‘Clare’ bragged about Johns romp: friend
Related coverage
A former work colleague of the woman at the centre of the Cronulla Sharks sex scandal involving Matthew Johns claims her co-worker bragged about the incident.
Tania Boyd has told the Nine Network that the woman in the ABC’s Four Corners report, identified as “Clare”, had boasted to her workmates about bedding several players and only contacted police five days after the alleged incident.
“She was absolutely excited about the fact. She was bragging about it to the staff and quite willing, openly saying how she had sex with several players,” said Boyd.
“We were quite disgusted about it. There was no trauma whatsoever.
“I’m disgusted that a woman can all of a sudden change her story from having a great time to then turning it into a terrible crime.
“One minute she was absolutely bragging about it, she did not know names. These names only came to light to us in the last day.
“We all just thought it was hilarious until five days later the police came to work and were horrified she had now changed her story to say she was now a victim of crime.
“It was definitely consensual, absolutely.
“She is saying she is still traumatised etcetera, well she wasn’t for five days, or four days at least, after that affair.
“I can’t work out what’s happened. Does it take five days for it to sink in?”
The woman told the ABC that the night in which she had group sex with several Cronulla players at a Christchurch hotel seven years ago left her with psychological damage and led her to abandoning her studies.
Psychiatrists reported that she was suicidal, had cut her wrists several times and bought a rope to hang herself.
She told the ABC she felt degraded and traumatised by the incident and despised the players involved.
Among the allegations aired on Monday, the woman said two men rubbed their penises in her face while other men stood watching and masturbating.
Six men had sex with her while another six looked on. There was always someone touching her, she said.
“For years and years afterwards I was drinking a lot, crying a lot and losing a lot of friends and doing quite destructive things to myself and other people,” she told the program.
“At the end of it, I wasn’t so much drinking heaps and heaps, I was more scared to go out of the house.”
She said the destructive period lasted about four or five years and she was now speaking out to let the wives and girlfriends of those involved know what they had done.
“I was so angry and I wanted their lives destroyed like mine was,” she said.
“If I had a gun I’d shoot them right now.
“I hate them. They disgust me. For all that they did, I hate them so much.”
© AAP 2013- Explore:
- Cronulla Sharks, Matthew Johns, NRL, Rugby League
May 15th 2009 @ 11:07am
Dan said | May 15th 2009 @ 11:07am | Report comment
Well this is interesting… maybe this woman was all that well in the head to begin with?
Still, I honestly can’t work out what the hell the sharks players were thinking… I mean who the hell gets off on a room full of guys anyway? There’s just something so homoerotic about it all.
May 15th 2009 @ 11:13am
Chop said | May 15th 2009 @ 11:13am | Report comment
It will be interesting to see what the moral police say if this turns out to be true. They’ve already claimed their victim, I bet you plenty there won’t be an apology if it turns out to be true.
I’m not saying what happened doesn’t turn my stomach a little, it’s definitely not my idea of a good time, but if it turns out that she bragged about it, then decided ‘oops that wasn’t good judgement, I better cover this up somehow’ and runs to the police then a lot of people are going to be eating humble pie.
May 15th 2009 @ 11:21am
Jameswm said | May 15th 2009 @ 11:21am | Report comment
I don’t see why anyone should be eating humble pie, Chop.
Her bragging about it, which I’ll get to later, doesn’t change a lot of things, like:
1. Johns cheated on his wife
2. Johns did it in front of his mates, which is even more humiliating to his wife
3. this taught the younger blokes that cheating with your wife and participating in group sex while married are both OK
4. the other players came in during the act, uninvited, in a manner that seems to have been pre-arranged
5. Johns allowed others to go next, in doing so treating the girl with little respect
6. Johns admitted he wasn’t sure what was happening was right, and he left the room. Where was the morality and leadership to tell them all to shove off?
There are other things about what the other players did, but these 6 relate directly to Johns.
As for her bragging about it, I’m not a professional psychologist but this doesn’t mean she didn’t feel completely sick about it, and suffering from self-loathing at the same time. The bragging may have been to make herself feel bigger, and overall feel better about the whole shebang.
May 15th 2009 @ 11:31am
Dan said | May 15th 2009 @ 11:31am | Report comment
You’re spot on Jameswm,
There’s no defending the actions of the sharks players here. Even if this girl was consensual and a bit of a ditz, it doesn’t change the fact that she was only 19 and a bunch of older men decided to use her as a f#ck toy. There’s definitely a bad message in all this with regard to attitudes to women; players need to understand that they hold a position of power and trust over these kids that can’t be abused no matter how easy their misguided and willing attentions may make it all seem.
May 15th 2009 @ 3:09pm
Chop said | May 15th 2009 @ 3:09pm | Report comment
1 Yep Johns cheated on his wife, who should he answer to? His wife or the Australian public?
2 Again who does he answer to? His wife or the Australian public?
3 I agree it sets a bad example, but they are all grown men, with (theoretically) brains of their own to make decisions. They’re humans not lemmings….They could have said ‘I don’t want a part of this’ just because Matthew Johns did it doesn’t make it right. They made their own decisions.
