Anzac Day
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I know I got called sanctimonios etc for trying to explian my feelings of ANZAC day etc, and using it as it is for promotion etc, and perhps this copy of a post from GR&G rugby sums up how I feel. Man can obviously put in words better than I what we feel about it.
"I did 18 years and multiple tours, I don't necessarily have an issue with sport been played on the day, I do however have an issue with professional sporting organisations leveraging the ANZAC reputation in order to profiteer for themselves.
I hate the repeated references to how the playing field is a battlefield like war.. it isn't..
I hate the inference that these players are warriors or embody the warrior spirit that ANZACs did...they don't, its a ridiculous analogy
I hate that the NRL awarded an "ANZAC Day Medal" to the player of the match a couple of years back, that term and medal already represents something far more important than POTM.
I also hate all these teams marketing ANZAC Day jerseys and merchandise with a lack of transparency about how the profits of these jerseys are been distributed back to support veterans, some teams do it well, other teams make no mention at all.ANZAC Day isn't about commercialisation and profiteering off the ANZAC reputation, some teams/companies/organisations are taking it too far in order to chase a dollar, that doesn't mean sport shouldn't be played, it should just be done respectfully.'
I would add that apparently there has been aa ANZAC day league jersey with picture of American soldiers etc?
And to be honest the other thing that makes me cringe (and was something used in Aus a lot, and not to do with the day) is when a commentator says a player is a hero FFS. They play rugby or league, it's hardly heroic! -
@Dan54 i dont think anyone was justifying the really egregious/thoughtless stuff like the jersey(s) showing an american soldier or ANZAC day medal (that just seems thoughtless, they give medals for all kinds of sports awards, feels like a "say that again out load" moment)
and i dont think anyone is claiming these comps dont get something out of it but there is a bit of quid pro quo, having 96k at the MCG for the AFL game and taking that captive audience and just reminded them theyre able to enjoy this because of the sacrifice of those ANZAC soldiers reminds people they should keep frequenting their local RSL, they should check in on former soldier they know etc
The use of "warrior" or "hero" goes much wider that ANZAC day, those terms are used every week and of course its cringy when you look at the whole picture
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I know I got called sanctimonios etc for trying to explian my feelings of ANZAC day etc, and using it as it is for promotion etc, and perhps this copy of a post from GR&G rugby sums up how I feel. Man can obviously put in words better than I what we feel about it.
"I did 18 years and multiple tours, I don't necessarily have an issue with sport been played on the day, I do however have an issue with professional sporting organisations leveraging the ANZAC reputation in order to profiteer for themselves.
I hate the repeated references to how the playing field is a battlefield like war.. it isn't..
I hate the inference that these players are warriors or embody the warrior spirit that ANZACs did...they don't, its a ridiculous analogy
I hate that the NRL awarded an "ANZAC Day Medal" to the player of the match a couple of years back, that term and medal already represents something far more important than POTM.
I also hate all these teams marketing ANZAC Day jerseys and merchandise with a lack of transparency about how the profits of these jerseys are been distributed back to support veterans, some teams do it well, other teams make no mention at all.ANZAC Day isn't about commercialisation and profiteering off the ANZAC reputation, some teams/companies/organisations are taking it too far in order to chase a dollar, that doesn't mean sport shouldn't be played, it should just be done respectfully.'
I would add that apparently there has been aa ANZAC day league jersey with picture of American soldiers etc?
And to be honest the other thing that makes me cringe (and was something used in Aus a lot, and not to do with the day) is when a commentator says a player is a hero FFS. They play rugby or league, it's hardly heroic!Now you mention it that whole “war” thing is completely overblown in sport.
Shit, even Ali vs Frazier was child’s play compared to an actual war and what they went through was tougher than any Union or league match.
Then there’s this which I love……
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@Kiwiwomble, that why I said heroes wasn't an ANZAC thing. But understand what you say etc, just I not comfortable using ANZAC day to promote the game, and saying they tell people to go to their RSL's etc is to me small payment for the cash they make. Remember they have the clash on that day because they know they can make more money, and no other reason! And I say again, ,I happy for them to play on the day if it a weekend etc, but not with using it to promote the games.
And also add again it's just my personal opinion. -
@MN5 that is a good quote.
Same as a few years back in Aus , one announcer had said it was a tragedy how badly things had gone for a league club, Peter Fitzsimmons jumped on him, and said bugger off a tragedy is people dying in a flood (that had happened somewhere), what you are talking about is just bloody unfortunate. -
@MN5 that is a good quote.
Same as a few years back in Aus , one announcer had said it was a tragedy how badly things had gone for a league club, Peter Fitzsimmons jumped on him, and said bugger off a tragedy is people dying in a flood (that had happened somewhere), what you are talking about is just bloody unfortunate.Yeah I suspect Keith Miller would have been my favourite cricketer ever if I saw him play. Legendary stats and by all accounts was an absolute gun.
