Then they came for Captain Blue

Why was an AFL club asking its mascot to perform at an IDF fundraiser? Why has the mascot been fired for refusing to do it?

If it wasn’t for the sensationalist tabloid reporting of the Herald Sun, the fate of Captain Blue would have been all but unknown. ( Source: Twitter)

The Carlton Football Club mascot has been sacked for refusing to perform at a kids event that was raising funds for the Israeli Defence Force. The mascot performer who dons the guernsey of ‘Captain Blue’, as he is known and affectionately loved by all the kids who support the club, walked out of a private family Bar Mitzvah celebration in Melbourne after discovering that money raised at the kids celebration was going towards Israeli soldiers involved in actions in Gaza.

‘Mascot of Hate’ was the front pager of the Herald Sun the next day, who just went ‘bang with the football’— making it national news—claiming that the mascot performer launched an ‘antisemitic tirade’ before ‘storming out’. These allegations were put forward by senior club members and Jewish community figures, that were present among high profile Zionists like co-chair of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) Jeremy Leibler, claiming the Mascot left the event shouting “I’m not doing this for f******* Zios (Zionists).” Carlton issued a rapid response, releasing a statement informing the public that the mascot performer was immediately sacked.

The mascot, who attended the event with the aim to do it to his best ability, agreeing to come to the Bar Mitzvah with no prejudice, only left the event on finding out his services were being used at an event raising funds for an apartheid religious ethno-state in Israel that has nothing to do with a kids celebration. Why are official AFL mascots doing parties, for kids, in Australia, that are linked to a foreign army locked in a brutal war of reprisal against a decimated civilian population in Gaza?

If the Richmond Tiger mascot attended a communion that was fundraising for the Russian army, or a the North Melbourne Kangaroo discovered a youth event she was hopping around in was raising money for the IRGC, would their refusal result in termination? Would the club put them in the situation in the first place? The very people at SEN that sack their staff for retweeting UN humanitarian lawyers, or the people at the AFL that look to stifle prickly voices that dare speak about things that matter to them, are the same corporate sociopaths axing people willy-nilly with the excuse: ‘sport and politics don’t mix’. An axiom not practiced by our sporting leviathan at the AFL, who hold more pound for pound control over their domain than King Charlemagne.

Between the gamma-ray bombardment from the gambling companies and the multi billion dollar television deals, the brass at the AFL are fusing jingoism and ANZAC spirit in partnership with the political class, they are cracking down on the political statements and behaviours of their young players, and they have all but removed any trace of any evidence that any one in Aussie Rules football has been critical of Israel, or has a human heart. In a country that has seen academics, journalists, sports journalists, sports captains, politicians, concert pianists, children and entire civilian populations – sacked, reprimanded, demoted, suspended, intimidated, abandoned, and silenced for holding a position against Israels UN-declared genocide in Gaza – what is one more simple faceless mascot?

Carlton executives might have hoped that the off-season and trade news was going to drown out the fateful plight of Captain Carlton, that he will all but be forgotten, but the Australian public is in year three of a domestic campaign of Zionist power and pressure hammering its exclusive agenda over Australian society, including an attempt to hammer in the IHRA definition of antisemitism at a nation level, and punters are sick of some of the new rule changes, the saturation of gambling ads, and hearing people losing their livelihoods for speaking out about a commonly agreed and hard to challenge genocide.

However Captain Blue is picked, whether he is primarily appointed or if he shares the role with other Captain Blues – if he is contacted via a Carlton emblem emblazoned spotlight off the ruins of the Carlton red-brick flats on Nicholson Street – however the enigmatic and entertaining league icon is put into the field, whoever he may be, his removal is a travesty to the game. The Carlton Football Club mascot is a much loved figure at the ‘Blue Baggers’, and replaced a long line of strange Carlton mascots, like ‘Cocky Marr’ (literally a bloke’s cocky) and people dressed as ‘The Blues Brothers’. He will be sorely missed.

When Captain Carlton first drove in on his hovercraft people knew he was different. Unlike the limited capacity of the bird like mascots that littered the AFL like the Crow, Hawk, Eagle or Magpie, or the quadrupedal Bulldogs, and big cats, Captain Carlton possessed X factor from the start. Although Carlton Football Club has struggled to perform over the last few decades, Captain Carlton was a success, offering one of the more athletic mascot products on the market including back-flips. Turns out, Captain Carlton was also apparently a mascot that stood for something, and none of his less ethical replacements will take that away from him.

It probably doesn’t help that some of the ‘senior members’ at Carlton, and some present at the Bar Mitzvah are Zionists who support Israel’s actions in Gaza. It probably doesn’t help that its former presidents are Zionist financiers of West Bank settler projects, and some of its life members are highly linked to the Netanyahu government. It probably doesn’t help that the AFL, nor any of its player groups, who have been silencing dissent like an authoritarian dystopia, have not issued any statement about the situation in Palestine. As far as we know, the players of the AFL don’t have an opinion.

Carlton fans may be lamenting the loss of Charlie Curnow, AFL fans might be swapping their sports betting accounts from footy to cricket, but spare a thought for Captain Carlton. He arrived with a smile on his face to a kids event, and when he found out that his services were contributing to festivities that were raising money for the IDF currently engaged in a UN declared genocide, he declined his services. For the decision alone to axe Captain Carlton, or maybe due to the clubs performance, and the ideology of the people who hold sway over the club, or maybe just due to the fact the Blues are making their staff do IDF fundraisers for members with ties to Zionist interests in foreign nations - maybe Carlton fans with a conscience may consider declining their membership 2026.