Between heresy and humor: The rites of abuse in the “trial” of Stephen Milne

Abstract

When Mick Malthouse, a (former) AFL senior coach, was reported in 2010 to have called Stephen Milne, a player from the opposition team, a “fucking rapist” during a televised match, these words threatened football with an act of heresy that would unmask a connection between Australian football and rape. In the public “trial” of Stephen Milne, which spans a decade, the performative effect of words uttered and by whom reveals the extraordinary life of a single utterance to transform what was a dropped investigation in 2004, to rape charges some years later and, finally, a guilty plea of indecent assault. What is distinct about this case is the way in which the female victim of indecent assault continues to be displaced and erased throughout the narrative discourse. Public debate is instead reduced to the permissibility or impermissibility of abusive speech acts in Australian football. When it comes to the ritualized practices of abuse in football, the figure of Stephen Milne can be seen to represent a magical boundary between heresy and humor. Through an analysis of online football fan responses to the Malthouse-Milne episode, the symbolic relationship between verbal abuse and sexual abuse in Australian football is revealed.