07/28/2008
Australian Politico Compares Bisexual Football Coach to Pedophile
Former Premier of Victoria and president of Australia's Hawthorn Football club Jeff Kennett defended Bonnie Doon Football Club for sacking its veteran trainer after it was discovered he is bisexual.
Said Kennett: "The club felt that once this had been pointed out and you had this gentleman there who was obviously close to young men - massaging young men - it ran an unnecessary risk and that's why it decided it was best that he not perform those duties again. So the club was trying to do the right thing. When you are in charge of a group of young boys, as this club was as I understand it, it's got to make sure. It's the same if you have a pedophile there as a masseur, right? And you might say the pedophile would do no damage, but once it was pointed out to you, you have a duty of care to those underage children not to put them in a situation of risk. "I don't know if we've got any [gay trainers]. I'm just saying at the moment we have a duty of care to our players and staff and you have to make judgments on that. If you don't do it you end up with potential legal liability."
Kennett later clarified his comments: "You have to have a higher level of duty of care nowadays because of potential litigation. I am not interested in the sexuality of a particular person. What I am talking about is duty of care and litigation, so I've been completely taken out of context."
Posted 12:55 PM EST by Andy Towle in Australia, Football, News | Permalink
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So does that mean they don't have straight male PE coaches teaching female students?
Seems like they fired the wrong guy.
Posted by: MikeinSanJose | Jul 28, 2008 12:58:15 PM
What about getting sued for defamation?
Posted by: anon | Jul 28, 2008 1:08:02 PM
That would be just like having a male gynecologist. That would be outrageous! Thank got there's no such thing.
Posted by: Brian | Jul 28, 2008 1:08:57 PM
So what about a Male hetero coach for a girls Gymnastic team? hmmmmm?
Posted by: Disgusted American | Jul 28, 2008 1:14:48 PM
what's australian for bloody idiot??
Posted by: jack | Jul 28, 2008 1:38:47 PM
Seems like this man doesn't want anybody competing with him, competing with him for the young boys that is. He looks like a jock-sniffer to me.
Posted by: christopher | Jul 28, 2008 1:43:13 PM
I call B.S.
Posted by: Banjiboi | Jul 28, 2008 1:44:13 PM
God! Why do straight (conservative) people always have their minds in the sexual gutter?
Posted by: J.P. | Jul 28, 2008 4:08:57 PM
Straight men can screw young boys as well. There doesn't have to be an attraction involved for sex to happen.
Posted by: ty | Jul 28, 2008 4:21:41 PM
well, i guess he's got a point. we gays, unlike heterosexuals, cannot control our sexual impulses.
un-fucking-believable! this idiot should be hung at dawn for the crime of unmitigated stupidity. (just think how many noxious people we would be rid of if, indeed, stupidity were a capital offence.)
Posted by: nic | Jul 28, 2008 5:21:45 PM
Everyone in the developed world knows that sexual orientation is not the same thing as deviant behavior. What does duty of care even mean and what would this guy propose to completely remove any potential for impropriety?
Straight male coaches can only massage straight boys.
Straight female coaches can only massage straight girls.
Gay coaches can only massage lesbian girls.
Lesbian coaches can only massage gay boys.
Human sexuality can't be labeled so absolutely and society wouldn't function considering everyone first as a potential sexual predator.
Posted by: premium310 | Jul 28, 2008 6:47:12 PM
Jeff Kennett is very well known for saying things that grab media attention. I wouldn't pay his words ANY attention whatsoever. Furthermore, I would like to see someone take action against all the male referees out there who coach young women, because they must all be pedophiles.
Posted by: joshinsydney | Jul 28, 2008 9:29:06 PM
I encourage the guy to sue Kennett for defamation, for likening him to pedophiles. Cash in on conservative rednecks to teach them a lesson.
Posted by: lou | Jul 28, 2008 11:05:21 PM