The 500 goal difference

We’re not the first to observe a stark difference between the treatment of Andrew Lovett and Stephen Milne by the St Kilda Football Club.

 

When Lovett was charged with rape some years ago, the Saints nearly fell over themselves, so quick were they to sack their errant new recruit.

 

The laying of charges against Stephen Milne results, at this early stage anyway, in his “suspension” as a matter of “duty of care”.

 

As we discussed at the time of the Lovett sacking, the person charged is innocent until proven guilty and without knowing the detail of the circumstances surrounding the incident(s?) in question, it’s impossible to make any further call.

 

It should be noted that charges such as these are not laid frivolously and it would appear that one party to the matter is seriously aggrieved. AussieRulesBlog isn’t suggesting that the Saints have done the right or wrong thing— merely observing that Milne’s 500+ goals for the club may have contributed to a different decision being made.

 

One thing is sure: we need only hark back to the infamous verbal altercation between then-Barcodes coach Malthouse and Milne to understand that Milne playing in these circumstances was never a realistic option.

 

He and his friends will see the decision as a tacit acceptance of guilt in the face of his denial, and they’ve got a compelling argument. But it’s equally untenable to expose Milne’s teammates to a situation where spectators would inevitably hurl worse invective at Milne than Adam Goodes has ever had to endure, which could spill into the playing field and opposition players and an emotional and uncontrolled brawl.

 

There are no winners in this situation, but Andrew Lovett was entitled to the same considerations being given to Milne now.