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Danny Green suffered bleeding on the brain against Anthony Mundine, and yet they let the fight go on

Peter FitzSimons

Which brings us to the Mundine/Green fight in Adelaide last Saturday night, nominally won by Green, though lots of judges deem Mundine the rightful winner. I don't know, and I don't care.

As many times stated, I had no desire to see two good men, let alone men over 40, try to batter the other's brain stem to the point that the other would sink into unconsciousness and suffer brain damage while the crowd roars for more, and nothing has changed. I say only two things.

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Plays of the Week

History making catches, AFLW coathangers and outrageous long range efforts, these are the plays of the week.

Firstly, my pound to your peanut says we will go through it all again, that with all the controversy over who won the fight, the ground is even now being expertly tilled for a rematch of the rematch, meaning there will in fact be one last big pay-day for both fighters and their promoters.

The difference is that the promoters will not have to live with the brain damage afterwards – and I say all those tempted to sign on to having anything to do with the third brain-damage-fest should begin by giving themselves an uppercut.

Secondly, I also note that despite the dismay some will express for the strong remarks above, you can – what's that expression again? – get nicked. There was, in demonstrable fact, such obvious brain damage on the night, that a qualified judge wanted it stopped. When Mundine hit Green with a foul blow in the first round, Green went down like a shot duck and the two ring-side doctors crowded into the ring to confer with the referee.

One of them, Dr Lou Lewis who has been doing this for four decades, had no doubts. Danny Green was concussed. And he was right, as confirmed by Green after the fight.

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"I didn't know if I was Arthur or Martha," he said.

Well, Lewis knew exactly who he was. He was a boxer with a bleeding brain, and it was dangerous for him to continue. His job was to pull the fight.

And so, ignoring Green – who kept telling the ref, "let's fight, let's fight, I'm good to go," – Lewis stepped up and said to the ref, "The fight should be stopped, I don't want it to go on ..."

The ref didn't react.

"Are you stopping the fight?" Lewis asked, incredulous.

The referee, with the backing of the other doctor, said "No ..." and indicated the fight could go on.

"I'm having nothing more to do with this fight," Lewis said, and walked out, doing the right thing. At this point, Green's head was in Zone Red.

"Another serious blow when he's already concussed, it is no exaggeration to say, could have been fatal," Dr Michael Gannon of the Australian Medical Association, was quoted later by the ABC.

And so there you have it. A bloke with a bleeding brain was allowed to continue, risking his life, despite the fact that one experienced ringside doctor wanted it called off!

I knew there'd be an outcry from the boxing community and there wasn't.

Yes, on their heads be it. But it all still goes on, with the heads of the boxers themselves getting progressively more battered as the years go by. Long after the carnival is over, and the promoters have moved on, it is those very boxers, and their families, who will be left to deal with the tragic consequences.

A pox on their house, and if anyone offers the NSW government the opportunity to host the rematch of the rematch – the way the South Australian government hosted last Saturday – our Sports Minister Stuart Ayres should run screaming from the room.

Speaking up: Retired Magpie Dane Swan.

Speaking up: Retired Magpie Dane Swan. Photo: Getty Images

Bravo to Dane Swan

Look, I wouldn't know the former AFL bad boy star Dane Swan to kick him down the stairs, and I actually wouldn't dare, unless three or four you come with me and ...

And OK, no takers, I see!

You're right, there is a glaring menace about Collingwood's one-time Brownlow Medallist, a sense that he'd just as soon punch you in the face as shake your hand and, somehow or other, the fact that he has run out of skin on his arms and rippling, muscular torso to put fresh tattoos on, gives him the appearance of embodying Aussie bloke machismo. And I wasn't watching I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here the other night – HONEST! – I just happened to be flicking around at the right moment when ...

When I saw Steve Price expressing his usual pre-1952 views, this one against the very idea that same sex marriage would, could, or should get up in Australia.

