Russel Crowe tries to find a positive beat for his club, South Sydney. He seems to feel that banning pokies from the club, a source of revenue, can be made into a virtue. Perhaps it can, if it attracts family and wholesome activity to the club, while eschewing vice. The community deserves something good. But can something good come from the ARL?
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Meanwhile, in Victoria, there is uproar over Sikh boys who carry daggers to school. The issue involves the religious practise of Sikhs for their initiated.
If those Sikh boys have their daggers banned, what about other school children who carry scissors? Maybe the issue isn't religion or culture or even sharp instruments. Maybe schools are better placed to decide on issues of custom, and maybe state governments have better things to do than regulate religion.
Study gives nod to ceremonial Sikh knife in school
ReplyDeleteBy Milanda Rout
SIKH students would be allowed to carry small daggers to school under a plan that has outraged teachers and principals.
A Victorian parliamentary committee has also given the green light for Muslim students to wear hijabs in the state's classrooms.
The inquiry into uniforms found all schools should accommodate clothing or other items that are religiously significant.
The Education and Training Committee report recommended that schools should work with the Sikh community to allow male students to carry a kirpan - a small, curved ornamental steel dagger carried by all initiated Sikh men.
The committee found there were concerns from principals and teachers about students carrying the kirpan - which is hidden under the school uniform - but the item was important to the Sikh community.
Victorian Association of State Secondary School Principals head Brian Burgess said kirpans should not be allowed in schools.
"It is potentially very dangerous and should not be brought to school," he said. "If it was misused, it could hurt kids. And it may not be the students that bring it to school but others who know about it and misuse it."
Mr Burgess said other weapons were not allowed on school grounds and the kirpan should not be the exception.
The Sikh Interfaith Council of Victoria did not want to comment but previously told the committee that only a small number or Sikhs have been initiated and an even smaller number of students carry the kirpan. The kirpan, carried in a sheath and worn on a strap, is one of five articles of faith that initiated Sikh males have to carry. It is not allowed to be used as a weapon.
The council rejected suggestions by the Department of Education that students carry a replica or pendant to school.
Why the zero-pokies vision is on the money
ReplyDeleteby Josh Massoud
RUSSELL Crowe has pleaded with the South Sydney faithful to back his vision for a no-pokies leagues club at Redfern as its board agonises over lost revenue.
The megastar will today email a letter - co-signed by Rabbitohs part-owner Peter Holmes a Court - to about 10,000 fans urging them to endorse the proposal ahead of next Tuesday's board meeting.
In the letter, Crowe and Mr Holmes a Court remind fans Redfern's blue-collar community can only be harmed if the new club carries poker machines when it is relaunched in April.
"We are not moralising here, we just believe that low-income areas like Redfern need less poker machines rather than more," the letter reads.
"We believe a club can be successful if it caters for our members and the broad community; is a place where families can gather for conversation and good food; and the distracting din of pokies doesn't stop the conversation or drown out live music."
But goodwill generated after the proposal was first floated three months ago has not translated to approval from the leagues club board.
Directors want a guarantee for an estimated $1 million in annual revenue the club stands to lose from banning poker machines.
After several months of trying, the high-profile pair cannot find a guarantor - leaving the nine-man board in doubt as to whether to back the plan.
While they can't provide the guarantee, Crowe and Mr Holmes a Court say they have a "solid plan" to bring in a successful restaurant operator.
Sydney chef Con Dedes - of Flying Fish fame - has agreed to operate the bistro, while a weekly bill of live music will kick off with Whitlams frontman and anti-pokies crusader Tim Freedman if the pokies are outlawed.
To promote their push, Crowe and Mr Holmes a Court have even set up "A club with no pokies" page on Facebook, and thousands of T-shirts bearing the message have also been produced.
Modelling the shirt at training yesterday, star Rabbitohs recruit Craig Wing said NRL players were aware that gambling paid their wages.
"Another way of paying players can be developed," he said.
After raising community expectations, Mr Holmes a Court confessed he and Crowe would be "absolutely devastated" if they failed to deliver.
"It's impossible to provide guarantees, but are they going to guarantee that every cent that goes into the machines is from a responsible gambler?" Mr Holmes a Court asked.
"Are they going to guarantee that not a single meal or schoolbook is being forgone?"
A development application including provision for 60 machines at the Chalmers St club is awaiting approval from Sydney City Council.
Leagues Club chairman Bill Alexiou-Hucker said all but one board member remained open-minded.
"Most of the directors think it would be lovely to have a no-pokies club, but it's a question of money," he said.