A plague on both their houses.

Last Friday I had a rant about taxpayers' money being spunked away on promoting sports because governments forget that being a sports promoter isn't a government function. What I forgot to mention is that of course both sides are as bad as each other. While I don't hold back at blasting the Labor government here in Victoria for blowing heaps of our money every year on Bernie Ecclestone's Grand Prix circus it's only fair to say that it was originally a Liberal Premier, Jeff Kennett, who's vanity project it was to pinch Formula 1 from Adelaide and bring it to Melbourne. The ALP get to share the blame since they've been in power for more than a decade and have neither told Bernie to fuck off nor insisted that the Melbourne Grand Prix does without taxpayers' money, but it was a Liberal who brought it here in the first place.

Similarly I was less than complimentary about the Labor government's promise to throw money in the direction of what membership numbers suggest is the least popular AFL club:

THE LABOR Party has pledged to fund a $1.9 million overhaul of the playing surface at North Melbourne’s Arden Street Oval if re-elected on August 21.

The announcement was made on Thursday afternoon by infrastructure minister Anthony Albanese.

He was flanked by Labor frontbencher Simon Crean, who is a lifelong North Melbourne supporter.

Seriously, fellas, what? The? Fuck? Are you doing giving handouts to any football club, let alone the least popular club by memberships in the whole bloody league? Did you bastards help out the Melbourne Demons, or did you let them clear $5 million of debt over two years by themselves, like the business that an AFL club really is?

Not to be outscum done the fucking Liberals have now also promised to put their hands in our trouser pockets to favour a particular club.

GEELONG Football Club has thrown itself into the federal election fray through a ringing endorsement of the Coalition's $36 million pledge to revamp Skilled Stadium.

Fuck me sideways with a goal post, $36 million? I'd guess there are about 3-3.5 million taxpayers in the state so that's more than ten bucks each. Might not sound much but here's the thing: that ten bucks will be taken from everybody by force and only Geelong supporters and residents of the town - who'll often be one and the same - will get the benefit. If the club president went round to every house with a gun and demanded $10 for his stadium's improvements he'd go to prison, but when a state government do it it's fine.

Labor and Labor voting Geelong fans are getting quite upset about this because they see it as a club endorsement of a party, which of course it is. But Labor have only themselves to blame.

[Club Chief Executive Brian Cook] said the club would have issued such a release for Labor, ''had they had committed to funding the redevelopment''.

Clearly aware of the sensitivity of such an issue in the battle for marginal Corangamite in particular, Costa acknowledged the club was using the joint statement as leverage to pressure Labor to match or better the the conservative promise.

Labor has said it will fund the upgrade if Australia is successful in the 2022 World Cup bid, to be announced in December.

See? You fucknuts started it with a conditional promise of robbing us all to benefit Geelong. All the fucking Liberals are doing is upping the ante (also with our money, natch).

[Club President Frank Costa] said he would lobby Prime Minister Julia Gillard at an exclusive ALP fund-raiser tomorrow night.

This would be long time Western Bulldogs supporter, Julia Gillard, yes? I can only hope that she tells Frank Costa to fuck off in no uncertain terms, but I'd also hope that it's not just because she's the number one ticket holder for one of Geelong's premiership rivals. Someone in politics needs to grow the balls to tell private enterprise 'No' whenever it comes to the door with its hand out, especially when that private enterprise is a sporting club or event, but sadly I doubt that Julia Gillard or Tony Abbot or their state level counterparts are the ones to do it. The fact is that both parties are as bad as each other and see absolutely no problem with robbing people in order to bribe them with their own money. Why people continue to vote for the bastards when they keep doing this is quite beyond me.