Footage of a young Carlton fan crying in the stands during his team’s loss to North Melbourne has left AFL fans divided, with many slamming broadcaster Fox Sports for keeping the camera on the distressed youngster.
The Blues sank to their worst defeat of the season as they fell to the Kangaroos by 11 points on Saturday, leaving their fans furious as they failed to beat one of the league’s worst teams.
Viewers saw footage of the young supporter with Carlton trailing the Roos 84-45 in the final quarter, with Fox using short grabs of him during its recaps of the match as late as Monday afternoon.
‘That is a summation of what’s happened for the Blues with that poor young fella. Mum and Dad have brought him to the footy today, full of hope,’ commentator Mark Howard said.
‘That’s bad parenting,’ joked Howard’s colleague, Brisbane Lions great Jonathan Brown.
However, many footy fans didn’t see anything funny about the footage as they blasted Fox for featuring the boy so prominently.
Pictured: A still of the footage of the broken-hearted Carlton supporter that was shown on Fox Sports’ coverage of the Blues vs Kangaroos match
The youngster was far from the only Blues supporter to be left gutted by the loss – with fans booing the team off the ground (pictured) at full-time
‘Fox needs to stop zooming in on upset fans. It’s not just uncomfortable, it’s invasive and exploitative. You don’t know why someone’s crying. Maybe it’s not even about the game. And filming crying kids for broadcast? That’s not storytelling, it’s just gross,’ one viewer wrote.
‘Whoever decided to put that crying boy to air should be ashamed of their decision. Imagine how they’ll feel when they know they were shown on TV crying, let alone everyone who’ll now share it online. F***ing ghouls. And now it’ll be on all the news and footy shows just to ensure this poor kid has zero chance of escaping its negative impacts,’ another said.
‘They should be zooming in on fans but kids crying is not right,’ added a third.
‘That poor little fella who is a Carlton supporter & was crying is about to become a meme. He doesn’t deserve that. His day is bad enough as it is!’ another posted.
Comments like those drew waves of approval from fans posting messages like ‘Agree 100%’, ‘Good call’ and ‘Spot on’.
They also left a lot of other footy fans in disbelief as they said Fox had done nothing wrong – and anyone who says differently is a ‘snowflake’.
‘Sanitising sport of its emotion would rob it of everything that makes it great,’ one wrote.
‘Oh my this is soft,’ another posted.
Some footy fans blasted Fox for showing the boy shedding tears over his team
A large portion of supporters felt the footage was too intrusive
While broadcasters commonly show fans’ emotional reactions during matches, fans like this one felt a line was crossed during Saturday’s game
However, their take drew strong opposition from other viewers who felt the broadcaster was just doing its job
One fan used sarcasm to make their point as they argued there was nothing wrong with showing the youngster
‘It’s part of the entry policy you accept when buying a ticket. Unlucky, just bottle it up like the rest of us,’ a third said.
Another used sarcasm to get their point across, writing, ‘Networks shouldn’t zoom in on fans celebrating a win. It’s invasive and no network should show actual fans.’
‘You also get a lot of ecstatic fans who also like to be on cam for a bit of fame. Don’t ruin the fun. I blame the team if anything,’ another fan wrote.
Other comments in the same vein included ‘Australia is the land of snowflakes’, ‘Grow up – shows the passion of the game’, Why??? What’s wrong with crying and being passionate?’ and ‘They’re at a live football match ffs in the public eye how can it be invasive if you don’t want people to see your emotions then stay home lol’.
After the loss, Carlton coach Michael Voss reacted to his team being heavily booed by fans at halftime, three-quarter time and after the match.
‘It’s not time to isolate, it’s time to come together,’ Voss said of the booing.
‘We love coming to the ground and having the supporter base we have and the passion that our supporters have, but we share in their disappointment.’
Voss produced a furious spray at three-quarter time and while it looked like it was targeted at the midfield group, he insisted it was to the whole team.
Furious Carlton coach Michael Voss (centre) unleashed on his team at three-quarter time but it wasn’t enough to turn the match around
The Blues’ loss to the lowly Kangaroos leaves them 10th on the ladder
‘That’s not acceptable the way that we played through that period of time … it just didn’t sit with the mids,’ he said.
‘North Melbourne were much too good around the contest for us.
‘I felt like for a middle patch there, they probably bullied us.’
Finalists in the past two seasons, Carlton slumped to 6-8 and will sit two games outside of the top eight by the end of the round.
The unexpected result will turn up the heat on Voss, who has been under pressure since Carlton’s calamitous round-one loss against wooden spooners Richmond.
Asked if he was coaching for his future over the next two months, Voss simply put the focus on Carlton’s next game against Port Adelaide on Thursday night.
‘It’s more about staying present to where we’re at … the competitor in me is about getting better tomorrow,’ he said.
