A pitch invader is tackled by a security guard during the NRL match between the Titans and the Eels. Photo / Getty
A pitch invader is tackled by a security guard during the NRL match between the Titans and the Eels. Photo / Getty
OPINION:
There are a couple of things wrong with security guards lining up pitch invaders at sports events and smashing the bejesus out of them – not least of all, it makes people think it's okay to line people up and smash the bejesus out of them. To be clear,it's not okay to smash the bejesus out of people. Even pitch invaders.
The exception, of course, is when you and the person you fancy lining up and smashing are playing contact sport against one another. In which case, fill your boots. Line up. Smash away.
A Gold Coast woman who got bejesused on Saturday night after running on to the field during the closing stages of Parramatta's win against the Titans says the security guard's tackle was "fair play".
"I got what I deserved," said Javon Johnson of the bullseye spot tackle the male security guard put on her.
Nope, she didn't deserve it. Some of the comments in social media underline how problematic these public smashings can be – it seems plenty of blokes got a kick out of watching this woman get smashed. Massive red flag, fellas.
A pitch invader is tackled by a security guard during the NRL match between the Titans and the Eels. Photo / Getty
She could have been stopped – tackled, even – in less dramatic and less dangerous fashion.
She was hit hard, and fortunate not to be left with a cracked rib or two, an outcome that might have changed Javon's perspective on just how much the clobbering was deserved. I'm glad she's physically okay, and seemingly okay with what happened.
The other reason security guards shouldn't go about smashing pitch invaders is that it just encourages the idiots. The harder you smash a pitch invader, the greater the likelihood of footage going viral. Inevitably, wider media discussion of the smashing builds – like, for instance, this article.
Mainstream broadcasters today take a responsible approach to pitch invaders – cameras are pointed somewhere else, commentators chat about the stats and the folk at home go and put the kettle on. But the less-discerning videographers of social media lap it up. The footage you've seen was recorded and shared by a punter at the ground – and it never would have gone viral if she hadn't been hit so hard.
An idiot running around on a bit of grass isn't interesting. So, if you want pitch invaders to go away, stop smashing the bejesus out of them. Arrest them, fine them, do whatever gets done to trespassers and goofs, but stop adding to the spectacle. And stop normalising the idea that it's okay to smash people.