Pan across to Dane Swan, lying on his bunk, bored. OK. Let's hear from Aussie machismo, I suppose. Surely he will express some gay slur, some sneer.

I was only half-right.

For while Swan did sneer, it wasn't at the concept of Same Sex Marriage, it was at Price for holding, and promoting such backward views. And to be fair to Swan it wasn't even really a dinkum sneer, it was more that he was gobsmacked that anyone could think there could be a problem with it!

"I certainly have no qualms if anyone wants to get married to a male, female, whoever they want to get married to," he explained, "I couldn't give a hoot. I can't see why it's not legal in this day and age that two people can't get married to each other."

The Same Sex Marriage crowd have just released a television advertising campaign, asking people to write to parliamentarians and tell them to get on with it – and it's a great ad. But public figures like Swan, saying stuff like that, as wider Australia watches is even more valuable. Good on him.

AFLW gets off to a flying start

Oh alright, just one more bit. At one point Swan told Price that if he wasn't doing the show, he'd be attending the AFL women's footy round. "Haha yeah right," Price said. "That's a joke and a waste of money. I mean good luck to them, I think as an amateur pursuit it's great but don't try to turn it into something it's not."

You mean like a stunning success, Steve? It already is! And a stunner at that.

Everybody sing after me! "For the times they are a changing!"

And here come the funnies

Joke going round AFL circles:

Q: What are fans of the Ladies Dockers team called?

A: W-Anchors

No, I don't quite get it either, but, trust me, AFL people generally fall about in mirth.

The hardest word

You Kiwi mongrels! After I asked you all to apologise for your outrageous slurs against Australian rugby, now that it is clear that it wasn't the Wallaby camp that put the bug in the All Black team room last year – for the All Blacks own security chief has been charged! – I have been met with something very close to craven silence.

Oh yes, heaps of interviews with Kiwi media, and chats to All Blacks, but an actual apology I can quote in this column? Nothing! The courts will decide if the security chief is guilty, but the fascinating thing to find out will be, if so, why did he do it?

Was it a simple matter, as someone suggested to me, of maybe demonstrating that as a security chief, he is the goods, being able to get bugs and all?

Playing the game: Eddie Jones.

Playing the game: Eddie Jones. Photo: Getty Images

What They Said

Women's AFL star – and there's a phrase never heard before last Saturday – Darcy Vescio, on playing in the limelight: "That was insane. Just the numbers, the crowd, the game ... The roar, we could hardly hear anything out here ... We just want people to come and watch us play and see what we create." If you build it, they will come. And so they did!

Usain Bolt: "I'm not going to lie – there will be a big gap to be filled when I'm gone. I'm feeling old, but I'm looking good, and that's the main thing."

Eddie Jones before England's opening match of their Six Nations campaign: "There is a lot of rivalry there, 20 wars between the countries and there is another one happening on Saturday. If you need to talk to them about physicality then they are in the wrong sport. And our boys are not in the wrong sport. If they don't want contact, then they should be playing volleyball. It's like going down the coalmines every day. You go out and do the job. And our boys will do the business." They did, narrowly beating France 19-16 at Twickenham.

Jarryd Hayne: "As a kid I did a lot of sports. That's why it pisses me off when everyone carries on when someone changes sport. As kids we're encouraged to play every sport we can. So as an adult why should that change. That is my stand on things."

Danny Green on the fight with The Man: "It's nothing to do with revenge. I want to say to Australia this has nothing to do with black and white. This is a fight. It's sport. It has nothing to do with colour." He's right. It's everything to do with money, and crippling brain injury.

Anthony Mundine returns serve: "I know I whipped his arse again. I whipped his arse for the second time two-nil, two zero. It ruins the credibility of the sport judging like this, officiating like this. It dampens a great sport, man ..."

Mundine, on the foul shot that concussed Green in the first round: "Basically, he was being a bitch. I wanted to fight, to engage, and all he wanted to do was to hold."

