And finally, to AFL-mad Melbourne where simply walking into AFL HQ can be front-page news:

TV host advises on rules EXCLUSIVE The AFL has consulted TV presenter Waleed Aly as part of its investigation of the state of the game. - Herald Sun, 21 August, 2018

As the Herald Sun recently reported, academic turned commentator and broadcaster Waleed Aly had joined “former football greats” to be

“sounded out” about potential new AFL rules.

Adding in a tweet that Aly had been:

… hand-picked by the AFL to consult on proposed rule changes - @theheraldsun, Twitter, 20 August, 2018

Aly’s qualifications are that he’s a passionate Richmond Tigers supporter and occasional sports commentator on programs like the ABC’s Offsiders.

But he’s also famous for his outspoken views on politics and Islam.

And that made some AFL fans livid, and brought vicious attacks on Twitter, which were led by former cricketer Shane Warne:

… please tell me this is fake news & that this arrogant cretan is in no way way involved on any level !!! - @ShaneWarne, Twitter, 21 August, 2018

We think he meant “cretin” and to write only one “way”.

But his tweet was shared or liked almost 3000 times.

And the Herald Sun’s story posted on Facebook unleashed a similar torrent of abuse:

Maybe ALY will change the game by introducing a suicide vest instead of red one, for injured players! - Facebook, 21 August, 2018 Iff they did invite the maggot they should have given him a pig. - Facebook, 21 August, 2018

And Andrew Bolt then joined the pile on in his Herald Sun blog:

I am also a Richmond fan and TV presenter who has never played AFL. If I convert to Islam will I be consulted, too? - Andrew Bolt, Herald Sun, 21 August, 2018

So, what does Waleed have to say about his secret game-changing advice? Simply:

WALEED ALY: This story is just wrong. This didn’t happen. - The Project, Channel Ten, 21 August, 2018

But how can that be? It was in the paper. Is it really not true?

WALEED ALY: … I was offered the opportunity to go to a media briefing that the AFL were doing for lots of people in the media … - The Project, Channel Ten, 21 August, 2018

Hmmm. Turns out there were dozens.

And was he hand-picked to be consulted on the rule changes? No again:

WALEED ALY: They weren’t interested in my views on anything. I didn’t advise anybody on anything. - The Project, Channel Ten, 21 August, 2018

So, nothing like the story the Herald Sun beat it up to be.

But what about the reaction, which the story was surely designed to provoke?

Well, even Mark Robinson, the Hun’s chief footy writer, was appalled:

The vitriol directed at Waleed Aly was shameful The response hit all the hot buttons for hate commentary — AFL, rules, Waleed, Muslim, smug, intellectual. The hatred was unfair and immense … - Herald Sun, 22 August, 2018

And another News Corp sportswriter, The Australian’s Peter Lalor, also called it out, and also likened it to the torrent of abuse that champion Swans player Adam Goodes copped in his career:

It’s not because Waleed Aly is brown. It’s not even because he is Muslim. It is because he is all of the above and opinionated as well. - The Australian, 21 August, 2018

It was shameful stuff, alright. Provoked by a misleading story.

And as Fox Sports and ABC Offsiders host Kelli Underwood observed:

KELLI UNDERWOOD:I think it’s absolutely outrageous that you can just make stuff up and slap it on the front page just to sell newspapers. - Offsiders, ABC, 26 August, 2018

While all this was happening and Aly being attacked, another AFL loudmouth was on his own anti-Muslim rant:

SAM NEWMAN: There’s 600,000 Muslims in Australia. They share no common interest with what we’re on about. They don’t. They have no common values. They preach to a different deity, god. They don’t generally nationalise, they colonise. - Sam, Mike & Thomo, 20 August, 2018

So did Sam Newman match Waleed and make the front page of the Herald Sun?

Strangely no. He didn’t make it into the paper at all.