Eddie McGuire's 'Falafel' Comment

[Range Rover 1,935]

'Pies Will Poach Giant's Stars' from The Age

Is it just me or is saying 'land of the falafel' - in a derogatory manner like that - a thinly veiled swipe at people of Middle Eastern extraction?

What a disgraceful bit of carry on from a club president. Not without form though I suppose ....

[Rocknroll 1,005]

I think it is a typical Eddie/Sheedy comment to generate back pages in Sydney Morning Herald and talk on the radio in Sydney to get GWS in the headlines. Further Sheedy would love the Us V Them bloody Victorians attitude in the western Suburbs and Eddie would like another rivalry. Two old hacks playing with the media I reckon.

Typical bollocks that happens when there is no footy to talk about.

[Robbie57 2,022]

Its simply a disgraceful comment.

[Keyser Söze 0]

I don't really see anything wrong with it.

How precious do you want to be?

There are a lot of Lebanese in that area. It's a fact.

It's like saying Lygon St is the home of pizza and pasta.

[Range Rover 1,935]

I don't really see anything wrong with it.

How precious do you want to be?

There are a lot of Lebanese in that area. It's a fact.

It's like saying Lygon St is the home of pizza and pasta.

You're missing the point. It's not the mere labeling. It's the negative cultural inference.

ie.

Why would you want to live in Springvale? Land of the dim-sim ...

Why would you want to live in Alice Springs? Land of the witchedy-grub ...

Why would you want to live in Caulfield? Land of the matzah ball

[Jarka 767]

I don't really see anything wrong with it.

How precious do you want to be?

There are a lot of Lebanese in that area. It's a fact.

It's like saying Lygon St is the home of pizza and pasta.

I kind of disagree, let me explain.

It's racist if someone is offended by it.

At the very least it's extremely lazy and inappropriate for a President of a well known football club to be making those comments. The comments are clearly meant as a derogatory term based on race, it would be similiar to calling Glen Waverley 'dim sim town'. Some people might take offense while others might not. Regardless it's not the type of language I'd be using in a public forum.

Personally I'm not offended by it but that's not the point and my views are irrelevant for obvious reasons (caucasian background).

Edit - Range Rover beat me to it.

Edited February 10, 2011 by Jarka

[nutbean 8,838]

You're missing the point. It's not the mere labeling. It's the negative cultural inference.

ie.

Why would you want to live in Springvale? Land of the dim-sim ...

Why would you want to live in Alice Springs? Land of the witchedy-grub ...

Why would you want to live in Caulfield? Land of the matzah ball

mmmmmm... matzah balls......

[Range Rover 1,935]

Personally I'm not offended by it but that's not the point and my views are irrelevant for obvious reasons (caucasian background).

I don't think you're views are irrelevant just because you're caucasian Jarka. Racism, wherever it rears it's ugly head, can rightly be denounced by all.

[Range Rover 1,935]

Eddie McGuire Misses The Mark With Falafel Jibe

Here we go ...

[Guest DeesPower]

Eddie is not a senior journalist for nothing. It is one thing to go to the Gold Coast, or Tasmania, or Perth, or even Sydney Eastern suburbs. But Maguire has neatly captured (albeit in terms bordering on racism) what remain GWS's biggest challenge. Western Sydney is full of rugby league loving boguns and frankly not a very pleasant place to either work or live, let alone both. Far western Sydney where GWS is head-quartered is a wasteland and it is not by accident that this is where the Cronulla riots emanated from.

Even if you are earning $1m a year which is what Tom Scully has apparently been offered, you would eventually get sick of living in such an environment. I think most "star recruits" will take the money for one term and then defect back to more pleasant environments. Eddie was very shrewdly positioning the Pies to be first port of call for those wishing to come back to the centre of Aussie rules, just the same as he did for Darren Jolly.

Eddie is very smart in this respect, as well as being very annoying to other supporters. Don't fool yourselves that he is not already plotting a raid on Tom Scully in four years time.

[Keyser Söze 0]

Obviously racism is a topic where you need to tread carefully, but people can be a little precious with it.