Leaked emails show what David Beckham really felt about not getting a knighthood: "They're a bunch of c---- I expected nothing less. Who decides on the honours? It's a disgrace to be honest and if I was American I would of got something like this ten years ago." Could Australia perhaps give him one? Oh, wait!

The late Joost van der Westhuizen, in November 2014, on his diagnosis two years earlier of motor neurone disease: "I had a choice. Either I stay at home and die, or I live my life. I have a platform and now I'm using it to help with MND. They [the doctors] are going to tell them they have two to five years [to live] – and that's bull----. You live as long as you want, as long as you are positive." He got to 69 months.

AFL CEO Gill McLachlan doesn't think his pay should be compared to the players: "I believe I'm competing in a different market to the players - it's comparing apples with oranges. It's illogical, makes no sense."

Budapest is just one of three cities bidding for the 2024 Games. Some residents however, such as Andras Fekete-Gyor, leader of the "Nolimpia" referendum drive don't want it there: "The people should decide what is good for us, not just the government. The Olympics bid crystallises Hungarians' worries about corruption and taxpayer money going to vast sports stadiums rather than hospitals and schools." At what point will the IOC run out of suckers? Discuss.

Manchester City Pep Guardiola on young gun and headline writers' dream Gabriel Jesus: "You never know. It's like a watermelon. You have to open to see if it's good or not."

George Gregan, to TFF, on his late, great, rival, the Springbok halfback, Joost van der Westhuizen. "Joost was the ultimate competitor and an incredible player."

Springboks legend: Joost van der Westhuizen.

Springboks legend: Joost van der Westhuizen. Photo: Getty Images

Team of the Week

Women's AFL comp. Bravo to the lot of them. The pioneers, the players, the people who stormed the gates, the sponsors, the administrators who backed them, the sponsors who came on board. Last week's success was a stunner! And having it in the void before the men's comp proved a masterstroke.

New England Patriots. Won the Super Bowl. Down 28-3 with two minutes left in the third quarter, they came back to win 34-28 in overtime.

Tom Brady. Patriots quarterback, nailed his fifth Super Bowl ring at the age of 39. Played like a busted arse for most of the first three quarters, only to storm home at the business end.

NBL. In a very crowded sports landscape they enter the final weekend of the regular season. Who knew? I love basketball, but has there ever been a more anonymous season, ever? And that Damien Keogh has fixed Cronulla, perhaps he should do the same to his native sport?

Eddie Jones. Steered England to another win, their 14th in succession! If they keep going, they will equal the All Blacks record of 18 successive wins, in their second last match of the season against Scotland, and then have Ireland at Twickenham to own the record outright.

Australia Davis Cup. Bounced the Czechs – try the veal – and set up a quarter-final clash against USA.

Tiger Woods. These days, when it comes to even making the cuts, he's like a surgeon with a rusty, dull butter-knife. It doesn't work, and only causes pain all around.

Mark Arbib. The President of Athletics Australia notched his Personal Best time for #Parkrun, over 5 km, last Saturday at the Nitro thing in Melbourne. 19 minutes 3 seconds. Not bad for a 45-year–old!

Sydney Rugby Club. Though momentarily homeless, before moving into their new premises, they're hosting the 2017 Super Rugby Season Launch at 12pm on Wednesday 22 February 2017 at the Red Room, Level 1, 99 York Street, Sydney. Guest speaker is Daryl Gibson whilst Dean Mumm will also be in attendance. Go to rugbyclub.com.au if you'd like to go!

RIP Joost van der Westhuizen. The Springbok halfback and 1995 RWC winner died aged 45. He was diagnosed with the debilitating motor neurone disease in 2011. Regarded as one of the finest scrum-halves in history, he won 89 international caps between 1993 and 2003, scoring 38 tries. Vale.

Twitter: @Peter_Fitz

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