Recently in Adelaide there has been an ongoing conflict between two football players and their wives. I dunno whats going on exactly, he said, she said; they were friends, and then they weren’t… my Mum told me what happened but i couldnt keep up.... and now a year later, after a conflict is open between the wives and coldly avoided on the field by the players. The coach sent the two players (and possibly their wives as well) to counselling (so the Herald Sun said, tho a bit of solution-focused brainstorming seems to be indicated here), or maybe it was actually mediation. However, this would have been a perfect case for conferencing.

There is, and will be, ongoing interaction. The roles of victim and offender are not set, its likely that both couples feel they have been offended. The impact of their dispute can be felt far beyond the two couples involved, and more than likely involves their wider community. If I were the facilitator for this dispute, I would be interested in inviting the two couples at the center of the dispute, as well as their relevant friends and ex-friends. I would also want to see if any of the other players wanted to come along, perhaps the captain of the team, who can give a bit of perspective on how the dispute has affected the team overall. I would also be interested in inviting someone high in the fan club to give a perspective on how the fans have reacted to this very public dispute. I would also probably want to invite the coach and maybe someone from the club board too, they have a stake in getting this dispute resolved. And if any of the key disputants wants a support person to attend, that could be ok too. So that would be quite a number of people attending, but then the wider impact and context of the dispute would be clear. The impact of this public fight could be fully assessed, and the collective brainstorming for change would be powerful.

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Im starting to really miss home, and all the blogs i read. I miss Ken-chan too. I have been looking around at everything, wondering what his reaction would be if here was here, what he would make of it. So much of it looks strange to me; the sheer width of the streets is enough to make me giggle. I mean, coming from my tiny apartment in Tokyo, where the phone was in the center of the living room and I could reach EVERYTHING and still talk to someone, the transition to Mum or Dad

• Sigsy said on 06/11/27 at 11:24 PM.....

  Where is home?

• j-ster said on 06/11/28 at 11:33 AM.....

  er… home is, um, well, yeah, good question. I think home in the first sentence of the last paragraph was actually the internet more than anything (and thats a bit scary!).