In the end, it's the intent that really matters. I guess I agree that Eddie did intend it to be a jibe.

You can be offended by something and still be too precious.

[John Crow Batty 8,878]

And he being a proud Broady boy I would expect him to be sensitive about making those jibes. Never stops talking about his roots. Lots of falafel shops in Broadmeadows and his brother is trying to woo votes there. Bad slip of the tongue.

Edited February 10, 2011 by america de cali

[hardtack 10,626]

Eddie is not a senior journalist for nothing. It is one thing to go to the Gold Coast, or Tasmania, or Perth, or even Sydney Eastern suburbs. But Maguire has neatly captured (albeit in terms bordering on racism) what remain GWS's biggest challenge. Western Sydney is full of rugby league loving boguns and frankly not a very pleasant place to either work or live, let alone both. Far western Sydney where GWS is head-quartered is a wasteland and it is not by accident that this is where the Cronulla riots emanated from.

And herein lies the another problem... the likes of Eddie Everywhere and many posters simply do not know the geography and associated demographics of Sydney.

For DeesPower's benefit, the Cronulla riots emanated IN Cronulla (the original assault was on the beach) and the groups of middle eastern people who attended were said to be from the Bankstown area, NOT Blacktown. They are two very different areas both demographically and geographically. I think Eddie is making the same error... it is the south-west of Sydney that has a large middle-eastern population, not the far west. If Eddie knew anything about Blacktown and surrounding areas, he would probably change his reference from falafel to hangi as there are probably far more islanders than people of middle eastern extraction in that part of Sydney. Additionally, it is hardly a wasteland as the bulk of Sydney's population is located in the western suburbs spreading from Parramatta to Penrith, with the south-west seeing a lot of new housing development and also growing quite rapidly.

Anyway, regardless of all of that, it was a particularly ill-considered comment and one that will hopefully come back to bite him in a big way.

Edited February 10, 2011 by hardtack

[furious d 472]

And herein lies the another problem... the likes of Eddie Everywhere and many posters simply do not know the geography and associated demographics of Sydney.

For DeesPower's benefit, the Cronulla riots emanated IN Cronulla (the original assault was on the beach) and the groups of middle eastern people who attended were said to be from the Bankstown area, NOT Blacktown. They are two very different areas both demographically and geographically. I think Eddie is making the same error... it is the south-west of Sydney that has a large middle-eastern population, not the far west. If Eddie knew anything about Blacktown and surrounding areas, he would probably change his reference from falafel to hangi as there are probably far more islanders than people of middle eastern extraction in that part of Sydney. Additionally, it is hardly a wasteland as the bulk of Sydney's population is located in the western suburbs spreading from Parramatta to Penrith, with the south-west seeing a lot of new housing development and also growing quite rapidly.

Anyway, regardless of all of that, it was a particularly ill-considered comment and one that will hopefully come back to bite him in a big way.

You have to remember this is a Dees forum. Some around here consider the west of Melbourne a wasteland despite the fact they rarely if ever cross the Yarra

[Whispering_Jack 30,633]

Trouble looming in the McGuire family where Eddie's brother is standing for election in Broadmeadows.

[hardtack 10,626]

You have to remember this is a Dees forum. Some around here consider the west of Melbourne a wasteland despite the fact they rarely if ever cross the Yarra

Ha ha... don't worry, being an ex-Melbournian I do have an understanding of the geography there; demographics maybe a different story as its been a few decades since I lived there and I understand many suburbs (eg, Altona and Yarraville) have become rather gentrified) - I was a Croydon boy.

[Fork 'em 6,990]

I thought it was great , something for Sheedy to suck on and Scully to ponder .

Edited February 10, 2011 by Fork 'em

[Guest melbman]

I thought it was great , something for Sheedy to suck on and Scully to ponder .

An apt point there indeed

[beelzebub 23,382]

as theres nothing particularly footy , let alone Melbourne about this ..its just hot air blowing by the for and against mobs etc

take it to the lounge..huh !!

surely this is just rubbish general discussion

[jnrmac 20,183]

It's racist if someone is offended by it.

