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Erebus Motorsport boss Barry Ryan is forthright and foul-mouthed – which is why he is so popular with Supercars fans and media.
Ryan says what he thinks and isn’t afraid to be controversial.
That his tirades are often profanity ridden may, at times, be distasteful, but they are not offensive.
In 2023 – perhaps unfortunately – even the most sensitive ears are used to swearing in day-to-day conversation.
His language, as distasteful as it may have been, would not have shocked anyone.
Children hear – and use – worse words in the school playground.
Ryan should be applauded for his unfiltered comments, not sanctioned.
He has been forced to apologise for his outburst on live TV at Sydney Motorsport Park after being fined for swearing by Motorsport Australia, plus sentenced to serving a “motor sport community service” punishment.
He is also under threat of further action if he drops f-bombs and other profanities for the rest of the season.
Note that the sanction was imposed by Motorsport Australia, not Supercars. As sensitive as Supercars management is to criticism, they realise Barry Ryan generates much-needed headlines.
He goes where other team principals fear to tread, calling out injustices and stupidity in the most colourful and direct terms.
Sure, his language is often laced with profanities, which some would argue reflects a limited vocabulary and is unnecessary.
Ryan is eloquent enough when he’s unagitated and while swearing is undignified, it underlines his passion in high-stakes moments.
No one these days should be called out for all but the most demeaning, inappropriate gender-specific sobriquet.
Be careful what you wish for. We want characters in Supercars who say what they think.
Ryan is an oasis in a desert of dry quotes from team bosses, who couch and qualify their comments.
He should be allowed free reign within the realms of decency, not censored for the odd loose word or description.
It is iniquitous that Cam Waters’ expletive-laden outburst was forgiven because it was a team radio communication, which all drivers are aware can potentially go to air.
I am not defending Barry Ryan for his potty mouth per se.
He could – and should – exercise more restraint, but then that wouldn’t be him.
Ryan is an old-school team boss – the last of a generation of hard taskmasters.
Fans and media rejoice in his off-the-cuff emotion, creating headlines and healthy discussion.
Most of the time, he’s not trying to be outspoken or provocative, just speaking from the heart. He is tactless and guileless, afforded that luxury by hands-off team owner Betty Klimenko.
And why would she oppose his brusque, authoritarian approach when her quixotic team is leading the drivers’ and teams’ championships?
Ryan, for all his experience, is under pressure to deliver against the most successful team in Supercars history as Erebus battles Triple Eight.
Before this year, his utterances were amusements – now they carry weight.
Ryan is the Guenther Steiner of Supercars – or is it the other way around?
Following Steiner’s profanity ridden cult following in Season 1 of F1’s Drive to Survive, Ryan gained a similar reputation from Supercars’ behind-the-scenes series on Erebus’s 2018 season.
Heavily edited, he emerged – unfairly, the team maintains – from the docu-drama as a volatile, foul-mouthed authoritarian.
Don’t get me wrong – Barry Ryan is hard work for regular Supercars media.
He gives us headlines, but he also gives us grief.
He often seems surprised that we highlight, if not sensationalise, his inflammatory pronouncements.
Like many in the game, he uses the media when it suits him, then turns on us when it doesn’t come out the way he meant in his mind.
I’ve had run-ins with Ryan in his Erebus era, but to his credit, he usually moves on and gets over any perceived slight.
We are in a no-speak phase, apparently due to Speedcafe’s reporting of his unsolicited comments to me about the Ford teams’ performance at Symmons Plains.
History suggests he’ll come around again sooner than later – but if he doesn’t, past precedent is also that we’ll both get along without direct communication.
Regardless, I will defend Ryan’s right to absolute freedom of speech.
Motorsport Australia’s muzzle robs Supercars of a much-needed counter-balance to party line comments.
Ryan shouldn’t have been forced into a humbling climb-down when all he did was express his frustration – albeit ‘colourfully’ – in the heat of the moment.
Short of racial or gender slurs, and personal criticism of the stewards, participants must be allowed to speak their minds.
Censorship is the slippery slope towards no debate or dissension, which any sport – or enterprise – needs to progress.
Love him or hate him, Barry Ryan has been ‘hung out to dry’ over what, by normal societal standards, was a very minor indiscretion.
If we don’t hear more gritty appraisals from him, all Supercars fans and media will be the poorer – f-bombs and all!
