Umpire, Where’s the Line? Reporting the Private Lives of Footballers

Bill Birnbauer

“Terry Wallace was a tough footballer. During his time playing for the Hawthorn Football Club he was called ‘the Plough’ for his ability to burrow into packs of players and emerge with the ball. Later, as a coach, he presented a terrifying spectacle when excoriating his players after a losing game. Today, like many former high-profile players and coaches, he works mainly as a football commentator. This gives him an understanding of both the football and the media industries, a foot in both camps.

But Wallace finds it as difficult as anyone to know where to draw the line when it comes to a footballer’s right to privacy and the media’s reporting of the off-field activities of players. It is a tricky question. For example, does the public need to know that a footballer was involved in a minor car accident? What about a fight at a night club? A drug-fuelled argument? Or that a player has a mental illness? …”