Actually I couldn't disagree more with this comment. It's a reason why governments of Europe (Germany and England at least) are denouncing multiculturalism - because of it's about tiptoeing around what might 'offend' people. No more Christmas lest we offend the Jews, Muslims and athiests.

If offending people was the definition of racism then virtually every comment would offend someone somewhere.

Racism IMO is more about actual discrimination on the basis of race rather than some kind of stereotype comment. Somewhere the two streams of thought have morphed. Saying someone is a 'Paki' is not racist. Saying someone is a 'curry muncher' is not racist - it's the UK national dish after all. We have all become way to sensitive over this crud.

The land of the falafel is a poor attempt at humour ( as well as incorrect in geographical terms) but it's not racist.

[Range Rover 1,935]

as theres nothing particularly footy , let alone Melbourne about this ..its just hot air blowing by the for and against mobs etc

take it to the lounge..huh !!

surely this is just rubbish general discussion

The footy element is that it all ties in with the "reasons for players not to go to GWS" sentiment flying around at the moment. Dumb as the remark was, Eddie is probably just vocalizing what a lot of Victorian club supporters are saying around the bar.

[beelzebub 23,382]

theres enough other threads regarding pro cons of GWS elsewhere. This is/will degenerate into a bunfight. Can / ought be done elsewhere...no /

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

I don't think it is a big deal, but you can count on our PC [censored] cultre to make it one

and for that I say suffer Eddie, hope they flay you alive

not a good week to open your fat mouth on the radio is it

[Keyser Söze 0]

Actually I couldn't disagree more with this comment. It's a reason why governments of Europe (Germany and England at least) are denouncing multiculturalism - because of it's about tiptoeing around what might 'offend' people. No more Christmas lest we offend the Jews, Muslims and athiests.

If offending people was the definition of racism then virtually every comment would offend someone somewhere.

Racism IMO is more about actual discrimination on the basis of race rather than some kind of stereotype comment. Somewhere the two streams of thought have morphed. Saying someone is a 'Paki' is not racist. Saying someone is a 'curry muncher' is not racist - it's the UK national dish after all. We have all become way to sensitive over this crud.

The land of the falafel is a poor attempt at humour ( as well as incorrect in geographical terms) but it's not racist.

Good post, but it tiptoes the line in some spots.

I think "Paki" is ok here, especially as we tend to just use it as an abbreviated term for Pakistani.

In the UK it is a racist term used to describe anyone of "Asian" descent (as opposed to "oriental").

It's like swear words - we use words that have the exact same meaning that are acceptable - the ones that aren't are due to connotations and further meaning behind the literal definition.

In this case, the term "land of falafel" may be ignorant, and not necessarily racist.

But I believe the intent from Eddie was to use it in a jocular derogatory sense, so it is racist.

Albeit a fairly tame racist jibe as far as some of them go.

The fact is, there are a lot more lebanese and shops selling falafel in the west of Sydney than there are here in Melbourne.

That's not racist, it's just how it is.

I like falafel.

[Range Rover 1,935]

Actually I couldn't disagree more with this comment. It's a reason why governments of Europe (Germany and England at least) are denouncing multiculturalism - because of it's about tiptoeing around what might 'offend' people. No more Christmas lest we offend the Jews, Muslims and athiests.

If offending people was the definition of racism then virtually every comment would offend someone somewhere.

Racism IMO is more about actual discrimination on the basis of race rather than some kind of stereotype comment. Somewhere the two streams of thought have morphed. Saying someone is a 'Paki' is not racist. Saying someone is a 'curry muncher' is not racist - it's the UK national dish after all. We have all become way to sensitive over this crud.

The land of the falafel is a poor attempt at humour ( as well as incorrect in geographical terms) but it's not racist.

Too bloody right mate. Those pakis, curry munchers and slopes should just harden the f!?k up and get over it.

Unbelievable that sentiments like yours still prevail in the year 2011.