Our Nations Disgrace

Of all the things I've avoided blogging about, alcohol is the biggie. Mainly because I know if I do, I'll lose readers and friends (at the very least, I won't be making any friends) but after what just happened, I'm sufficiently pissed off enough to make a comment.

I am a teetotaller. A very tolerant teetotaller, but a teetotaller none-the-less. If I had my way, alcohol would be banned, it's a disgraceful substance and I won't tolerate it in my household (so don't bother coming to my parties, there will be zero alcohol). This view was cemented ever more today, on my 27th birthday.

Yup, my birthday was cut short by alcohol - or rather, other people drinking it and getting out of control. As I said in a previous post, I love cricket and hold the five-day Test format in the highest regard. Others however, don't.

I left the Test at the Gabba today early. I missed my favourite player Joe Burns make his second half-century. Why? Because of the actions of the drunken majority. Jumping up and down and demanding other patrons "scull" their beers (blocking the view and making a god-awful racket), throwing around those stupid beach-balls and roundly abusing anyone who dared let them fall over onto the field never to be seen again and generally not being very friendly citizens. My mother and I left at the drinks break after lunch, just as one of these arseholes was being evicted (he was one of about five in our area that I counted - I felt for security who were coping abuse left, right and centre).

I expect this sort of behaviour at a one-dayer. I even expect it at the footy (where, surprisingly, it rarely happens). But at a TEST MATCH? To really rub salt into the wound, I'm going to take a guess and say 99% of the young people who read this will say that I'm over-reacting. That I'm being a "wowser" or a "do-gooder". It just goes to show how ingrained this behaviour is in our culture for us to accept this as normal or even acceptable or fun.

Wanna know how accepted this is? CRICKET AUSTRALIA ITSELF INDIRECTLY CONDONES THIS BEHAVIOUR BY CONTINUING TO ACCEPT MONEY FROM THE DISGUSTING COMPANIES THAT MAKE THE DISGUSTING SUBSTANCE THAT CAUSES ALL OF THIS! You only need to take a look around the Gabba today - nearly every section was getting rowdy and unmanageable (bar the super-hyper-ultra-expensive B.C.C seats). And if you dare suggest that this behaviour is unacceptable, you're branded un-Australian. What is un-Australian about wanting to enjoy a Test match without feeling threatened?!

My suggestion would be to stop the sale of alcohol after the lunch time break (cue the cries of outrage) and to stop the advertising and glorification of alcohol (have you SEEN some of these ads? "Are you an experience collector?" SERIOUSLY?). It'll never happen of course, and my birthday will continue to be ruined by arseholes who just won't allow us true sports fans to enjoy the cricket.

UGH.