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Andrew Fifita should not have been allowed to play for Cronulla against Canterbury yesterday, but that debate will quickly become one of minor significance if his behaviour at a junior game on Saturday is proved to be as bad as has been alleged.
Fifita would surely be suspended until the end of the season – at least. His brother, David, who was also involved in the incident but didn’t play yesterday because of injury, would also face the possibility of a heavy penalty.
That seems clear from NRL chief executive Dave Smith’s comment that “if we become aware of any NRL players abusing match officials there will be very significant consequences”.
But, really, no-one should need to have the importance of policing behaviour at junior league games explained to them.
My son used to play junior rugby league in western Sydney and there were times when I was appalled by the behaviour of spectators. When I say ‘spectators’ I mean the parents of players.
Wrong messages were sent to kids from over the fence as they were egged on to go over the top.
Referees were targets of abuse. I remember once I had parked my car at a game and before I even closed the door after getting out I heard a spectator yell “somebody get the ref”.
The offenders were well in the minority, but a minority is still way too much when we’re talking about this sort of thing. A minority can still have a huge impact.
Poor spectator behaviour is an ongoing problem at junior league games and if one good thing comes out of this matter involving the Fifita brothers – Andrew was a spectator and David an on-field trainer for one of the teams – it is that it will further highlight the problem.
Cronulla chief executive Lyall Gorman said yesterday that “there is certainly no doubt that both of our players at one level or another have acted very inappropriately in terms of letting themselves down, letting their teammates down, letting our club down and more importantly letting the whole of rugby league down”.
That view should have been more than enough reason to stand the Fifitas down from yesterday’s game.
Gorman said “in one of the areas there seems to be some grey, which I need to get on top of before I rush to the right or wrong decisions”.
That comment is understood to be related to the allegation Andrew Fifita had physically threatened the referee of the junior league game by saying “I’ll smash you”.
The referee had pulled out his mobile phone to record David Fifita’s alleged abuse of him.
There has since been a reported suggestion that Andrew Fifita denies making physical threats and instead told the referee “I’ll smash your phone”.
But whether Fifita said “I’ll smash you” or “I’ll smash your phone”, there remained Gorman’s overall assessment ahead of yesterday’s game being played that “there is certainly no doubt that both of our players at one level or another have acted very inappropriately in terms of letting themselves down, letting their teammates down, letting our club down and more importantly letting the whole of rugby league down”.
So how could Andrew Fifita have been allowed to play? And if Cronulla wasn’t prepared to stand him down, the NRL should have stepped in and done so.
Whatever the referee was able to record on his mobile phone will obviously be very important in determining exactly what did happen and what the punishment should be.
Some people may ask why should Andrew Fifita have been stood down if Sydney Roosters player Shaun Kenny-Dowall wasn’t stood down from a game the previous weekend after he was the subject of domestic violence charges.
Kenny-Dowall didn’t play, but he wasn’t stood down by his club or the NRL. It became clear to his club that he wasn’t in the right mental state to play, so it was decided he wouldn’t play. He again didn’t play on the weekend just gone.
The two matters are vastly different.
Domestic violence is to be abhorred and if Kenny-Dowall is found guilty he will get what he deserves, but he is set to fight the charges.
It is a conundrum for the NRL. Do you stand a player down who is the subject of such charges until the matter is finalised in court, or do you allow him the presumption of innocence and the right to continue playing in the meantime?
In the case of the Fifita brothers, their own club stated that they had acted very inappropriately and let themselves, their teammates, their club and the game down.
This matter will reach a conclusion fairly swiftly, one would expect.
I would much rather be talking about the weekend NRL games, but the issue of spectator behaviour at junior games is a major one that should be highlighted.
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