4 ‘Seems to have been pre-arranged’ pure speculation on your part, I don’t know it wasn’t, but you certainly don’t know it was. Lets not forget a police investigation failed to find anything illegal. I’ll say it again so you understand ‘I’m not saying what happened doesn’t turn my stomach a little’ and it is disgusting in my opinion but it happens and I’ve seen it happen.
Christchurch police said yesterday they would not reopen the case, having interviewed 40 touring squad members and staff from the Sharks, as well as hotel employees, and “no new information has come to hand since the matter was investigated seven years ago”.
“We were satisfied that full, frank and honest accounts were given to us by all persons spoken to,” said acting detective inspector David Long, who worked on the investigation.
“All accounts obtained were analysed and cross referenced with all other persons spoken to in New Zealand as part of the investigation.
“Police are satisfied that no evidence was established that would support criminal charges being laid against any person. The female complainant was fully advised at the time of the outcome of the inquiry and accepted this.
“We are confident that we have stepped through all the issues relating to the allegations made.
“A central issue of the investigation related to the issue of consent. This related to consent on behalf of the female involved and the belief of others who may have had contact with her that she consented to the activity that took place.”
5 He’s stated he walked out of the room. How can you say she didn’t have the option to do the same? You can’t? I can’t say she did but you are making accusations you can not back up.
6 Morally you are spot on, but does a lack of morality bring this consequence on other people? 9 was ok with Matt Newton who pleaded guilty starring on their TV station.
As you state you’re not a professional psychologist neither am I, but I guess am more guided by the official police report than a sabotage peice of hack journalism from the ABC which I don’t think revealed both sides of the story. Why wasn’t this friend interviewed to balance the story?
I WAS with the boys from Cronulla Sharks last night, I don’t even know how many.” This was the alleged boast made to co-workers by the woman at the centre of the 2002 group sex scandal that has rocked rugby league this week.
Tania Boyd, the woman’s former colleague at the Racecourse Hotel in Christchurch, said the day after the incident the teenage kitchen-hand had walked in “bragging” of the experience.
“I was disgusted,” Boyd told the Herald. “I was absolutely amazed she had come in bragging about it.
“We were all disgusted by her behaviour. She didn’t show any trauma.
“When we were told there was a police investigation four or five days later, it absolutely blew us away. I told police I thought it was all made up, and I believe many of the other staff told them the same thing.”
I just think the stakes were to high for Nine and they were made to take the high moral ground. I would suspect if he was sacked and took action for unfair dismissal he’d probably win.
May 15th 2009 @ 3:40pm
Pippinu said | May 15th 2009 @ 3:40pm | Report comment
It would appear that on the one hand Tania Boyd was “disgusted” by the incident, and on the other, did her level best to ensure the charges would be dropped, i.e. because the sheila was obviously asking to be poked and prodded by a dozen big fat ugly boofheads while assorted others, including club officials, stood around and watched, with an endless stream coming and going at will, some even through the bathroom window.
Yep, definitely sounds like the sheila asked for it (and boyo, didn’t she get it with interest!).
The cops clearly did a good job there (were they all blokes as well?).
The bit about boofheads trying to scamper in through the bathroom window reminds me that Joe Cocker should do another version of the Beatles classic:
They came in through the bathroom window
For a bit of a poke and a blow
Others were there just to have a gawk
These are real men afterall, at least that’s the talk
May 15th 2009 @ 4:06pm
John Ryan said | May 15th 2009 @ 4:06pm | Report comment
it does not fit your preconceived ideas Pip so its worthless,maybe if the Collective at the ABC had bothered to inquire it may have saved a lot of time and money and needless abuse,I think there is now reasonable doubt.
The hand wringers wont be happy.
May 15th 2009 @ 4:21pm
Chop said | May 15th 2009 @ 4:21pm | Report comment
John, if only reasonable doubt mattered, the jury of public opinion has affectively destroyed him. It doesn’t seem to matter that there was only one side to the story which has been adopted as fact.
Anyway I’ve had my say, I’m going home to watch the Brumbies and Chiefs.
May 15th 2009 @ 4:23pm
Pippinu said | May 15th 2009 @ 4:23pm | Report comment
JR
there’s plenty of material yet in this one – I’m actually more concerned by the fact that she went out of her way to convince the police that she was absolutely fine with it, couldn’t be better, loved it, was screaming for more – it was all her fault!!!
May 15th 2009 @ 4:58pm
Choppy said | May 15th 2009 @ 4:58pm | Report comment
I don’t think anyone has said that PIP
I have said I don’t think Matthew Johns has been fairly treated through the reporting of the incident which I think seems to be a bit sloppy and only reported opinions which backed up their angle.
Have you seen the reports about he poor knights player who’s quote was taken completely out of context? They used it as an answer to a completely different question.
The more I hear about this the more I think the journalistic standard is poor