CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
An upper middle class third-generation Melbournite who relishes in the idea of his home city being recognised as the progressive hub of Australia – especially when compared to the regional hillbilly centres up North – says he’s a lot of things, but he is not a racist.
Colin Ingwood is a lapsed pescatarian, he’s a lactose sensitive Capricorn, he’s a diehard Aussie rules fan, he’s got a member of the Albert Park golf course and he loves Courtney Barnett – so it’s not hard to see why he gets confused when people assume he boos at footballers because of their race.
“It’s got nothing to do with race. Adam Goodes used to milk free kicks”
“And he was a flog”
As described by the Oxford Dictionary, the word ‘Flog’ is a multi-purpose expression, predominantly of Victorian origin.
In this circumstance, Colin has opted to use the word as a noun, in keeping with the Victorian usage to thinly-veil a racial hatred towards a prominent sportsman or other public figure.
However, football politics aside, Colin also disagrees that he his disdain for seeing groups of African teenagers loitering in the streets near his once working-class inner-city suburb should be interpreted as racist.
“You don’t live here so you don’t understand” he says to anyone who questions his eagerness to see war-weary and at-risk Sudanese teenagers deported back to the countries their parents fled from.
“My neighbourhood Facebook group and I have worked very hard for this to become a family-friendly area – and it seems the moment we got rid of the remaining bikie pubs and injecting rooms – a wave of kids who like playing rap music off their iPhone speakers moved in”
“I’m not racist, I just think this is a bit out of control. Have you read the news? This is a CRISIS”
