This week, Panthers general manager Phil Gould made an attempt to minimise the damage to his club by saying sex tapes are occurring “in all walks of life”.
It followed Tyrone May being stood down by the NRL after he was charged with two counts of recording an intimate image without consent and two counts of disseminating an image without consent.
Two other Panthers players featured in the footage in what was a rough week at the foot of the mountains.
So – because it’s his job – Gould got in front of a camera and did his best to douse the growing flames.
“Talking to people in circles who deal with this every day – court judges and police and all that sort of thing – we’re dealing with this in all walks of life,” Gould told Channel Nine.
“And the real worrying thing is that this is conditioned into the kids in the schools. This age of technology and mobile phones and cameras, it is commonplace from a very, very young age. Kids will be sharing videos and explicit videos.”
To be fair to the Penrith boss (I don’t why papers use the term ‘Panthers supremo’ – it sounds like an exotic, illegal burger) he also said feeling let down by his playing group was the “bare minimum”.
But the message he wanted to get across was that sex tapes were “extremely widespread”.
Phil Gould (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
I don’t doubt it for a second. Phones are everywhere and people these days film everything. That it extends to the bedroom is really no surprise.
But, pray tell, where are all the sex tapes featuring AFL, Super Rugby, A-League and cricket players? Why is it that we’re pretty well only talking about on-field matters for those games?
Sex tapes may be commonplace in 2019 and sending it around to your mates might be the done thing. But why is only one of Australia’s major codes dealing with scandals of this nature?
To be fair to the NRL, there’s definitely been fake news concerning the issue.
This week, Andrew Webster reported on a tape doing the rounds in which two unidentifiable people are doing the no-pants dance, the man saying to the woman: “How good is rugby league? How good is it? How good? Huh?”
It’s reminiscent of Sam Sweet’s trial in The Cable Guy: “My twin brother’s been shot. I think it was an Asian gang or something. I saw someone, he looked Asian and he… he was speaking another language. I’m pretty sure it was… Asian!”
Then there was the video of blokes treading on a woman’s head as she engaged in a sexual act, the whole thing featuring a disgusting caption.
It came to light as the Penrith videos were doing the rounds, so it was said to be another NRL sex tape.
The problem with such an assertion? The males in the video had their shirts pulled over their heads to obscure their faces. No footy player is that smart!
But here’s the thing – no one’s putting these bullshit videos out and saying: “It’s the Wallabies!”
Because sex tapes are rugby league’s problem.
Maybe not forever – maybe not even next week – but at the moment, this is an issue that no other code in the country is dealing with.
And sure, maybe all the kids are filming themselves as they have sex. Maybe every player in the AFL and A-League has phone in hand when their pants are down.
But that footage isn’t going viral. Presumably because, after filming it, it isn’t sent to a third party.
Best-case scenario – and it’s a narrative that the affected clubs have been keen to push – someone with an axe to grind is putting these videos into the public domain.
Still though, why do these people have the footage in the first place? Maybe a phone got lost or stolen and ended up in the wrong person’s hands? Yeah, sure, that might be it – although, as an aside, your cognition is impressive for someone who was born yesterday.
No, these videos are sent to a chat group, then someone in that group sends it to two friends, then they send it to two friends, and they send it to two friends…
Look, I’m not breaking fresh ground by saying how we got to where we are. The question is where do we go from here.
And my concern is that the NRL will look at this and says, “This debacle has been instructive about how we teach our players to use their phones and social media.”
Because while players need education on those issues, they’re symptomatic of what’s really at play here.
This is an issue of respect and – as has been made abundantly clear by the charges May faces – consent.
Sex tapes aren’t the root cause of the issues the NRL is facing at the moment, it’s ultimately about young men treating women like dirt.
That’s the issue the game needs to address.
Rugby utter
Guest
Larry my friend all sports codes have their challenges but yes league has more than its fair share of unsavoury incidents directed towards woman which was my point. Drugs are a bigger problem in all codes but to ignore the rather grubby behaviour of league players towards woman means you appear to have your head in the sand. The point in this is direct unsavoury behaviour directed towards woman as opposed to drugs which is not but equally not socially acceptable behaviour for professional sports people. You might want to educate yourself on the difference and hence the pout being made.
duecer
Guest
It's interesting to note that Margaret was a public prosecutor and now a defence lawyer. The basis of the article is that everyone should have the presumption of innocence until either found not guilty or guilty, which is one of the basic tenants of law.
