Won Casey vs Normie Rowe
Guy L Debelle
Guy Debelle
"Stranded far from home" - The Saints 1976
Tony Gedge
> They were on a talk show debating Australia becoming a Republic. Casey was
>on the Republican side, Rowe was a Royalist (I know this because Bruce Ruxton
>was on Rowe's side). From the clip I saw on the TV, Casey seemed to say
>something derogatory about Her Majesty, at which point Rowe marched across the
>room to stand over Casey to shout at him better. Casey stood up, and Rowe
>shoved him back into his seat. Casey responded with a wild punch (which
>apparently hit, though it didn't look like it), but then everyone jumped up
>and grabbed them.
Actually, Casey had been abusing the royalist panel for the duration of the
debate (which was unfortunate, since his fellows on the rebulican panel were
putting their case forward very well) and during this time Rowe had made a
few comments. Rowe attempted to make a comment after being invited by ray
martin, and had barely said a few words before Casey accused him of using the
fact that he was a serviceman and a vietnam veteran as a weapon and jeered
Rowe calling him "oh you hero". At this point, Rowe stood up and said that
he took offence at the remark. Casey continued along the same vain and Rowe
called Casey "a low rat". About this this point I believe Casey may have said
something derogatory about the Queen (but I am not sure). After that, Rowe
went over to Casey and Casey began to rise from his chair. Rowe pushed Casey
back down into his chair and I think the chair almost fell over. Casy then
jumped up and swung a punch at Rowe, which apparently connected (but again, I
am not sure).
I found the scene pointless.
In this case, I would say that Casey provoked the reaction from Rowe.
I believe that the whole debate may have been much better if Casey had not been
there. I found Caseys remarks distasteful and IMHO he did not contribute one
iota to the debate. I do not think Rowe should have "attacked" Casey either -
he should have been able to control himself better, especially since he must
have known that such loudmouth behavior is typical of Casey.
Two things stood out in that debate:
1) Bruce Ruxton was unbelievably controlled.
2) The royalists were IMHO gagged by Caseys loudmouth.
Point (2) is a pity, since I think the debate *could* have been very good if
Bruce Ruxton could have explained the point he was trying to make so that
people could understand it. IMHO, with the exception of Casey, the speakers
on both sides were attempting to present a rational arguement.
Tony Gedge.
--
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| Computer Science Department, | to...@cs.uq.oz.au (Tony Gedge) |
| University of Queensland, Australia.| "cc stands for Cryptic Crossword" |
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Friendless
>I heard that there was a segment on the end of the news last week here in
>the US which showed a standup brawl between Won (Ron) Casey and Normie Rowe.
>Can someone please supply further details?
on the Republican side, Rowe was a Royalist (I know this because Bruce Ruxton
was on Rowe's side). From the clip I saw on the TV, Casey seemed to say
something derogatory about Her Majesty, at which point Rowe marched across the
room to stand over Casey to shout at him better. Casey stood up, and Rowe
shoved him back into his seat. Casey responded with a wild punch (which
apparently hit, though it didn't look like it), but then everyone jumped up
and grabbed them.
Friendless
Brendan CARTER
>I heard that there was a segment on the end of the news last week here in the US which showed a standup brawl between Won (Ron) Casey and Normie Rowe. Can someone please supply further details?
Yes, yes, yes...and bloody funny it was too. Ron and Normie were part of a
panel that was discussing the issue of whether Australia should become a
Republic or not, that was on the Midday show with Ray Martin. These two really
represented the two extremes of opinion on the matter. Anyway, it seems that
Ron had a few racist comments to make during the commercial break which Normie
then repeated after the break was over. This, and the issue at hand, seemed to
incense Ron pretty badly, and so he decided to make a few derogatory comments
about Normie's involvement in Vietnam. He said something about Normie being
"a real war hero" (I could be wrong, but I think Normie went to Vietnam as an
entertainer and not a soldier, and as such never saw combat. Ron of course
was an infantry-person in WWII). Normie took these rather sarcastic comments
personally, and leapt out of his seat, and strode toward Ron with questionable
intent. Ron tried to leap out of his seat with equal gusto, but his old bones
are not what they used to be, and he was only just reaching his feet when
Normie arrived to thrust him forcibly back into the chair from which Ron had
only just arisen. Well, Ron hadn't encountered this sort of personal affront
since the war, and as Normie was standing around looking pleased with himself,
Ron managed to regain his feet and let fly with a wild haymaker. To everyones
surprise, the punch actually landed, putting a very startled Normie Rowe on the
back pedal. Normie recovered his senses, and began to set about squaring the ledger with Ron, when the station security gaurds arrived to break up the melee.
The fight was probably a norrow points decision to Ron, who was the only
combatant to land a blow, however the big winner was channel Nine, who get more
than their money's worth out of the television coverage. Channel Nine played,
the thing so much, that it looked to be their new station promo for a while.
Hope this has answered the question.
Brendan Carter.
s91...@otto.bf.rmit.oz.au
Boyd Roberts
>
> I found the scene pointless.
>
What did you expect? You were watching `The Midday Show'! (gag)
I reckon a bit of biff is just what the show needs.
Boyd Roberts bo...@prl.dec.com
``When the going gets wierd, the weird turn pro...''
Denis Wright
>
> incense Ron pretty badly, and so he decided to make a few derogatory comments
> about Normie's involvement in Vietnam. He said something about Normie being
> "a real war hero" (I could be wrong, but I think Normie went to Vietnam as an
> entertainer and not a soldier, and as such never saw combat. Ron of course
Like the rest of us who were approaching 20 in 1965, Normie faced the barrel
of marbles and his birthdate matched. Consequently (shades of Elvis!) he
was called up, but whether he saw action I cannot say. I doubt it.
