Has anyone read 'Night Games: Sex, Power and Sport'?

[Powerstufff]

I was given the Anna Krien book 'Night Games: Sex, Power and Sport' a few months ago. Thinking I pretty well knew all about footballers (any code) and the trouble they could get into off-field I put it aside to read off-season. Having now done so I have to say I strongly recommend reading it, I really don't think I will be able to discuss one of these incidents again with someone who hasn't done so. It's not preachy. It skilfully uses the vehicle of a rape trial resulting from incidents after the 2010 AFL GF as a central theme. But in doing so it moves out and back from a skillion stories we would all be aware of in Aussie Rules and rugby codes. Men are not all brutes in this book, and women are not all victims. Yet pretty well annually lives (and careers) are ruined in sex-related incidents and we the punters wonder how it happens.
I look forward to seeing if anyone else has read this book and what they thought about it.

 

[Macca19]

Ive read it. Found it interesting but also preachy.

 

[ash_78]

Just read the excerpt. Interesting, but not sure that style of writing would hold my attention for an entire book. Do they delve into actual cases, or just discuss generalities?

I was stunned to read that it was J-Mac and Beams who was linked to the Collingwood 2010 case. Thought it was actually Blair and Beams.

 

[Eddie Dingle]

It's not preachy.

Found it interesting but also preachy.

Memo to self - must not read this book.

 

[Macca19]

Just read the excerpt. Interesting, but not sure that style of writing would hold my attention for an entire book. Do they delve into actual cases, or just discuss generalities?

I was stunned to read that it was J-Mac and Beams who was linked to the Collingwood 2010 case. Thought it was actually Blair and Beams.

They delve into detail on the Collingwood 2010 case but more on how the AFL players got off and how all the blame was apportioned to a VFL player who was there at the time as well. They touch on Heuskes and a number of NRL incidents without going into too much detail.

 

[Kenno27]

The rape occurred at the McCarthy' family's Melbourne townhouse, they all come from Sorrento.

 

[Powerstufff]

The rape occurred at the McCarthy' family's Melbourne townhouse, they all come from Sorrento.

This is where we have to be careful and you might want to edit your post (and I'll edit this). An event occurred at the townhouse and, while it is exactly the sort of dangerous event the writer repeatedly raises, there was no attempt to prosecute. The alleged rape central to the book occurred nearby to the townhouse and did not involve any AFL footballers.

 

[Powerstufff]

J.... I was stunned to read that it was J-Mac and Beams who was linked to the Collingwood 2010 case. Thought it was actually Blair and Beams.

What happened in the townhouse was a mix of sexual impropriety and of being aware of that impropriety but not speaking out. Indeed even of being aware and giving it the thumbs up. The book names AFL players who were there but doesn't really firmly say who did what at that point. Beams and J-Mac knew the young guy who was charged with rape. He and the girl had been (separately) at the party and part of the questioning from the police was about what those two AFL players saw/knew related to that, not necessarily about events earlier in the night. The author dances around this pretty much all through the book as it provides a good background to the many events she discusses.
Penguin says, in part, of the book "... What does a young footballer do to cut loose? At night, some play what they think of as pranks, or games. Night games with women. Sometimes these involve consensual sex, but sometimes they don't, and sometimes they fall into a grey area ....".
What happened in the townhouse and a short time later in a nearby alley show how easy it is to cross a legal line and (it seems unbelievable) not know until the police knock on your door.

 

[MrMeaner]

I'm reading this now. It's interesting. I have to admit to growing more and more uncomfortable about football culture over the years. The book is not making me any more comfortable so far.

Also, so far, I'd be on the 'not preachy' side.

 

[MrMeaner]

I'm about half the way through. It's not preachy at all. Krien sets out the grey areas well, along with some of the prevalent attitudes (some of which she shares) that give rise to the issues.

As for the trial at the centre of it, I agree with Krien that the events at the Dorcas St townhouse should have been introduced into evidence. The problem was that an alleged victim's sexual history historically has been used to raise doubt as to her lack of consent in the circumstances of the charge. Now, that evidence cannot be introduced by the defence without the prosecution opening the door to it in some way.

The other problem with the events at Dorcas St is that (if they were subject of complaint) they were incredibly messy and thus difficult to prove in any potential prosecution.

All that aside, the treatment by football teams (Aussie Rules and Rugby League in particular) treating women as objects upon which to release their communal sexual urges is well documented (and lore amongst the codes). It is that which I have significant problems with and which IMO needs to change for the good of the games involved.

I hate to say it but I don't want my son playing football if it's current culture continues.

 

[MrMeaner]

I've just finished it. It's the most comprehensive study of the issues involved I've come across. It was compelling reading.

Krien does not shy away from giving her point of view on the issues. I guess that is where some have seen it's 'preachiness'. I don't think it is though. Krien certainly has a view that women should be treated more respectfully than they often are, especially amongst closed communities of blokes like footy clubs (a view I agree with). But her thoughts on the issues involved are far more complex than that. She does not come across as saying 'all these guys are arseholes.' The biggest theme is that the issue of consent in sex is difficult to navigate. It is.

One of the things the book reinforced to me was the extent to which various people in power are in thrall to footballers. In this case, the example is police obstructing investigations against footballers. However, it is something I think is also in play in relation to the allegations against Essendon, which, of course we will see another chapter of tomorrow.

The other thing about this book is that it should be required reading for anyone thinking of practicing as a litigation lawyer. You get a real sense of how disorientating the trial process is to outsiders. It is something lawyers forget.

Finally, one line hit me. It summed up much of what I think about the culture surrounding football. However, it summed up broader problems faced in various communities (see the shitstorm of arsehattery over 'gamergate'). The line was: "Treating women like s**t shades into a culture of abuse, which in turn can shade into rape."*

*I was going to leave that line there but feel I need to get ahead of possible criticism of it. Krien is not saying that it will lead to rape. Instead, she is saying that it is creates a culture that makes rape more likely. As a theme of the book is of men using women as object to which they perform sex acts to (not with, though that certainly happens in the footy community), it makes a lot of sense. It is much easier to treat someone like s**t if you have already diminished them in your view.

 

[Powerstufff]

It is a surprisingly good book, and yes it is compelling. Krien walks you along a path that many of us would not think we need to be walked along.
As I read this I thought of events in my own youthful history and went 'Hmmm!' I suggest anyone who didn't marry their first girlfriend might read this and reflect on some parties etc in their past.

 

[MrMeaner]

It is a surprisingly good book, and yes it is compelling. Krien walks you along a path that many of us would not think we need to be walked along.
As I read this I thought of events in my own youthful history and went 'Hmmm!' I suggest anyone who didn't marry their first girlfriend might read this and reflect on some parties etc in their past.

If I went to any parties with this kind of thing happening, I was totally oblivious to it.

For me, it was the attitudinal stuff. I came across points of view I have often heard expressed at school, amongst my junior football team and at Uni. Thankfully, I do not get exposed to them these days. That said, the law contains a lot of blatant sexism (some element still see it as appropriate to take clients to strip clubs), so it is always possible that I will come across it.

 

[Powerstufff]

If I went to any parties with this kind of thing happening, I was totally oblivious to it ....

Not the sharing of partners stuff, but the horny young men trying to overcome the reluctance of girls who're at least a bit intoxicated.