Penrith punish rusty Roosters
15 hours ago | Aidan Edgecomb
Offensive conduct has been defined as "behaviour calculated to wound the feelings, arouse anger or resentment or disgust or outrage in the mind of a reasonable person."
So what defines a ?reasonable? person? If press reports are to be believed, it is a Bulldogs supporter roughing up a comedian.
A couple of Fridays ago, satirist Chas Licciardello was arrested for staging a prank in Jubilee Avenue, adjacent to Kogarah Oval. St George Illawarra Dragons were playing the Canterbury Bulldogs and given Canterbury?s chequered history regarding crowd issues, there were over 100 police on duty looking for troublemakers.
In arresting Licciardello, officers apparently confiscated a number of fake weapons which they say had the potential to stir up the crowd. Licciardello was dressed in full Bulldogs gear and was allegedly carrying a number of items including a plastic knife, plastic knuckle dusters and fake flares.
In putting together his piece for ABC TV's The Chaser's War on Everything, Licciardello reportedly ?angered? Bulldogs fans when he hawked the items while posing as a street vendor. After having a look at the skit, I have to say I was surprised that anyone would get sucked into the routine. In any case, Acting Deputy Commissioner Denis Clifford was not amused and in an almost surreal moment, declared that he was "thoroughly disgusted."
"This was clearly an act of mindless stupidity,? said the Acting Deputy Commissioner.
"This fellow will be appearing in Sutherland Court at a later date charged with offensive conduct.?
The Acting Deputy Commissioner concluded with his own brand of humour: "We'll see how funny he thinks all this is then.?
So let?s put aside the keystone capers for a moment and assume that police have a sense of humour too. The Acting Deputy Commissioner may have been upset by the prank but, by accident or design, he was engaging in a bit of theatre himself. He delivered a worthy response, a poetic blend of drama and subtlety which the great Victor Mature would have been proud of. Was our law enforcer trying to go one better than the Chaser guy? With that in mind, here's hoping the Acting Deputy Commissioner doesn't get a stand up gig abroad where real trouble, not imagined, is actually taking place.
Even NSW premier Morris Iemma became part of the show in condemning the joke as ?grossly irresponsible behaviour.? To top it off, Bulldogs CEO Malcolm Noad lobbed in to play the race card, declaring that Licciardello was trying to inflame ?Lebanese supporters in particular."
Meanwhile, the press tracked down Chas?s father, Charles, who appeared to have an air of resignation in saying, "Why couldn't he get a conventional job like everyone else??
By now, some of you may be thinking I?m making all this up. But sadly, that's not the case? this is serious media we?re talking about here.
The police reportedly received a complaint from Bulldogs supporters. But as the TV footage later showed, the same Bulldogs fans who were captioned as being ?angered? were in fact laughing. So who complained? Well obviously someone did or the police couldn?t have acted.
Licciardello himself was reported in the media as saying, "Most of the people took it pretty light heartedly but a couple of the supporters got a bit angry and then the police stepped in."
Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how many outraged footy fans the police can produce, if or when this matter ever makes it to court.
Is it possible that a few hotheads came along to the circus and didn?t like being the butt of someone else?s humour? Clearly some folk have their own anger management issues to deal with. But in the interest of protecting the public, let?s arrest the clown. At is turned out; there was no real crowd trouble. But at least the police were seen to be doing their job.
So I ask again, what is offensive conduct? Perhaps it's the sight of someone wearing a Bulldogs jersey. More likely it was the fake knife and other paraphernalia which caused offence. But I?ve seen similar plastic weaponry available for purchase at ?Crazy Clarks?, my local discount toy store and the venue of choice for psychopaths everywhere? and here you thinking they call Clark ?crazy? for his low, low prices.
Alas, I am no closer to answering the question. I guess more will be revealed in the next gripping episode.
Oh, and for those who are interested, the Bulldogs beat St George 22-16.