The $onny Bill Williams Scenario

Much of the news of this moment is centred on the decision of rugby league superstar, Sonny Bill Williams to leave his club, the Canterbury Bulldogs and head off for France to chase bigger dollars in the game of rugby union. Of course that in itself is no big deal really but the crunch comes as we learn that Williams doesn't even intend to finish this year, the first year of a five year contract that was agreed on, signed, sealed and done last year. That deal, in itself was a deal in the millions of dollars. And so not only is he not honouring that contract, surely a breach of commercial law in some way, but he has also walked away from his team-mates and basically packed up his life in Australia - a breach not of law but of friendship and trust. Currently subpoenas have been issued by his league club that will seek to negate his ability to play for any other club until this awful mess is sorted out. What is certain is that this matter will be decided in the courts; that place where really only the wigged guys win.

All of this shambolic scenario only serves to remind this white man how increasingly rare a commodity loyality is in todays society. How has it come about that people today have been duped into accepting and believing a basic ethos that says 'money dictates all over and above anything else'? Has our world today become so monetarily possessed that we'd be willing to sell the most precious qualities we can have as decent homo sapiens on this planet? Well this white man believes that trading off loyalty, integrity and trust all for a few extra numbers in your bank account reaps far more consequence that what the extra zeroes are truly worth. It's often believed that in this mad, sports-loving, fanatical nation of Australia that football (be it Australian Rules, rugby league/union or soccer) reveals itself to be a microcosm of the greater dynamics of our communities. Or more simply, football is a form of barometer by which one can get a sense of how things are in greater society. Well if that is true then don't expect to see loyalty suddenly become an increasingly cherished value in your world. Rather, and depressingly I add, learn to live with the people around you who will sell out at the first available opportunity to get their hands on greater wealth. Them's the facts peoples...

But this white man will simply push forwards within the simplicity that he finds best to live by. And that's all you can do too - be an example, a light on a hill and remember what the good Word reminds us, that "the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil."