Recent weeks have not been particularly positive for rugby league, both in Australia and abroad.
Ricky Stuart displayed a complete lack of class in a tasteless and vicious public attack on young Panther Jaeman Salmon, Manase Fainu was found guilty of a violent church stabbing that occurred in 2019 and former NSW halfback Brett Finch has been found guilty of sharing child abuse material online and will be sentenced later in the year.
In recent days, Corey Norman has disgraced himself by sticking his fingers up the backside of a tackled opponent while playing for Toulouse and despite the Newcastle Knights’ investigation into two of their players being escorted from a pub toilet being unlikely to shed light on what actually occurred, anyone with even half a brain would find it hard to buy the ridiculous tale of Kurt Mann helping out Kalyn Ponga in the stall, after the club’s captain was supposedly feeling a little ill after a few too many drinks.
He must be a little short of a quid Ponga, as I noted he made sure to hold onto his beverage on the trip to the cubicle to ‘relieve’ himself.
(Photo by Ashley Feder/Getty Images)
While that list of incidents only adds more weight to the view that rugby league has not only an image problem but a cultural one, it also only covers the most recent past, with an extensive list of historically tasteless and problematic moments likely to require thousands of column inches if compiled.
I must admit to feeling a little uneasy watching Matthew Lodge tearing into defences and helping the Roosters re-stake their claim on a top-eight position, with images of his violent actions in New York in 2015 still harrowing to watch.
In the same way, it is difficult to support former Bulldogs forward Adam Elliott, with the Canberra back-rower having now compiled a short rap sheet of stupidity across the last few seasons.
Of course, there are hundreds more examples that could be drawn to form a fairly convincing argument that many professional rugby league players appear to not quite grasp to notions of appropriate public behaviour, societal expectations and in more extreme cases, the law itself.
Manase Fainu (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
Many will argue that the behaviour is simply a microcosm of broader society and that the incidents are merely reflective of what goes on in all our homes, communities and social settings.
Yet the hard truth is that as my circle of friends, associates and colleagues rounds out somewhere in the vicinity of 500, around the same number of players registered in NRL squads across the 16 teams, they do not seem to be appearing in court at anywhere near the same rate.
There are of course, many kind, mature, thoughtful and brilliant young men in rugby league; something often used to defend the behaviour of a decent number of Neanderthals who do nothing more than give the game a bad name.
Yet perhaps, that is a fundamental flaw in thinking, with the general public somewhat conditioned to expect the poor behaviour and errors of judgement that too often go unpunished or are dealt with in the most wishy washy and secretive manner.
Sadly, some players appear to have feasted on that quiet acceptance and the apparent dismissal of the need for serious repercussions to follow their actions. Such a situation allows players to become laws unto themselves and was never so perfectly enunciated than in the time of COVID-19 restrictions during 2021, when St George Illawarra’s Paul Vaughan hosted a barbeque that saw his contract shredded and a dozen players fined and suspended.
Nathan Cleary displayed similar arrogance and elitism when he appeared with the now infamous Tik Tok dancers in early 2020 and both situations reflect some NRL players being seemingly of the belief that the rules or expectations followed by most, do not apply to them in the same way.
Frankly, it makes me sick.
Attempting to explain the awkward circumstances in which players have found themselves to my daughters has been difficult, particularly some of the more serious cases involving women and alleged violence against them.
As a competition, the NRL has an image problem, yet the fact that players like Vaughan and Elliott just pop up at new clubs a few months after their stupidity sums up just how little consequence there appears to be for actions.
Those more serious cases where incarceration or extended legal proceeding result are different, yet also reflect an entitlement felt by some young players who appear to lack the grounding and intelligence to handle public adoration and attention.
Paul Vaughan. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
For most of us, rugby league is in our blood. I first played at five, never hit the heights yet went on to coach and remain involved with football today.
