The NRL has fined NSW Origin captain James Tedesco $10,000 after he was accused of saying ‘Squid Games’ at a woman of Vietnamese descent outside a Bondi nightclub last month.
The NRL Integrity Unit investigation into the incident has failed to prove any allegation of racist behaviour but the Roosters star has been given a breach notice for drunken and disorderly behaviour and bringing the game into disrepute.
“The National Rugby League has issued Sydney Roosters player James Tedesco with a Breach Notice alleging he behaved in a drunken and disorderly manner and also brought the game into disrepute in Bondi on 20 October, 2021,” an NRL statement read.
“Tedesco’s Breach Notice proposes a $10,000 fine and that he must undergo education and training as directed by the NRL.
“The particulars of the Breach Notice are that Tedesco allegedly engaged in drunken and disorderly behaviour directed at members of the public which caused offence.
“Tedesco has 5 business days to respond to the Breach Notice.”
Tedesco reportedly maintained he was talking about Netflix’s South Korean series Squid Games when he was overheard by Tiffany Trinh, who is of Vietnamese descent.
Katherine Trinh, Tiffany’s sister, posted about the alleged incident on Instagram.
The sisters were interviewed during the integrity unit’s investigation.
“Last night you felt compelled to say ‘Squid Game’ at my sister when you walked past her outside of Beach Road in Bondi,” Katherine Trinh wrote on her social post.
The Roosters immediately launched an internal investigation into the matter and said Tedesco was only making a joke towards his friends while in close proximity to Tiffany Trinh.
“After we found out about the Instagram post we thoroughly investigated the matter,” Roosters chief executive Joe Kelly said in October.
“There was absolutely no interaction between James Tedesco with this group of people. We categorically deny that anything untoward occurred.”
mushi
Roar Guru
He admits to saying it. Denies the context. The NRL fined him because he has enough money to insulate against this (not every NRL player does)
mushi
Roar Guru
Occam's razor is about fewest assumptions. Hard to apply here where you have to assume a bunch of things due to paucity of hard facts.
Otsuble
Roar Rookie
To whom? The sister who allegedly heard the statement and didn’t complain or the sister who wasn’t there but did complain?
Otsuble
Roar Rookie
Sounds right. Offended because she chooses to be.
Simoc
Guest
I would have thought a better outcome for all concerned would be for Tedesco to meet the lady privately and apologise for any hurt caused. This fine thing just sets a precedent and ill feeling occurs. Neither party would be happy now. A bit of education never goes astray though.
Big Daddy
Roar Rookie
I'm thinking boyfriend, sister or family have decided day after to make the complaint . She's a St George supporter and went to very expensive Eastern Suburbs girls school .
Otsuble
Roar Rookie
That’s what I think. This is trivial. All they’ve achieved is to reignite the issue and the debate. Putting one of the highest profile players back in the spotlight over something like this is nonsense. The other code would have buried it and rightly so.
Big Daddy
Roar Rookie
The boys at the "Integrity Unit" must have been having a slow day to come up with something like this . More embarassing for the NRL than Tedesco .
Wayne Turner
Guest
Teddy got the red light,then green light.What a load of marbles, sounds like a real tug of war.The glass shattered on this.A squid of a game. Uncle Nick must be the mastermind behind this all.
criag
Roar Rookie
The Roosters don't have a reputation for that sort of thing. They have severely dealt with players guilty of offenses such as Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Paul Carter and Tod Carney, unlike another club I won't mention that swept poor behaviour under the carpet before a big game.
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
I have them too kitty kat. You were her partner in crime on your all female feminist crusade. How many profiles did you have? panthers14, panthers15, panthers16, panthers17… you got banned every year. Eelsalmighty, eels47 and Insider can backup the truth though. Are you happy with the trophy your Panthers che@ted to win this year? It’s an empty accolade with no true glory.
Panthers3
Roar Rookie
LOL @ your version of events at zt... and as you know, there are screen shots.
Timnaik O'Shaughnessy
Roar Rookie
They're both silly women. Goodness me, this is what passes for an offensive remark these days. Who cares if he said it or didn't say it, meant it or was unintentional.
Timnaik O'Shaughnessy
Roar Rookie
The girl should better things to do with her time.
Timnaik O'Shaughnessy
Roar Rookie
Why is this an issue? Mountain out of a mole hill this is.
Paul
Roar Guru
what did you mean by P.S.? Are you insulting those who's initials are PS!! :angry: :angry: :happy:
Exitstrategy
Roar Rookie
Far Out Brussell Sprout , what next ? James hasn’t come across ever as racist .
John Shaw
Roar Rookie
Fair enough.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Yeah, I’m not necessarily rushing to Tedesco’s defence but I do think with a long career with zero incidents he deserves a little benefit of the doubt
The Barry
Roar Guru
Come on mate, you don’t know what any of those words mean… once again rattling off something you’ve heard elsewhere completely out of context…