He was never in Vietnam as an entertainer. He was supposed to blast
anything that moved and get blown up in land mines like all the other
footsloggers.
Under the circumstances, it is hard to imagine that he would be restrained
when Casey questioned his war record.
Denis Wright.
bxr...@csc.anu.edu.au
>
>>I heard that there was a segment on the end of the news last week here in the US which showed a standup brawl between Won (Ron) Casey and Normie Rowe. Can someone please supply further details?
> "a real war hero" (I could be wrong, but I think Normie went to Vietnam as an
> entertainer and not a soldier, and as such never saw combat. Ron of course
> was an infantry-person in WWII). Normie took these rather sarcastic comments
> personally, and leapt out of his seat, and strode toward Ron with questionable
> intent.
Your wrong. Normie was conscripted on his 21st birthday and served in
an infantry battalion (5 RAR I think going by a faulty memory) in Vietnam.
I heard an interesting story about this though which goes that several
years after his period of service Normie Rowe was pulled over by a copper for
speeding and when he presented his license the copper apparently remarked that
he shared the same birthday with Normie. When Normie asked which unit he
had served his National Service in the copper told him that he hadn't been
called up. Clearly this was impossible because of the lottery system which
required all those who shared the same birthday had to report for service.
Apparently Normie suspected some was a bit odd and he checked back with the
Department of Defence. He found that no one else with his birthday had been
called up. He apparently now suspects that because of his popularity he was
marked for special attention by someone in the National Service Board because
of some of his anti-war comments.
Normie Rowe was unusual in that he was the only "famous" person (or
son of a "famous"/powerful person) who actually went to Vietnam. The National
Service system was open to considerable abuse at the time. Many sons were
sent overseas to avoid service and large numbers of others joined the CMF to
also avoid it.
--
Brian Ross________________________________________________________________
"If we got it so wrong in the Middle East yesterday, what makes
you think we are going to get it right this time?"
_____________________________________________________Arthur Schlesinger___
bxr...@csc.anu.edu.au
Something I forgot to add. Ruxton, despite all his bluster, has seen
no war service. In fact Ruxton served as a cook in BCOF (British -
Commonwealth Occupation Forces) in Japan in the immediate post-war period. He
was too young apparently to see service in WWII. Casey, going by his antics
in attacking Normie over his war service, most probably did not see any war
service either. Perhaps some one else on the net can confirm or deny it?
Paul O'Donnell
>>I heard that there was a segment on the end of the news last week here in
>>the US which showed a standup brawl between Won (Ron) Casey and Normie Rowe.
> They were on a talk show debating Australia becoming a Republic. Casey was
>on the Republican side, Rowe was a Royalist (I know this because Bruce Ruxton
>was on Rowe's side). From the clip I saw on the TV, Casey seemed to say
>something derogatory about Her Majesty, at which point Rowe marched across the
>room to stand over Casey to shout at him better. Casey stood up, and Rowe
>shoved him back into his seat. Casey responded with a wild punch (which
>apparently hit, though it didn't look like it), but then everyone jumped up
>and grabbed them.
BZZT, incorrect. Casey started accusing Rowe of believing he was better
than everyone else because he was a Vietnam vet and made some derogatory
remarks about a badge Rowe was wearing (which we didn't see). Rowe walked
over to show it to him at which point Casey stood up. (It was all rather
heated at this stage and Casey was being the obnoxious dickhead we all know
and hate him for). Rowe pushed him back into his seat which is when Casey
got up and hit Rowe.
Paul
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Iain D. Sinclair
s91...@otto.bf.rmit.oz.au (Brendan CARTER) writes:
>>>He said something about Normie being
>>> "a real war hero"
(As a point of reference, Casey's words were: "oh, you're a bloody hero,
mate!")
The *really* sad thing about this incident is that it throws Australia
into the same league as the US, with primal aggression staged for ratings,
with its shock-jocks and talk-show loudmouths. Poor form.
bxr...@csc.anu.edu.au writes:
> Something I forgot to add. Ruxton, despite all his bluster, has seen
>no war service. In fact Ruxton served as a cook in BCOF (British -
>Commonwealth Occupation Forces) in Japan in the immediate post-war period. He
> was too young apparently to see service in WWII. Casey, going by his antics
>in attacking Normie over his war service, most probably did not see any war
>service either. Perhaps some one else on the net can confirm or deny it?
(I'm not sure about either of these biographical details, BTW:)
Bruce Ruxton never got past the rank of private. This is more embarassing
than you'd think, because the previous 3 generations of Ruxtons all
saw military service & were all highly decorated.
Casey hasn't seen any military service. Interestingly, he is married
to a German (Yugoslav?) woman.
and now, back to Ron Casey's Chinese Cooking...
--
Iain Dick Sinclair \_\ +61 2 2812552
axo...@socs.uts.edu.au /_/ +61 2 3301807 (fax)
Iain D. Sinclair
bo...@prl.dec.com (Boyd Roberts) writes:
>What did you expect? You were watching `The Midday Show'! (gag)
>
>I reckon a bit of biff is just what the show needs.
That night, they ran an advertisement saying, "Tomorrow on the
Midday Show -- Paul Keating!" to which my flatmate & I replied in
unison: "...versus Bob Hawke!"
Ray Martin's little show should be watched by everyone intending
to visit Australia. It's a good example of what a worryingly large
number of Australians regard as 'entertainment'. The same goes
for Vizard, too.