While the NRL is embroiled in another media frenzy over Todd Carney’s act of stupidity, the AFL has had little backlash regarding a player being charged with rape.
Majak Daw was recently charged with three counts of rape from an incident in 2007.
Yet in a club statement, North Melbourne said Daw would play on.
The club respects the integrity of the legal process and asks the right to privacy of all involved be respected.
North Melbourne will support Majak and he will remain available for selection at VFL and AFL level.
This is the subject of an ongoing legal proceeding and it is not appropriate for Majak or North Melbourne to make any comment.
The Roar’s story on the Daw case received 51 comments, none too nasty, and not one fan-based article has been written on the matter. Yet when Todd Carney pissed in his own mouth, there was total outrage in the media, and a plethora of articles by fans on The Roar.
There has been heated argument about what should or shouldn’t happen to Carney, with most happy to see the end of him. This is a fairly normal reaction to an NRL player doing something stupid. I agree with him being sacked, but it wasn’t so long ago that I would have sided with those claiming that he should not be.
In an ideal world, Todd’s photo would have remained private, but whether we like it or not, with mobile phones and the internet, a lot of things that should be private are not.
In an ideal world, people would look at Todd’s photo, say “what a boofhead”, and move on, but in reality people took offence and wanted action.
And it did hurt people – it hurt those fans who do not appreciate the crudity of the incident but love the game, so feel every kick when it is beaten by the media and public.
In an ideal world NRL players would be treated by the media and public like their AFL cousins, allowed to get on with playing the game while their club or the police, if required, investigate a matter. But in reality they are subject to trial by media.
Yes there have been exceptions – Ben Cousins caused a media frenzy – but nothing like when an NRL player gets into trouble. It’s unfair, but it is how the Australian media and fans react to off-field incidents from NRL and AFL players.
I don’t know if Carney did or did not break any laws, but that is irrelevant to whether he should be sacked or not. My workplace has a code of conduct that I can be sacked for breaching and I do not have to break the law to breach the code of conduct.
Players today may want to live in a world where we only discuss what they do on the field, but the reality is that NRL players don’t live in that world.
They will be photographed, it will go viral and people will be upset, sponsors will be turned off (ironically the Sharks picked up a good sponsor this week).
Only once these types of unsavoury incidents stop occurring will we be able to talk about how many times a Burgess brother drops the ball or how good Jamie Soward is playing for the Panthers.
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