Also, if you haven't read Anna Krien's 'Night Games', I hope this book review inspires you to become a bit of a book worm!
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“A
footballer does not look at another human when he fucks a groupie. He’s looking
at his glorified reflection – and when he performs, he’s doing it for ‘the
boys’, not her.” – Anna Krien, Night Games
There
are three kinds of gasps you will make when reading Night Games. Gasps of disbelief at the cluelessness and immaturity
of some footballers; gasps of horror at the complete disrespect of others (after
a night sharing a woman around between teammates, one takes a dump in her shoe as
a hilarious practical joke). The third kind is not so much a gasp, I suppose,
than suddenly having the wind knocked out of you and needing to put the book
down while you process what you have just read. Anna Krien’s Night Games is incredibly complex and
nuanced. Broken into four sections, the book considers a spectrum of themes
including sex, power, and of course, sport.
Justin
Dyer has been accused of indecent assault and rape of Sarah Wesley (both
pseudonyms). Dyer’s trial is the central story that threads through the book;
in between these chapters, Krien examines the dark history – and present – of
football culture. We are all familiar with the controversies that have plagued
football, from the NRL’s Cronulla
rape allegations (Krien draws on the 2009 Four Corners report ‘Code of
Silence’), to Ricky
Nixon and the schoolgirl seeking her revenge on social media, and even more
recently with the Raiders’ Blake Ferguson. One of Krien’s key
preoccupations in the book is the lack of representation of women in professional
football – from the boards to the field. How are these men supposed to regard
women as fellow humans when the presence of women is so lacking? Women in
sport, Krien argues, are merely there for decoration, or as service providers
(Erin Riley writes about it here).
While I understand that employing more
female support staff helps chip away at an entrenched and blinkered male
society, and that the presence of professional
female can help re-humanise women in the eyes of these young men, it’s
the absence of females at the two most powerful ends of football that stands
out: at the top and on the oval.
There is a gender imbalance and there is a
power imbalance. And without fixing
the latter, the former will continue to stink of servitude.
Krien
considers this gender imbalance through examining the rituals of male bonding
in football, including ‘group sex’ (but really gang bangs) and excessive
drinking. She argues that, “Women have been used – as have homosexuals, aka
faggots and poofters – to reinforce a certain code of masculinity and
hierarchy.” A shrug and a bit of ‘boys will be boys’ seems to be a deeply
ingrained reaction in the higher
reaches of the hierarchy, particularly by older generations. While recent
efforts by both codes have been made to address these continuing controversies,
Krien presses us to consider the consequences of the demand for macho,
unquestionably heterosexual masculinity. Ultimately, she argues that footballers’
treatment of women is a form of self-surveillance – a way to prove to each
other they are ‘manly’ men. This permeates through the culture both on and off
the field.
I’ve
never read such a nuanced and sharply observed discussion on consent as the
book’s second section, ‘The Grey Zone’. Others have suggested
that the book opens up a complex (problematic) grey area when it comes to
sexual consent – we have been taught for so long that it should be black and
white, yes or no. What is consent, really? If a woman consents to having sex
with one footballer, two footballers, does it logically follow that she
consented to three? Four? Five? Of course, the ethical premise of consent is
that what is freely given can also be freely withdrawn – but is this adequate
in real life experiences? Krien emphasises the power imbalance between a woman
and a team of footballers. “At what point does peer pressure become so
threatening that it’s rape?” It’s a difficult and important question, and Krien
skilfully coaxes the reader into seeing the interlinking issues in professional
football that lead to this.
The
book’s greatest strength is Krien’s empathy. As a work of journalism, there is a
certain impartiality – her writing is self-reflexive and she constantly
questions the relationships she builds in her research. But this book was not
written in a vacuum. As someone who appreciates sport and sporting culture,
Krien is empathetic to the footballers and women alike. Her writing is informed
by a knowledge of the unique universe of professional football – the
win-at-all-costs mantra, the constant back-slapping for being pretty great at
throwing a ball. Krien understands all of this. She shares in the awe of extraordinary
athleticism and the joy of being swept up in the excitement of watching your
team on the field. It is her empathy that makes Night Games so jarring: the understanding that football’s
insistence on powerful masculinity produces footballers who strive to meet
these demands. That women are discarded as mere props is a consequence of this
culture. Even so, Krien sees that football clubs have immense potential to
produce good, decent men – but they need to keep working at it. As she shrewdly
notes, there is nothing quite so dangerous as a boy who thinks he is a man.
I
have read Night Games twice; I’ve
been turning it over and over in my head since. It is full of difficult ideas
and I don’t think I’m quite done with it yet. The book does not attempt to
provide simple solutions to complex issues, but rather presents a whole
new set of questions about sex, power, and sport. I’m not usually one for
hyperbole, but I have no doubt Anna Krien is one of the most accomplished and
compelling writers of her generation, and Night
Games one of the most important books you’ll read.
Love,
Sounds really interesting. This review has definitely got me interested in reading the book!
ReplyDeleteIt is an amazing book Hayley! Be sure to get a copy!
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