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After NRL headlines were dominated by yet another drug scandal in the past few weeks, the opening of the 2015 season should have provided some respite – an opportunity to promote everything brilliant about this great game.
For three nights we were reminded why we love it. Souths showed why they’re the greatest team in the code, the Roosters flexed their muscles and the Tigers took home a thriller.
Then on Sunday afternoon, rugby league’s hard work came undone with its celebration of the Canberra Raider’s Jack Wighton blindly throwing punches at Sosaia Feki with complete disregard for their potentially tragic consequences.
Then, just to compound the matter, this same bloke was awarded man of the match. Now what kind of a message does that send?
Granted it isn’t NRL HQ glorifying this behaviour but rather the commentators and reporters. However, the opinion of these experts inform the masses and hearing Andrew Voss gleefully screaming as the melee unfolded was just downright embarrassing. Reactions like this, even if they are reflex and unintentional, dominate rugby league and imply that violence like this is not only tolerable but should be celebrated.
Well, I have news for you: it’s not. Society has made it abundantly clear where it stands on coward punches and rugby league needs to catch up.
Throwing a punch at someone who is unprepared in any circumstance is unacceptable, especially one thrown at the head. It is cowardly, stupid and incredibly dangerous. One punch can change someone’s life completely, causing brain damage and even death.
In 2013, the NRL introduced a one punch policy that sees any player throwing a punch sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes and potentially facing the judiciary. The rule was introduced to prevent punches and coward punches from occurring, yet players and coaches clearly aren’t heeding the rule.
Des Hasler, a premiership winning coach still working in the NRL today, had this pearler to say last season on Sky Sports Radio when discussing the rule.
“I think they have got to really look at the one punch… sometimes a punch can just look like a push or a shove… they really, really need to refine that, they really need to be sure that it is a punch.”
It was a view shared by many rugby league circles and it is vitriol like this that displays the ignorance permeating the code. Punches shouldn’t be in the sport at all, whether they look like a punch, a shove or a turtle riding a dog. You can’t just punch someone in the street so why should rugby league be any different?
I agree with Hasler that the rule should be refined but only because it clearly isn’t sending a strong enough message to breakthrough the outdated culture of the code. It needs to be amended so that any punch thrown results in an automatic send off, excluding the player from the remainder of the game, and an automatic match ban (at least five, more if it causes serious injury).
This needs to be enforced at all levels of the game, clearly showcasing that violence like this does not belong in the game, leading to its eradication.
You have an opportunity here, David Smith, to send a definitive message to current and future players that actions like this won’t be tolerated by the sport and the wider nation the sport represents.
Please, act responsibly, educate this great game and rid yourself of these cowardly acts. If you don’t then it’s only a matter of time until a life is changed for the worse forever.
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