscious the AFL is of optics, but there's a point at which its responses to certain situations appear to become almost Pavlovian, and in this case, increasingly detached from the reality of contemporary Australian society.
The concept of "flipping the bird" is a good case in point. And of course, context is required.
Remember Ben Cousins, during his Richmond stint in 2009, flipping off the TV camera in the Tigers' dressing rooms before a game in Perth? That was totally unnecessary, unprovoked, and given Cousins' highly controversial past, very inflammatory. Few people would have disagreed then that a fine was in order.
But the context of Reid last Sunday? The still-19-year-old was under fierce opposition heat, bowled over after disposal by Brisbane's Oscar McInerney, and earned a relayed free kick because of it.
Attempting to pick himself up off the turf whilst being loudly jeered by the Gabba crowd, a winded and rueful Reid half-heartedly extended his left hand towards the throng, his middle finger so fractionally raised the gesture was barely even detectable.
The crowd, far from being outraged or incited, were laughing. One fan then playfully ran towards the fence, holding out a packet of tissues for the teenage football prodigy to wipe away supposed tears. It was the very definition of, as Eagles coach Andrew McQualter described it: "Theatre".
In that context, the decision to nonetheless fine Reid $1000 for "misconduct", is I think about as inappropriate as the player's gesture supposedly was.
While the AFL didn't explain its thinking, I'd suggest it was little more than "not a good example" and "hand gestures are always fined". It also knows that given the sort of money AFL players are on, $1000 is a relative drop in the ocean which won't attract much scrutiny. But that doesn't mean it shouldn't be taken to task on principle.
For if the AFL really does believe the "poor example to the kiddies" cliché, it really needs to get out in the world a little more.
We're not in the 1960s anymore. Those "kiddies" aren't about to be corrupted by a split-second half-joking gesture which effectively means nothing more horrifying than "stick it up your arse".
Not when they're hearing the "f" and "c" bombs dropped 100s of times per day in their daily cultural diets. Not when their consumption of both mainstream and social media will on a daily basis serve them up literally hundreds of images more shocking than rude hand gestures.
Forget horror movies and animation. We're talking vision of real babies killed, maimed and disfigured in wars that are plastered over social platforms, for example.
Relative to those sorts of stomach-turning horrors and their potential impact on youthful sensitivities, wouldn't even the hand-wringing "they'll all start doing it in junior football" argument be a case of: "Yeah, so what?"
The "shock, horror" response to half a hand gesture is at best a cringeworthy anachronism reflecting standards which haven't moved on. If similar thinking were being displayed about appropriate football uniforms, for example, you'd have AFLW players all still clad in knickerbockers than shorts.
But then there's the hypocrisy. Think of some of the world's most popular internet memes, for instance. Like that little four-year-old blond kid clad in a Feyenoord shirt flipping the bird to opposition fans at a UEFA Cup final.
Much closer to home, on the same day Reid was flipping the bird in Brisbane, a young North Melbourne fan gave us a double bird flip with either hand after the Roos had a goal overturned on a score review at Marvel Stadium. Captured on TV, that too was an image which quickly went viral. And also the cause of much mirth.
What an icon#Kangas #AFLNorthDees pic.twitter.com/RS2yOaFkBK
— carter 🐏🦘 (@norfamerican) March 23, 2025
If we really think the prospect of youngsters mimicking such behaviour is so terrible, why do we universally laugh so hard when they actually do? And speaking of laughing, did anyone at the AFL catch "The Front Bar" on Thursday night?
Matthew Richardson, a guest panelist for the evening, was central to the discussion about the Harley Reid incident. Why? Because the Richmond great was one of the greatest exponents of flipping the bird football has seen.
The show presented a montage several minutes long of Richo extending the digit to opponents, officials, fans, you name it. It then presented him with a 50th birthday cake crowned with a giant extended middle finger. Both he and Mick Molloy flashed the bird several times on air, to generous applause.
It was hilarious, broadcast by Channel 7, the AFL's official broadcast partner, and not a single person from AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon to the youngest kid looking on wouldn't have at least smiled broadly at it.
So why does the league simultaneously need to tut-tut and pretend Reid's action last Sunday was something which must be punished by an official sanction? It doesn't, of course. Indeed, accepting Reid's explanation for his pretty tame show of defiance with a knowing wink and nod would have been the far more adult reaction.
You can read more of Rohan Connolly's work at FOOTYOLOGY.