The AFL must think their fans are dumber than a box of rocks.
They really want us to believe that the country’s most political sporting body removed any reference to the Jewish community from a pre-match tribute honouring victims of the Bondi terrorist attack to ensure the statement was non-political and inclusive. Pull the other one, Dill.
What’s more, some suggest the league may have railroaded Sydney CEO Matthew Pavlich into taking the blame after the AFL was referred for investigation by the Royal Commission into antisemitism.
Are we to believe that Pavlich, who graduated from reading an autocue as a sports presenter in Perth to become the Swans CEO, took it upon himself to remove any reference to Jews from a statement about a terror attack that targeted Jews? All in the name of “inclusion”?
The whole thing is utterly absurd.
In the end it really doesn’t matter if someone at the AFL or at an AFL club made the call. The referral to the RC by Senator James Paterson stands.
“It is incredibly disappointing to learn that someone at an AFL club believes it was ‘inclusive’ to remove all references to Jews in a script about the antisemitic Bondi terror attack, whose victims were overwhelmingly Jewish,” Paterson said.
“It is further evidence of deeply ingrained cultural problems in our sporting institutions that must be probed thoroughly by the Royal Commission.”
Imagine that? The relentlessly Leftist, politically correct AFL being a hotbed of institutional anti-Semitism.
It could help explain why the league did little to stand with the Jewish community in the aftermath of the October 7 terrorist attack and the rise in anti-Semitism we have seen across Australia.
Both the AFL and the Swans have a rich history of political posturing and hypocrisy.
We saw that for a decade when the Swans took part in the annual Pride Game in support for the LGBTQIA+ community while simultaneously being sponsored by Qatar Airlines owned by the Qatari government, which mercilessly persecutes members of the LGBTQIA+ community. That little absurdity only ended at the end of the 2025 season when the airline and club parted ways.
Rita PanahiColumnist and Sky News host
Born in America, Rita spent much of her childhood in Iran before her family moved to Australia as refugees. She holds a Master of Business, with a career spanning more than two decades, first within the banking sector and the past ten years as a journalist and columnist.