On Monday, Crikey published an account of a conversation between AFL chief Andrew Demetriou and the code’s player association head Brendan Gale. They had discussed what Demetriou assured Gale over coffee was the impending demise of the North Melbourne football club. Good story.

Prior to publication there was a discussion with the author, former Age sports editor and Crikey regular Charles Happell. Should we take our account of the conversation to Demetriou for comment? We decided that no, there was little point. Demetriou’s denial of a conversation that would cause controversy and awkward discomfort was inevitable. For our part we were entirely confident of the veracity of the account. Still are. And we have been entirely unsurprised by the strength and determined tone of the denials. 

The whole process tells us a lot about the conduct of public life. Never admit, always deny. Run the untruth until overwhelmed by events. It’s a sad commentary, but it seems to be something of a universal convention.