What is doing with this so-called Willie Mason ‘story’? Have our rugby league reporters begun 2015 with the worst beat-up in decades?
Manly’s star recruit is being investigated for alleged anti-social behaviour while in New Zealand as a (non-playing) guest and ambassador at the highly successful Auckland Nines tournament.
Mason’s crime? A light-hearted wrestle with his brother Les outside Eden Park. Gee, what a shocker. A league player having fun – that’s against all the rules.
From what I have gleaned, he wasn’t drunk and disorderly. No police cars were watered and there was nothing as remotely serious as a human bubbler incident in a lavatory, or a drunken spray of the game’s officials via Twitter.
I’d like to know who reported this scurrilous incident to the code’s Integrity Commission. Just who is the bozo who felt the need to muck-rake even when there wasn’t a trace of muck to be found?
Mason is entitled to be furious at being painted as the bad guy in news reports that surfaced late Sunday. All have sullied Mason’s image at a time when he is establishing himself at a new club and I feel sorry for him.
The 34-year-old has never professed to have been one of the code’s angels but in this instance I feel he copped a public flogging for nothing. A good-natured rumble in public with your young brother? If that’s a bad thing that attracts headlines, well, there’s no hope of any NRL player enjoying a cleanskin reputation.
If this sort of reporting becomes the norm this year, I won’t be reading any newspapers and I’ll be ultra careful where I source any information I may need. While it was bad enough for league writers to stoop low enough to report this non-incident, I’d like to know what the news editors around the nation were doing.
Even the Sydney Morning Herald‘s headline on Michael Chammas’ opinion piece yesterday was a dead give-up. It read: ‘Willie Mason’s Auckland Nines incident not serious, but what was he thinking?’
Fellas, if the ‘incident’ wasn’t serious then why did you devote a 19-paragraph article to its supposed whys and wherefores? Mr Chammas asked why Mason was caught behaving like a teenager on his first footy camp. Please. That’s a stretch.
I realise that the NRL integrity people announced they were investigating a report on Mason from Auckland but as I see it, the SMH and just about every other media organisation got caught up in this crazy and irresponsible non-story, fuelled as ever by Twitter.
Here’s hoping the standard of rugby league reporting in 2015 rises well above this dreadful beat-up. It was a very poor start to the new season that did nobody any good.
Jackson Henry
Roar Guru
This is a serious question. I reckon someone on here, who can write funny stuff, should come up with a yearly award, similar to the Shonky Awards that Choice magazines does every year. Even the Razzies or whatever they're called for the film industry. It would go to the most consistently terrible and least credible journalist who reports on Rugby League. We could call it the Rothfield Medal. Or The Weedler. Or something like that. I'd try, but I don't have the gift for comedy, well, intentionally anyway. There's some real talent on this site, it would be great if someone could give it a go.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Gold!
Jeremy
Guest
So when no one was even thinking police charges had any place in this Sydney Morning Herald leads with "Sacked NRL head of commercial Paul Kind does not face any police charges over the allegations that led to the shock dismissal of the league's longest serving official on Wednesday". http://www.canberratimes.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/paul-kinds-dismissal-sends-nrl-rumour-mill-into-overdrive-20150205-137btg.html The Sydney Morning Herald looks like it wants to go same NRL in crisis style as Telegraph for 2015.
Jeremy
Guest
http://www.smh.com.au/news/news/mortimer-pleads-for-new-leadership/2008/07/19/1216163227945.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1 "I see this Steeden football that is deflated and dead, and I see these vultures picking at it - like News Ltd, Channel Nine and 2GB," Mortimer said. "What I'm saying is they have picked what they wanted for their own benefit and when there is no carcass left, they will fly away."
Alvin Purple
Guest
That's got more to do with the bad state of RU in this country. Feel for the players and the fans of the game on how it is being run by those at the ARU. My view has always been there are not enough people in this country to support the number of professional teams we have across the codes. Looks like RU is the first one to suffer badly from this
steve b
Roar Guru
Accuracy is a not used by most journos these days as a good journo informed me years ago . If their is a hint of sensationalism in a situation send to the sports editor and 9 times out 10 they will run with it because that sells the truth is just not a good seller.
josh
Guest
Ease up. Beccy has a drinking problem - she's half tanked when she pens this stuff.
Sleiman Azizi
Roar Guru
lol
Bondy
Guest
Off topic partially the Super Rugby season starts real soon they've had F All media coverage of it too,probably apart form here at the Roar ? .
Jeremy
Guest
The burning question is has Toddy organised a chair for timekeeper to stand on at Brookvale Oval for 2015?
Cadfael
Roar Guru
Quite right, Jim. The whole point is to get people to buy the paper or use the net site. Accuracy need not apply.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
I'm a league fan through and through, Jersey Flegg in my younger days and country league when I was older but the 9s was a travesty. The only rule changes should have been re the number of players and the length of the game. There was no need to go changing the rules (the rules on the weekend are different from other league Nine competitions). As was pointed out above players rolling the ball not playing it, head highs,shoulder charges and late tackles were all part and parcel. What will put the knocker on the game in the future will be clubs not playing their stars, a repeat of the previous Nines from years ago,
John Ryan
Guest
Think he might be a rugger bugger wondering if anyone will care about the super dooper not sure how many teams Rugger
Casper
Guest
don't they just make the stories up & claim a scoop when one in twenty might turn out that way, as a self prophesising forecast. Like that idiot on ther footy show that i refuse to watch, just invent rumours & someone will link the vague story to a real situation. The sooner the Sydney papers cleaned out the NRL journalists they have on the books and start again, the better. they all think they're bigger than the game and drive the agenda. Mike Moore from Frontline would be a better option.
Casper
Guest
I think it's just a rah rah trying to bag our game in an oblique fashion. Give him no oxygen.
Epiquin
Roar Guru
He's like a an upperclassman who is desperate to wear the Battler McEveryman name-tag.
Roarfan
Guest
Bilbo, I like that one. We may want to borrow that some time.
Mals
Guest
And the unusual point about this is that he's a died in the wool Labor man... who lives in Cremorne haha. He wears a bandana not a balaclava.
bilbo
Guest
So you see roarfan she is just not footballs problem. The best banner i have every seen (at a wsw game) Hey Rebbeca , worry about the RBT Not the RBB
Jackson Henry
Roar Guru
Haha! Excellent.