South Sydney hooker Issac Luke has been fined $10,000, half of which has been suspended, by the NRL for posting a homophobic slur on social media.
Luke will also undergo an education program in tolerance and equity as part of his punishment.
Earlier this month the New Zealand rake responded to criticism of him on his Instagram account after the controversial Souths-Canterbury Good Friday clash by writing “get off my page you lil poofters”.
Luke later deleted the post and apologised for making the comment, but was still hit with the fine by the NRL on Tuesday following an investigation by the integrity unit.
“There is no place for vilification of any kind in rugby league,” the NRL said in a statement announcing the sanction against Luke.
However the game’s governing body said Luke was provoked into make the comment and took into account the fact it was deleted and his subsequent apology.
“We believe that education is the most important element in dealing with vilification matters such as this,” an NRL spokesman said.
“So we will require Issac to undertake an education program in tolerance and equity in addition to the financial penalty.”
GPR
Guest
The education programs would be worse than the fines- imagine going through a tolerance and equity course, the threat of that would be enough to deter many of them from acting up!
GTW
Guest
If Luke writes like he speaks, I doubt he wrote that sentence himself, as there aren't enough spelling mistakes. PS. Luke scares me, he can't get my home address in any way, can he?
3 Hats
Guest
Steve, that Souths fan you refer to was a minor...I am led to believe!
Squidward
Roar Rookie
Or Gallen for 5x what Issac did for a just a crook word that's not homophobic or racists. Just offensive to the ears
Steve
Guest
And the guy that king hit the souths fan Luke was trying to help gets a $1000 fine. Yeah that's fair.
Max
Guest
So like the Potgeirter Waratahs incident this will get pages for days in the Sydney Herald.Meanwhile Clarkson gets a whole page of AFL but little game reporting. How about reporting the time Tommy R puched an annoying raiders fan at Canberra - not a mention...