Matt PoyntingBig, Bad Barry Hits Rock Bottom
July 7th 2008 10:35
As Barry Hall stood at the media table, everyone wondered what he would say next. It was the day after the Swans defeat of West Coast by 62 points at ANZ Stadium. Hall was attempting to explain his clobbering of the Eagles' Brent Staker and it seemed there was really no excuse for his actions.
"Certainly, watching the vision afterwards, it looked terrible" Hall said.
"I certainly didn't mean to hit him high or to cause any damage the way I did for him to be off the field for the rest of the game". Hall outright denied there and then that his actions were deliberate. But it gets worse: asked if he had an anger-management problem, Hall responded:
"I went on to play the game and I wasn’t running around whacking blokes so I think anger management is a bit extreme".
You can gather what you like about the preceding statements. Hall went on to be suspended for 7 weeks for his 'King Hit' against Staker adding to his 6 prior convictions and 16 matches worth of suspensions. This shows first and foremost that Hall cannot control himself. Simply put, he earns 1.25 weeks of suspension for every year he has played.
I direct you back to the first paragraph in which I discussed Hall's comments about his "King Hit" on Staker. To add to his comments, Hall also lamented, "I have to prove to everyone again that I can control myself". And then there's this little gem: "We’ve got a lot of young kids in NSW, we are trying to grow the game. We can’t have incidents like this setting the game back or giving it a bad name".
It seemed that Hall was truly repentant for his actions. He wanted to make amends.
Well, it's fair enough to say that 'Big, Bad Barry' had 7 long weeks to think about how to go about this suggested change of direction. After Hall returned (much to the pleasure of many an ignorant Sydney fan, blissfully unaware of the detrimental effect that the veteran full-forward has on this game), he was considered to be on the comeback trail. Hall kicked 2 goals in a relatively quiet return to football, the next week he kicked 5 against Melbourne.
Hall had supposedly recovered and his Sydney fans, and team mates were naive enough to believe that the Staker incident was merely an uncharacteristic outburst. On Saturday 5th of July, they were proven wrong...again.
Collingwood travelled up to Sydney for their round 13 clash with the Swans. The game has garnered great interest over the last 3-4 years and is considered a blockbuster, fraternal to the likes of the Queen's Birthday clash and is often predicted as a finals preview. Barry Hall had a job to do. It was a relatively simple job for the veteran of 12 years. He just had to get through the game, kick some goals and hopefully, the Swans would come away with the win. Well, Hall struggled. I happened to be at the game and in its early stages, wondered aloud, "how long will it be before Hall hits someone?" This sounds very premature and even immature but in my mind I was convinced that Barry Hall was a serial offender and he would strike again before the end of the night. Without fail, Barry answered the call in the second quarter. As he was being tagged by the Magpies' Shane Wakelin, in eerily similar circumstances to the Brent Staker punch, Hall started to become agitated before swinging a forearm in the direction of his opponent's head.
Whether or not the strike landed on Wakelin is debatable if not irrelevant. The AFL have warned that Hall will be suspended for 2 weeks unless an early guilty plea - the likely option - is issued. To add to this, Sydney released today that they are standing down Hall effective immediately for an undetermined amount of time in which he will undergo treatment with the club psychologist for on and off-field problems.
Surely enough is enough. My solution to the problem that is Barry Hall lies not with a psychologist, nor with continuous suspensions. But instead, the Swans or the AFL must consider the release of Barry Hall. At what cost must clubs keep its star players in order to make a claim for the premiership? The cost of other players? When, if ever, will Hall be stopped? His on-field discretions have continued for years with many fans, players, media and officials merely branding him as "Big, Bad Barry Hall" in a pathetic attempt at gaining some marketability for the AFL and the Sydney Swans. He is worshipped among Swans fans and affectionately known by some as a hard man reminiscent of the 'good ol' days'. Don't get me wrong, I love nothing more than a good hip-and-shoulder contest for the ball. A solid tackle gets my blood pumping. But when it comes to on-field acts of thuggery such as the 'King Hit' that I daresay has almost become synonymous with the name Barry Hall, there is no excuse and there should be no mercy.
Of course, there are more reserved methods of enforcing players like Hall.
The first thing that must change with the Sydney Swans and their troubled full-forward is the positive advertisements that bare his name. I'm sure that if you own a television, you will be aware of the various "Barry Hall Hall" ads that were until recently showing in Australia's living rooms during prime time. If you are unaware, the advertisements simply show Hall with fellow team mates showing a class of AFL fans the rules and techniques of the game of football. Plain and simple, these ads must - if they haven't already - be stopped. The man is being shown in a positive, heroine-like light and I believe the AFL must introduce certain sanctions that includes the removal of this type of media coverage that a player receives. It is this type of media that instills a sense of pride in fans of the team and if the AFL wants to promote a safe, competitive environment in order to encourage growth, players like Barry Hall must have such priveleges stripped.
Secondly, a very lengthy ban is required. Players who show this type of on-field aggression need to be banned for upwards of 10 weeks. Obviously, 7 games meant absolutely nothing to Hall who either has a deeply ingrained aggression problem or is incapable of accounting for his actions. Either way, a long ban with effective psychological rehabilitation is called for.
And finally, the club must take action. Thankfully, in Hall's case, his captaincy of the club was removed before the start of the year. His inability to control his anger this year cannot have done much for his bid to regain that captaincy. Now the club has announced that they have stood Hall down for an undetermined amount of time in which he will undergo psychological exams and treatment. Finally, we have a step in the right direction from Sydney in regard to their ugly duckling.
What will become of 'Big, Bad' Barry Hall is yet to be seen. But hopefully, we have witnessed the last of his thuggery on the football field. Whether he corrects himself or the Sydney Swans correct their roster, Hall will need to be stopped before another player's career is.