Then again, the pressures of top level sport are very tough in their own way and not to be downplayed ( unless comparing them to war )
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i can completely get the argument about not equating sport with war, the pitch ISN'T a battlefield. I think some would argue a metaphor doesnt completely and inherently equate one thing with another but its probably respectful to not even try
but are we gatekeeping the use of words like tragedy? so we're not allowed to use that word unless its equal to the greatest loss of life in human history? the beauty of is context, i think you can use a generic word like tragedy (as opposed to a specific one like battlefield, or warrior) and the context scales the context scales it accordingly
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@Kiwiwomble said in Anzac Day:
i can completely get the argument about not equating sport with war, the pitch ISN'T a battlefield. I think some would argue a metaphor doesnt completely and inherently equate one thing with another but its probably respectful to not even try
but are we gatekeeping the use of words like tragedy? so we're not allowed to use that word unless its equal to the greatest loss of life in human history? the beauty of is context, i think you can use a generic word like tragedy (as opposed to a specific one like battlefield, or warrior) and the context scales the context scales it accordingly
We have not been involved in a major conflict for 50 odd years. It's been 80 odd years since WW2. A whole generation who have no idea what it means to go to war. Couple that with a commentator's intent to make the sport exciting, they use the hyperbole without a thought for the deeper meaning
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@Kiwiwomble said in Anzac Day:
and i dont think anyone is claiming these comps dont get something out of it but there is a bit of quid pro quo, having 96k at the MCG for the AFL game and taking that captive audience and just reminded them theyre able to enjoy this because of the sacrifice of those ANZAC soldiers reminds people they should keep frequenting their local RSL, they should check in on former soldier they know etc
Call me a cynic, ut I sincerely doubt a single person attending a fixture then thinks and follows through on that.
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@Kiwiwomble said in Anzac Day:
i can completely get the argument about not equating sport with war, the pitch ISN'T a battlefield. I think some would argue a metaphor doesnt completely and inherently equate one thing with another but its probably respectful to not even try
but are we gatekeeping the use of words like tragedy? so we're not allowed to use that word unless its equal to the greatest loss of life in human history? the beauty of is context, i think you can use a generic word like tragedy (as opposed to a specific one like battlefield, or warrior) and the context scales the context scales it accordingly
I think Hero gets overused in the sporting context
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@antipodean and you might be right, my personal experience on ANZAC day after talking to some of the old mates was to message a mate who had served to check on him but that might be the exception
@Nevorian ill be first in line to agree professional sports people get idolised too much, knighthoods for one….when there are police, ambos and firefighters that don’t get the same recognition
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@Kiwiwomble said in Anzac Day:
@antipodean and you might be right, my personal experience on ANZAC day after talking to some of the old mates was to message a mate who had served to check on him but that might be the exception
@Nevorian ill be first in line to agree professional sports people get idolised too much, knighthoods for one….when there are police, ambos and firefighters that don’t get the same recognition
Agree entirely.
Well, apart from the great Sir Paddles Hadlee. First man to 400 test wickets.
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@antipodean said in Anzac Day:
It just feels like a societal expectation now with people posting on social media about attending. Which to me makes it more about them than solemn reflection
This. For the last few years it's seemed like a massive "virtue-signalling" gift for a lot of folk.
(Fuck I hate that term, but... Accurate. )
Personally (ahhh... I sound like one of "them"...) ... I can be aware of the sacrifices made in the past, be fully aware that I'm very unlikely to ever truly understand them, and be very fucking thankful for that, while also knowing that war is a dick, and fuck ALL that shit.
Without getting up at 5am and lighting a candle, and then posting on Facebook about how that's what I did.And I think ANZAC Day liquor laws are perfect. A little reminder to those who don't think about it .. and then a celebration/acknowledgement of what we have because of the sacrifices.
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Taking a different tack from the virtues of ANZAC DAY. My newly found half cousin was the first person from the family to visit my grandfathers grave at the Sangro River War Cemetery in Italy. And the place is well look after and beautiful. It brought some closure to finding her roots. It is easy to forget that these young men died with their comrades but absence of their families.
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Taking a different tack from the virtues of ANZAC DAY. My newly found half cousin was the first person from the family to visit my grandfathers grave at the Sangro River War Cemetery in Italy. And the place is well look after and beautiful. It brought some closure to finding her roots. It is easy to forget that these young men died with their comrades but absence of their families.
….and so many of those that came back had loads of other issues to deal with.
The sheer amount of undiagnosed mental disorders because that generation were just staunch and got on with life must have been absolutely horrendous.
Contrast that with todays generation who get offended and have a breakdown if someone gets their pronouns wrong.
Where is that Clint Eastwood gif ?
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Taking a different tack from the virtues of ANZAC DAY. My newly found half cousin was the first person from the family to visit my grandfathers grave at the Sangro River War Cemetery in Italy. And the place is well look after and beautiful. It brought some closure to finding her roots. It is easy to forget that these young men died with their comrades but absence of their families.
I paid a visit to the cemetery at Caterpillar hill in northern France. It is a beautiful place. I have no relatives that served in WW1, but I found it intensely emotional seeing all the rows of NZers who left home and never came back
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@canefan My friend wants to forego our next dive trip and go to Normandy. I think I need to go.
Normandy was excellent. I did it the day before I did the Somme. But I was on my own and went on an American slanted tour, which was great because I was really big into Band of Brothers at that time. The Somme tour from Amiens was another level entirely, in part due to the great tour and guide, mainly because of the ANZAC centred tour
http://www.battlefieldsexperience.co.uk/aboutUs.html
Both trips, Normandy and Somme, were day trips. I took the TGV from Paris