Knackers

Boundary crossing is a fundamental concept in sport. Within the rules of a game, the boundary line marks the difference between a successful or failed play. Metaphorically, it is the threshold between the real world and that of the game. Increasingly, with athletes under the media spotlight and sporting role models central to social policy, the boundary has a moral dimension, marking out acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. Mark Hilton embeds the story of a sex scandal at the St Kilda football club into a medieval Crusade narrative. Like any Crusade, it's a story of noble ambitions and human frailty. The young knights of the football club stray from the path of righteousness, amidst a flurry of tabloid headlines and media spin. In the aftermath, moral standards are reaffirmed, although there?'s a suspicion that the territory being defended is the club brand rather than the honour of young women.