RandyM
Guest
there is a problem when the culture of sexual harassment isn't addressed properly.
mushi
Roar Guru
Their job is to get people to watch rugby league
Angela
Guest
Thanks for this. Rings true. The 'doth protest too much' comments here by - I assume - blokes is deafening. The group sex bonding of NRL players has history even before the days of filming the events - anyone remember the team bonding sexual feats of players in New Zealand featuring Matthew Johns? And Jonathan Thurston recently acknowledged that consensual group sex - a girl sleeping with more than one NRL player at the same time, was not unusual, that group sex was common and that the women involved were not treated with respect. What joy do blokes get out of performing in front of other blokes? Weird behaviour. Protest all you like. Call on similar behaviour in other sports if it makes you feel better but at the moment, the NRL brand is trashed.
Jay Wright
Roar Rookie
Just because people watch porn doesn’t mean a sextape is a good idea
Jay Wright
Roar Rookie
the Porn industry has also been about male domination and female humiliation. Go videos from the 70s and 80s and just as disturbing as there are now. It’s nothing new just more readily available today thanks to this stupid mobile phones. Having said that no other male dominated sport Afl, Union, Soccer or even boxing and mma are having these problems so this is purely and solely a Nrl problem as these players need to fix it. Maybe a good ten years in the joint for the next imbecile that decides distribution of a sex tape is a good idea
Christian Verges
Guest
Please get off your moralistic high horse. The NRL would have to be the most scrutinised and hated by media than any other sport in the world. Read this link and explain to me how just pointing a finger means you can lose your livelihood. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6779991/Sex-assault-victims-advocate-Margaret-Cunneen-says-accused-NRL-rapist-Jack-Belin-play.html
Reesy
Roar Rookie
I took his gambling parallel to mean it also creates elevated interest in games and even brings in a revenue stream but we don’t let gambling companies interview players. Isn’t it a conflict of interest point he is concerned about? I think the comparison can be made as I know I only watch certain games due to having a bet on and have mates who only watch certain games due to SuperCoach (they tell me so). On that note I don’t play SuperCoach but why would super coach need to interview players?
Emcie
Roar Guru
You're not seriously suggesting that Gould being associated with a rival media outlet would have anything to do with this are you? That's quite the conspiracy! ...how many days till the season kicks off now? Dunno how long I can keep this up...
Wolja
Guest
Basically in Australia you have some of the reporters with the mentality that the more salacious the better and even if not linked to NRL any link must be reported eg "Former (15 years ago) NRL player jailed" etc etc. Peter Fitzsimmons vendetta against league doesn't help - No stories about union coaches being done for bullying etc. NRL is a high ratings game that is catching up with the money it should have had. It's training programmes haven't caught up. Young men don't like being lectured so some more innovative coaching needed. The statement that streaming porn is a NRL phenomenon indicates damn near zero research as Cathar Treize demonstrated. The NRL with sanctions and proper education will fix the problems with this like the NFL and soccer have. Forcing young men to publicly apologise and do community related to the "crime" will help more.
Cathar Treize
Roar Guru
Oh he’s back!
Paul2
Guest
Yeah, Dane Swan was the victim, not the perpetrator.
The Barry
Roar Guru
I dare say your last paragraph has more to do with why Gould wants nothing to do with SuperCoach than what it does or doesn’t provide the game
Emcie
Roar Guru
Well, I guess anyone would look like an old man shouting at a cloud when you don't show any of the tweets he was actually responding to... Careful mate, that's how they get ya. They write something about nothing that appears reasonable on the surface and next thing you're paying $30 a month to have an advantage while you pretend to run a footy team. Come to think of it, I just can't put my finger on why a newspaper would disparage a guy who doesn't want to promote their version of a game thats made them lots of money...
Rick Somerton
Roar Rookie
If this were true there wouldn't be laws preventing it as it would not be endemic. League players are the most under scrutiny and hence more likely to get found out.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Ha... I’d usually agree but the Telegraph is just reporting Gus’ tweets - so he is the source for this one. My comments here are pretty light hearted but I did think it was a strange and unnecessary stance to take. Even if Gus doesn’t like SuperCoach, lots of fans do, including Panthers fans. As mentioned elsewhere here it’s pretty much free promotion for the game and increases engagement and interaction. There’s zero harm in players doing SC based interviews or fielding a couple of SC questions. Having a swipe at it is pretty needless. Is he going to have a crack at office tipping comps next...? While none of his comments were untrue, I think it was also pretty clumsy comparing SC to gambling in the way he did “gambling does more for the game”. He has some good points but sounded a bit like an old man shouting at a cloud (pun intended) with his rant about social media, technology and kids playing in the park. Maybe he’s still dirty about the sex tapes...
Steely
Guest
Well said Gray hand! Its inbedded in Rugby League culture and nothing will ever change
Max power
Guest
Keep fighting injustice , jimbo the snowflake You honour us all with your brilliance
RandyM
Guest
you just have to look at some of the stuff thats gone on in Universities around the country. That one in Adelaide about a handbook that was given out to new students detailing a sexual hazing process and how women should be sex objects for males.