CHANGE starts with a conversation.
In the Doveton footy clubrooms on Saturday afternoon more than 100 people, predominantly men from both the Pakenham and Doveton teams, sat in silence as Superintendent Wayne Viney, from Victoria Police, delivered the White Ribbon message in a language that everyone understood.
“As men I don’t expect you to go barging through doors and separating parties and stopping violence that way,” the former Casey Police Inspector told the room.
“It’s about respecting women and it starts from the bottom and it works all the way to the top. How can you start respecting women?
“It takes a bit of courage to stand up to your mates and go, well what are you talking about, how can you say that? What do you mean by that?
“Little things like that and we start changing the cycle.”
Supt Viney’s message was delivered prior to the inaugural seniors White Ribbon match between Doveton and Pakenham, which the Doves ultimately lost by 14 points.
The White Ribbon pre-game function was attended by AFL Respect and Responsibility ambassador and former player Russell Robertson, Victoria Police officers Wayne and Graeme Stanley, Casey Council Challenge Family Violence representative Kim Carter, Cardinia Mayor Graeme Moore, Cardinia councillors George Blenkhorn and Brett Owen, Narre Warren North MP Luke Donnellan, Labor candidate for Dandenong Gabrielle Williams and Liberal candidate for Bass Brian Paynter.
In the last 12 months there have been 7000 reports of family violence in the Division Three area, which encompasses the region from Springvale to Pakenham and out to Cranbourne.
Police figures estimate that this equates to one incident in the area every 70 minutes.
Russell called on the young men in the room to become self-made heroes and point out sexist behaviour whenever it occurred, citing former team-mate Clint Bizzell as a prime example.
He said that Bizzell addressed his mates while they were drinking on a footy trip.
“He said why are we doing this? Why are we talking about women like this? What we’re doing right now is bulls**t.
“From that day on we never had another footy trip; he changed our football club with that little thing.
“But it wasn’t a small thing – how hard is it to get up in front of all your mates, in front of all the boys, in front of all your peers and say something like that?
“What he did was he planted a seed in our head.”
Russell’s ability to capture the attention of the young men in the room was not lost on Doveton club legend Steve Henwood, who along with President Shane Viney has pioneered the incorporation of the White Ribbon initiative at the Doves.
“It turned out far better than I thought it would,” he said.
“Once all of our players poured in and I looked to my right and I saw all the Pakenham blokes come in I thought, this is great.
“I noticed a lot of our boys still came in and there appeared to be a lot of young Pakenham footballers too.
“Gotta give credit where it’s due. It was a great effort by Pakenham to come into the opposition’s rooms, like they did, and they were probably a bit unaware of exactly why they were coming in, but now they know after the way Wayne Viney and Russell Robertson spoke.”
Liberal candidate for Bass Brian Paynter also kept the door well and truly ajar for a potential White Ribbon round in the Casey Cardinia League next year.
“Full credit to Doveton for doing it and for asking Pakenham and what we want to do next year is make this a league initiative so that we do it at a league level where all clubs in this particular round wear white armbands,” he said.
For more on the White Ribbon cause, visit www.whiteribbon.org.au.
