Cronulla and NSW skipper Paul Gallen said abusive rugby league fans and some late night drinks led to his Twitter gaffe that cost him $50,000.
Gallen was hit with the massive fine after a disparaging remark directed towards NRL officials while he was on holiday in Hawaii.
“I was out at a restaurant, going through my Instagram feed and I had a photo with an Australian. Turns out he was from Queensland and he had a crack at me on the actual photo and that’s what annoyed me,” Gallen told radio station TripleM.
“I went out and met Pearcey (Roosters halfback Mitchell Pearce) later on, had a few drinks and this topic came up and I was talking about it.
“It got me upset, then more drinks and as I was leaving the pub late at night, I got heckled by a bunch of Australians.
“I got back in the hotel, the WIFI came on the phone and Noycey (Cronulla CEO Steve Noyce) had been sacked. It upset me. I wrote the tweet in the foyer of my hotel, I got up to my room and deleted it but it had already got out there.”
Gallen, who is also serving out the final fortnight of his drugs ban from the ASADA scandal, has appealed the severity of the fine.
“We have sent the appeal back to the NRL, they review it and we wait and see what the outcome is,” he said.
Gallen said he didn’t have any issues with the Sharks despite the club endorsing the fine but indicated he hadn’t cleared the air with NRL officials.
“I’ve got no problem with them (Sharks board) at all,” he said.
“There are a couple of underlying issues that I have (with the NRL).”
Despite a rough two years in the wake of the supplements scandal and the fact he is 33, Gallen said giving up the game wasn’t an option despite the controversies.
“I never did (think about retiring), and I’m not thinking about it now,” he said.
“I think I have proved I can still mix it at the top level. I’ve never thought about pulling the pin at all.”
The Barry
Roar Guru
That's the best call here WDD...it's done, he's copped a significant punishment, lets move on.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Gallen can't win then. If he doesn't apologise he gets hammered for being unrepentant. If he does then it's only because his 'entourage' told him to. Are you saying that Gallen took his "player manager, agent’s, lawyers etc" to Hawaii with him?
Renegade
Roar Guru
I've witnessed it a couple times as well EJ. One in particular involved Greg Bird... he cops a fair bit of flak from fans but i've witnessed him getting abused and heckled by a bunch of guys who were looking to cause havoc when he was out for a few drinks with mates and he just copped it on the chin and walked away.... as you said, it's a disgusting part of our society.
Renegade
Guest
Ok, fair enough you've certainly never hidden your dislike, i'll pay that. I've heard the interview on radio and he certainly wasn't trying to drag pearce into it.... the creative journalists are taking it for a ride. I'm a reasonable person and i certainly don't see it that way.... he purely mentioned it because there were photos of him and pearce posted online only hours before the infamous tweet. Gallen can certainly never claim to be cool, calm or collected in his approach and i wouldn't call him intelligent however he is generally very articulate in his media interviews and conveys his message very well....I think his got a big post-football career.
William Dalton Davis
Roar Rookie
So he got heckled by a few bogans, teased by a QLDer on Instagram, and got drunk. Which led to him calling the NRL admins a bunch of c***s. Not very solid reasoning there mr GalPal. I seriously wish we could just put this issue to bed. He's been punished let's just get on with it.
Tom G
Guest
Listened to it and found that the words around the mea culpa were pretty hollow and frankly he had little option. If he was as contrite as you are suggesting, his response to the question would have been to say that no matter what the circumstances I stuffed up... guess what? He didn't, as per usual! The guy is a serial boofhead
Statler and Waldorf
Roar Guru
he dleted the text - if that doesn't show remorse what does?
Basil B'borgnay
Guest
oh look, another abuse gallen thread. How refreshing!
Matthew Skellett
Guest
Yeah surprise surprise the Villain of the piece suddenly wants to blame something/someone else for his predicament -suck it up Mr Gallen -YOU are the person most responsible for the trouble you're in -just pure dumb
Gav
Guest
Could always give his Twitter account back to his Dad to comment from :)
Brett
Guest
Yawn! Poor excuse from a drug cheat.
Tricky Ricky
Guest
Gallen should holiday at the North Pole next time where their is no Twitter!
chump
Guest
Surprised the NRL only took 50k off him. They'd just paid $80k for his drug taking legal fees.
Don
Roar Rookie
Whilst I don't have much faith in a press story carrying the whole truth, i n the matter of the $80K of legal expenses being funded by the NRL you would think if it was incorrect we would have heard denials from Gallen and his posse. His management and even the man himself are usually pretty quick to get line up their mate Rothfield to either endorse or debunk stuff for them.
pot stirrer
Guest
I lost all respect for Gallen when he played the Depression Card. Its not depression if u have done something wrong and facing up to those consequences makes you worried. People who have Depression dont know why they feel the way they do which is why it is so hard to treat.
Kurt S
Roar Pro
If it wasn't true John, Gallen would have the SMH in court right now. He hasn't. That explains it. Time to take the rose coloured glasses off and have a real look at the facts surrounding the convicted drug cheat.
John
Guest
How good of you to copy a link to a story story obviously leaked by the NRL while they were doing damage control after a high court judge resigned in disgust following the fine. how do we even know if the 80k fee is accurate....just because they said it is? what was the overall amount? how do you know Gallen received more than other players? most importantly, if all players were told at the start that legal fees would be covered, how is it that anything other than an attempt to discredit Gallen?
Kurt S
Roar Pro
John I think we will have to agree to disagree. But just for laughs, do me a favour and send a tweet to your employer similar to the one Gallen sent to his and let us all know the outcome. :)
Kurt S
Roar Pro
John I hardly find it immaterial. http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/nrl-paid-80000-of-paul-gallens-asada-legal-fees-20141030-11e6qx.html Gallen's social media post stated that the NRL don't support him. They did. 80,000 times.
Joel
Roar Rookie
Just want to be clear here, I am not defending Gallen and he deserves to be punished for being what he's accused the NRL of being. I personally believe that he is overrated as a player and not worthy of the captaincy of NSW and never has been.