In the absence of analytics, character profiling and a look at the IP addresses linked to this article, is it fair to assume that a headline suggesting a problem with macho culture in society today is something that resonates with you because you are here?
Newsflash.
We are not going to solve the problem together.
However surely if awareness grows on the subject, it may save the next generation of work colleagues or fellow team members from having to endure it on the pitch or in the office.
It's fine if you are literally king of the jungle and hunting for your next gazelle, but come on, in the 21st century? In the openplan with your colleagues? In the classroom on the pitch or in the dressing room?
Don't get me wrong we can all lose the rag.
I could write a book on it.
What I'm talking about is persistent goading, shouting abuse and other raised voices to make the other person feel like a lesser individual.
It's something we all grow up with, observe or endure from time to time.
At it's extreme we have seen genocide.
At grass roots in Ireland we have witnessed thuggery on pitches and venues of all codes in recent years.
GAA. Boxing.
And this week the Dublin and District Schoolboys League have warned that lives are at risk if violence at games isn't stamped out.
Over the past six weeks, seven games in the league have had to be abandoned due to fights breaking out among young and old at DDSL games, with the league executive saying that players, managers and coaches, and spectators "now feel compelled to become involved."
On the other side of the world there were, tears and commiserations in the north of Sydney as a local ex rugby player fun-loving Sam Ballard was laid to rest.
The 29 year old, died, eight years after he was dared to eat a garden slug at a gathering in a friend’s backyard.
Not feeling anything at first, Sam complained of serious pain in his legs in the days that followed and it was soon after that doctors determined he had been infected with rat lungworm.
Friends and family are mourning the death of Sam Ballard, the Sydney man who fell into a coma after eating a slug eight years ago. #9News pic.twitter.com/k1LS2SqEHU
— Nine News Sydney (@9NewsSyd) November 5, 2018
Most right thinking sports bodies and player representative groups around the world today are beginning the process of education around wellness, and combatting the very macho culture that sport, and the corporate boardrooms were built on for decades.
For the rest of us?
Think twice about abuse.
Be nice.
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