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In the last couple of weeks where there have been discussions in the media about the existence of two tapes involving rugby league players in compromising situations. This is not the first time such tapes have emerged this year.
When rugby league players can no longer go out in public because they are afraid that members of the public will use their mobile phones to take video footage of them in compromising situations and then sell that footage to hungry media outlets, then the players and fans will be the biggest losers of all.
Tape recording number 1: Mitchell Pearce is caught on camera drunk, trying to force himself on a woman and simulating a sex act with a dog.
Tape recording number 2: Corey Norman is caught on camera having sex with a woman while James Segeyaro watches in the background.
Tape recording number 3: Allegedly, a Brisbane Broncos player is caught on camera snorting a drug off the cover of a toilet seat.
This article is not intended to be a discussion about whether rugby league players should be role models and criticising the players for the behaviours they have been filmed partaking in particularly in the case of Norman who has done nothing wrong.
I have written on countless occasions about how from the moment a player pulls on a jersey, they automatically become a role model. This is the situation whether it is fair or not and if a player is uncomfortable with this, then they should not be a professional athlete.
But being deemed a ‘role model’ requires nothing more than what is expected of you or I. It simply requires the players to behave like decent human beings.
If there is any behaviour demonstrated by a player in these videos that is indecent or brings our game into disrepute, then this must be dealt with jointly by the relevant club and the NRL. However in circumstances where there is no such behaviour, I wonder why there should be any interest or outrage about the videos at all.
Putting the ‘bringing the game into disrepute’ issue aside, the other side of the coin is the disgust I feel toward the individuals who have filmed the players and then have tried to sell the videos to the media. This is an absolute breach of trust, confidence and privacy and makes me feel extremely uncomfortable.
It is not only the people trying to sell the footage who are to blame, but also the media itself for being interested in purchasing the videos. I also lay some blame at the feet of the Australian public for being interested in watching the footage, particularly when I consider Norman’s situation, where he has been filmed doing nothing wrong.
I know I’m not the only one that is uncomfortable with the extortion attempts in recent weeks. But, the media is about getting clicks on a website, selling newspapers and generating ratings. If the public has no interest in what the media has to offer, then the media makes no money and therefore has no interest in the ‘story’.
The media would not be interested in these videos if there was no demand from the public to see them or the media wasn’t confident in generating clicks, ratings or sales.
We also know that there is demand, because stories about players doing positive work in our communities is not the norm and are certainly not the stories which goes viral. The stories which go viral are instead ones which involve a player doing the wrong thing or in some of the cases sees our players humiliated in the public eye.
We all have a responsibility in protecting our players and signalling to the media that we are not interested in viewing videotapes of what players do, legally, in the privacy of their own homes.
If we don’t and these sorts of extortion attempts become more common, we will find ourselves in a situation where players are advised not to go out into public and to only spend time with their family, teammates and closest friends in order to protect their reputations, images and livelihoods.
If this happens, I worry about the mental health of our players and their ability, despite being professional athletes, to lead normal lives.
I also worry that we lose one of my favourite things about rugby league and that’s accessibility to players.
For most teams all fans are given the opportunity at least once a year to meet their favourite players. Often, fans see players out in the community and I would say in most cases, the players welcome a chat and a photo opportunity in these scenarios.
It is this community feel which I love about rugby league and it always brings a smile to my face to see fans getting the opportunity to meet their favourite rugby league players.
This accessibility is very different to sports and markets that operate on a much larger scale. You would be hard pressed to get this sort of access in the English Premier League or the NFL. Players are protected, are celebrities on a much larger scale and are shielded from the public eye.
To those individuals shameless enough to be with a player in a private moment, who decide to film that private moment and then use it for their own financial gain, shame on you. But for all of us, who consume that media, let’s try and remember that while the line between a player’s public life and private life have certainly become blurred there are very serious consequences at stake if the line is blurred much further.
This is @mary__kaye from @ladieswholeague