Overview

'The Pies beat the Saints and the city of Melbourne was still cloaked in black and white crepe paper when the rumour of a pack rape by celebrating footballers began to surface. By morning, the head of the sexual crimes squad confirmed to journalists that they were preparing to question two Collingwood players...And so, as police were confiscating bedsheets from a townhouse in Dorcas Street, South Melbourne, the trial by media began.' - Night Games. In the tradition of Helen Garner's The First Stone comes another closely observed, controversial book about sex, consent and power. At the centre of it is Anna Krien's account of the rape trial of a footballer. Krien offers a balanced and fearless look at the dark side of footy culture - the world of Sam Newman, Ricky Nixon, Matty Johns, the Cronulla Sharks and more. What does a young footballer do to cut loose? At night, some play what they think of as pranks, or games. Night games involving women. These games sometimes involve consensual sex, but sometimes they don't, and sometimes they fall into a grey area. Both a courtroom drama and a riveting piece of first-person narrative journalism, this is a breakthrough book from one of the young leading lights of Australian writing.

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9781863956017

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As someone who is both a footy fan and a feminist, and sometimes has trouble reconciling the two, I was both interested in and wary about reading this book. I was expecting some challenging, uncomfortable reading, and Night Games certainly provided. Krien pulls together a wealth of interviews, experiences and research, focussing particularly on one court case but looks at footy culture (AFL, NRL and other sports) more broadly too. Krien recognises and explores grey areas in the macho culture, and the drinking, wild nights and exploitation of women that can surround it. She looks at what happens when footy celebration nights of debauchery turn bad, when the line between consensual sex and something nearer to rape is blurred. Night Games closely examines the shortcomings of the Australian legal system relating to sexual abuse cases. An important book.

Author Information

Anna Krien is the author of Into the Woods: The Battle for Tasmania's Forests and Us and Them: On the Importance of Animals (Quarterly Essay 45).

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