Footy: Peter Dick for the defence

It's good to know that Peter Dick from 4BC (or his producer, at least) follows this blog. He gave me a bit of a spray today about this morning's deliberately provocative item about Australian not being as sports-mad as we're made out to be. Here's what he said:

While Peter makes a good point about attendances being up for the footy, I think he should also note that big theatre events (like Phantom of the Opera, Billy Elliott, Wicked! and Cats) attract far more people during their runs than regular sports fixtures. And, when you account for movies and gallery and museum visits, arts activities are far and away more popular than any sport. But do we see Anna Bligh (who is also the Arts Minister, by the way, but you'd hardly know it) on television wearing a T-shirt promoting the next Queensland Theatre Company play or Opera Queensland production? No! Do we see her pumping tens of millions of dollars into a second major theatre venue -- as she did with the Carrara football stadium on the Gold Coast even after pledging that the new Gold Coast AFL team would have to play at the Gabba (and then doing a spectacular backflip just before the election). No! And do we see any political support for a big community event like Warana? No! I'm simply sick and tired of picking up a newspaper, or listening to the radio, or watching the TV, and being told that the result of last night's footy game was bigger news than anything else going on in the world. Good luck to those who love their footy, but by my reckoning there's at least 18 million Australians who couldn't give a toss. And, somehow, we're the ones who are made out to be "unAustralian" (whatever that means). To portray us all as something we are not does us, and our country, a disservice.