The Club a play written by David Williamson which offers a look at the power portr

ayed by the big men of the sporting industry. The main characters Ted Parker, Jo
ck Riley and Gerry Cooper abuse their power through rivalry because of personali
ty, morals/beliefs/values and manipulation. Martin Luther-King Jr's speech I had
a dream is another example of abuse of power through rivalry because King abused
his power as an African American with no power and the white Americans abused th
eir power because discrimination and segregation of the Black to White Americans
.
In Williamson s play Ted Parker abuses power through his personality this can be s
een as Ted is given power through his role as Club President, but he is unsucces
sful in using that power and is inadequate to influence change or communicate o
pinion due to his weak personality. This resulted in the other characters within
The Club disregarding Ted causing rivalry between characters. This is observabl
e when Danny Rowe the team Captain says to Ted You watch the way you talk to me i
n the future, Parker, or you ll end up getting flattened. . This statement portrays
the control prevalent as the Club captain is threatening the Club president. Joc
k Riley abuses his power as he regularly changes his morals, beliefs and values
in order to gather more power and better himself over the other members of the C
lub. This is shown when Laurie says Jock is an old bastard. Two years ago he was
thrumping the table in Committee meetings and yelling at the top of his lungs th
at the Club would never stoop to buying players. . This explains Jocks morals and
beliefs in regards to buying new players during the period of Laurie being coach
, as he did not want him to increase possession of talented footballers in orde
r to get back at Laurie for getting him fired as coach. Jock later says Of course
we re going to buy more players. We re going to go on the biggest buying spree in t
he history of the game. . Gerry Cooper abuses his power through manipulation. Gerr
y manipulates others into being in battle with each other in the promotion of hi
s own objectives. It is noticeable that Gerry is is involved in the club for mor
e personal reasons than for the well-being of the club. Gerry says to Laurie abo
ut using one or two of the clubs older players I m just an administrator, you re the
expert. . This statement is ironic as it is noticeable because Gerry has the power
and knows it himself. He is trying to wield Laurie's thinking through his knowl
edge and intelligence in order to get him to sell Danny. These methods manipulat
ion, morals/beliefs/values and personality are all used to are all used to abuse
power which causes rivalry between the characters of the play.
Martin Luther King Jr as well as the white Americans abuses their power through
segregation and discrimination as the white Americans segregated and discriminat
ed the black Americans. In Martin Luther Kings Jr's speech I Had a Dream King says
millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustic
e. . This refers when the black Americans were separated from whites by law and by
private action in transport, public accommodations, recreational facilities, pr
isons, armed forces, and schools in both the Northern and southern states of Ame
rica and the discrimination and segregation from the white Americans to the blac
k Americans. This discrimination and segregation caused rivalry between the two
different races by the laws and legislations that the black Americans had to abi
de to. Martin Luther King Jr abused his power by using power that he did not hav
e. So we have come to cash this check - a check that will give us upon demand ric
hes of freedom and the security of justice. . This is an example of King abusing h
is power as being a black American he did not possess power. This is noticeable
when he says so we have come to cash this check he is referring to power and that
him and the other black Americans don't have and that they want to gain their po
wer and have their say be heard. King organised this speech which was held at Wa
shington D.C after he tried to abuse his power before that by organising a prote
st held in Birmingham which got ambushed by police. Abuse of power by the white
Americans caused rivalry causing King to abuse his power back.

In both King s speech and Williamson's play The Club shows abuse of power through ri
valry because of segregation/discrimination by the white Americans to the black
Americans and morals/beliefs/values, personality and manipulation by the charac
ters in the play the Club by David Williamson.