The above article is the sole opinion of the author and is not affiliated with the views of Orble, the AFL, the Sydney Swans or any other media organisation.
Thankyou to RealFooty.com.au and also to theroar.com.au for their provision of quotes and news items that helped in the writing of this article. Both are, however, in no way affiliated with the views expressed in this article.
"Certainly, watching the vision afterwards, it looked terrible" Hall said.
"I certainly didn't mean to hit him high or to cause any damage the way I did for him to be off the field for the rest of the game". Hall outright denied there and then that his actions were deliberate. But it gets worse: asked if he had an anger-management problem, Hall responded:
You can gather what you like about the preceding statements. Hall went on to be suspended for 7 weeks for his 'King Hit' against Staker adding to his 6 prior convictions and 16 matches worth of suspensions. This shows first and foremost that Hall cannot control himself. Simply put, he earns 1.25 weeks of suspension for every year he has played.
I direct you back to the first paragraph in which I discussed Hall's comments about his "King Hit" on Staker. To add to his comments, Hall also lamented, "I have to prove to everyone again that I can control myself". And then there's this little gem: "We’ve got a lot of young kids in NSW, we are trying to grow the game. We can’t have incidents like this setting the game back or giving it a bad name".
It seemed that Hall was truly repentant for his actions. He wanted to make amends.
Well, it's fair enough to say that 'Big, Bad Barry' had 7 long weeks to think about how to go about this suggested change of direction. After Hall returned (much to the pleasure of many an ignorant Sydney fan, blissfully unaware of the detrimental effect that the veteran full-forward has on this game), he was considered to be on the comeback trail. Hall kicked 2 goals in a relatively quiet return to football, the next week he kicked 5 against Melbourne.
Collingwood travelled up to Sydney for their round 13 clash with the Swans. The game has garnered great interest over the last 3-4 years and is considered a blockbuster, fraternal to the likes of the Queen's Birthday clash and is often predicted as a finals preview. Barry Hall had a job to do. It was a relatively simple job for the veteran of 12 years. He just had to get through the game, kick some goals and hopefully, the Swans would come away with the win. Well, Hall struggled. I happened to be at the game and in its early stages, wondered aloud, "how long will it be before Hall hits someone?" This sounds very premature and even immature but in my mind I was convinced that Barry Hall was a serial offender and he would strike again before the end of the night. Without fail, Barry answered the call in the second quarter. As he was being tagged by the Magpies' Shane Wakelin, in eerily similar circumstances to the Brent Staker punch, Hall started to become agitated before swinging a forearm in the direction of his opponent's head.
Whether or not the strike landed on Wakelin is debatable if not irrelevant. The AFL have warned that Hall will be suspended for 2 weeks unless an early guilty plea - the likely option - is issued. To add to this, Sydney released today that they are standing down Hall effective immediately for an undetermined amount of time in which he will undergo treatment with the club psychologist for on and off-field problems.
Surely enough is enough. My solution to the problem that is Barry Hall lies not with a psychologist, nor with continuous suspensions. But instead, the Swans or the AFL must consider the release of Barry Hall. At what cost must clubs keep its star players in order to make a claim for the premiership? The cost of other players? When, if ever, will Hall be stopped? His on-field discretions have continued for years with many fans, players, media and officials merely branding him as "Big, Bad Barry Hall" in a pathetic attempt at gaining some marketability for the AFL and the Sydney Swans. He is worshipped among Swans fans and affectionately known by some as a hard man reminiscent of the 'good ol' days'. Don't get me wrong, I love nothing more than a good hip-and-shoulder contest for the ball. A solid tackle gets my blood pumping. But when it comes to on-field acts of thuggery such as the 'King Hit' that I daresay has almost become synonymous with the name Barry Hall, there is no excuse and there should be no mercy.
Of course, there are more reserved methods of enforcing players like Hall.
The first thing that must change with the Sydney Swans and their troubled full-forward is the positive advertisements that bare his name. I'm sure that if you own a television, you will be aware of the various "Barry Hall Hall" ads that were until recently showing in Australia's living rooms during prime time. If you are unaware, the advertisements simply show Hall with fellow team mates showing a class of AFL fans the rules and techniques of the game of football. Plain and simple, these ads must - if they haven't already - be stopped. The man is being shown in a positive, heroine-like light and I believe the AFL must introduce certain sanctions that includes the removal of this type of media coverage that a player receives. It is this type of media that instills a sense of pride in fans of the team and if the AFL wants to promote a safe, competitive environment in order to encourage growth, players like Barry Hall must have such priveleges stripped.
Secondly, a very lengthy ban is required. Players who show this type of on-field aggression need to be banned for upwards of 10 weeks. Obviously, 7 games meant absolutely nothing to Hall who either has a deeply ingrained aggression problem or is incapable of accounting for his actions. Either way, a long ban with effective psychological rehabilitation is called for.
And finally, the club must take action. Thankfully, in Hall's case, his captaincy of the club was removed before the start of the year. His inability to control his anger this year cannot have done much for his bid to regain that captaincy. Now the club has announced that they have stood Hall down for an undetermined amount of time in which he will undergo psychological exams and treatment. Finally, we have a step in the right direction from Sydney in regard to their ugly duckling.
What will become of 'Big, Bad' Barry Hall is yet to be seen. But hopefully, we have witnessed the last of his thuggery on the football field. Whether he corrects himself or the Sydney Swans correct their roster, Hall will need to be stopped before another player's career is.
The above article is the sole opinion of the author and is not affiliated with the views of Orble, the AFL, the Sydney Swans or any other media organisation.
Thankyou to RealFooty.com.au and also to theroar.com.au for their provision of quotes and news items that helped in the writing of this article. Both are, however, in no way affiliated with the views expressed in this article.
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