The one about Sydney footy supporters being a bunch of haters

How one man can invoke such an open hatred is astounding.

Sitting at the SCG on Saturday night, shivering with my hot chips in one hand and coffee in the other, I was appalled by my fellow Sydney-siders and their treatment of a former ‘favourite son’. Bad sportsmanship was not just on show, it was openly celebrated.

Less than two seasons ago, Barry Hall was loved by the red and white. The man could do no wrong; he captained the side to its long-awaited 2005 grand final, finished the season as the leading goal kick eight times and tirelessly promoted the game in a League-dominated state. We all remember those Barry Hall ‘Hall’ TV ads.

But a couple of brain snaps and king hits later, he’s no longer welcomed. He was unceremoniously booted. His axing was clinical, executed to PR precision, and, disappointingly, Barry towed the line. He could’ve cracked the shits, gone to the media and refused to leave the club under the circumstances. Instead, he fronted an aggressive media pack, conceded he had ‘a problem’ and stepped down.

In the final round of 2009, Hall was honoured with one of the most emotional laps of honour to grace the SCG. At that in point in time I still thought he should have taken the ‘screw you’ mentality, but he was gracious. The fans couldn’t cheer enough.

Saturday night he was booed and jeered. The only time any level of appreciation was roused came when Hall slipped over. It’s got me thinking. His treatment is not unlike that of an employee, once heralded as the office favourite, who has hit a wall and resigned. Instead of claiming his boss a wanker and letting pride cloud his judgement, he smiles during the goodbye speeches, enduring stiff pleasantries as he is pushed out the door.

If leaving wasn’t Hall’s decision, and he acted with good grace and towed the Swans line in the face of public humiliation, why is he subject to such sheer hatred?

The one about the room-full of socially awkward bloggers

Last night the who’s who of the Sydney social media set gathered for an informative Social Media Club event. It seems that if you provide the location (The Ivy) and the promise of free canapés (which got Andres Lopez-Varela through the door) and a steady flow of wine, people will gather. And gather they did; with nerds, trendy blogger types and wannabe trendy blogger types well represented.

Without meaning to bag my like-minded social media associates, I have to say, the evening was one of frustration.

The theme was a cracker – Social media: how is the social media you different from the real you? Or to break it down: Authenticity v superficiality.

We’re all guilty of it. Carefully selecting Facebook profile pics, untagging like a feind and crafting our wall updates with more attention to detail than you afford your mother’s birthday card. Or the polar opposite, letting go and using your status update to have a little rant, only to realise you’re a complete psycho, so you delete or reword like a motherf#cker, for fear people will actually think you suffer real emotions, bad days or that your life is less than perfect.

A mate of mine hates Facebook. In fact she fumes when her co-workers whip out their iPhones at Friday night work drinks, take painstakingly posed photos, and then (in the trifecta of rudeness according to her) casually move to the corner of the dance floor to upload to Facebook immediately. An interesting point made here by KPMG’s Bernard Salt who spoke last night is that this kind of behaviour is not dissimilar to that of the avid mobile phone user of the 90s. You know, that guy who took a call in the middle of dinner in a restaurant, only to shout obnoxiously in way that says “Oh yeah, I got a mobile, I’m awesome”.

Some interesting stats also came out of the night, i.e. there are more PR’s in Australia than journos (no kidding) and that the 25 – 34 year age bracket are the fastest growing on Facebook. There were also a lot of discussions around Gen X and Gen Y and their adaptation to the “always-on” nature of social media.

My frustration? Well it came from the room. More specifically, the pretentious crowd, who spent more time, on Twitter, following the conversations happening about the event, rather than paying attention to the actual event itself. And I generalise; not everyone in the room was like that. But a good two-thirds. To me, it defeated the purpose. I need to clarify here and say that that posing questions to the presenters via Twitter was encouraged, but what you actually got left with was a room full of hundreds of people, heads down, thumbs going crazy, chatting away about the dumb shit people Tweeted. Didn’t feel overly authentic to me.

Kate x