Now, the frequent off-field drama sees me embarrassed for and ashamed of the game and loving it a little less.
Yes, there has always been poorly behaved rugby league players in Australia and broader society does indeed grapple with the same issues and challenges as the players themselves. However, it is hard not to admit that distasteful rugby league stories occur far too frequently and that the punishments and repercussions for those infringing, often appear comical in their weakness.
For too long people have cared little about the image, claiming the game is resilient and will always rebound and thrive. Maybe so, yet I would rather see the powers at be value decency and respect by addressing what increasingly becomes a concerning trend.
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DigdugBobcat
Guest
Youre wrong ,admit it , it'll make you a better person , for someone that uses the word bigot regularly , you are the biggest bigot of all , and a champion of hypocrisy. Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarry Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarry
Choppy Zezers
Roar Rookie
Would you rather he not try to milk the public teat for new stadium cash?
Choppy Zezers
Roar Rookie
Well Mother Mary has plenty of time since he was relieved of the Saints coaching gig
The Barry
Roar Guru
No one doubts your ability to cut and paste from the internet…
Khun Phil
Roar Rookie
Thanks,JOHN,love that song,know all the words but for the life of me I could not recall who sang it!Probably due to depleted brain cells from too much of the title contents!
NostraSportus
Roar Rookie
Stuart, you might want to check what you say regarding the charge against BF. What you've written and the wording of the actual guilty charge I believe are different and I think what you wrote means something different to what he was found guilty of. When you give young men a lot of money, there will always be some type of trouble involved. That is never going to change. Personally I think Lodge should never have been given a 2nd chance in league. I'm sure Roosters supporters will disagree though as I think he may be helping them to another GF. My team at the moment has trouble with postcodes. I'd like to see those players kicked out of the club. Not because they didn't want to wear a jersey, I fully support them on that, but this is gang like behaviour and it simply can't be allowed to fester in the NRL.
Lukestar
Roar Rookie
Thanks guest for your reply but while you were 'checking' my history, the league articles I've commented on are related to league from the 70's to 2000.
Nat
Roar Guru
You’re talking about a minor differential based on the stats of one small sample right in the middle of the lockdown periods? Even then, with all those outside influences you are talking a drop of 3%? When this particular sample was taken there were guys up on all manner of charges (Hayne, Haas, Walker). These issues are on going in NRL yet, as opposed to your one region data, the NRL & NSWRL published figures of growth across the entire state and country in 2019. Albeit some minimal 1.8% and some massive (females 28%). https://www.nswrl.com.au/news/2021/08/08/nswrl-celebrates-birthday-with-record-participation-growth/#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20total%20participants%20to%20date%3A%20107%2C980%20which%20is,22%2C810%20which%20is%20a%2020 https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/09/20/rugby-league-participation-up-in-2018/ These are just indicative but there are many more sites that show the game s far more than the Penrith sample you’ve posted. I know you guys love to roll out how every other “backyard” code is dying yet the broadcast rights they receive are record breaking. So for all the mums supposedly turning their kid’s away more and more people are watching.
Grem
Roar Rookie
He was cleared on 1 of the 5 assault charges. The jury was hung or couldn’t reach a 10 out of 12 majority on the other 4 charges. The court system works on it’s better to have 100 people go free who were guilty than 1 convicted who is innocent. I wasn’t there so I don’t know what happened, but not unanimously being found guilty is not the same as unanimously found innocent. You only need 2 jurors to be unsure and you can’t be convicted. It could have been tried again. That’s not splitting hairs.
LuckyPhil
Roar Rookie
Splitting hairs Grem. If he was not found guilty, that infers he is...not guilty. This doesn't mean he didn't do anything wrong.
LuckyPhil
Roar Rookie
The entitlement starts at the top. Cue Peter Vlandys trying to milk as much out of the NSW taxpayer as possible to fund new stadiums around Sydney.
DigdigBobcat
Guest
Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values. People display this bias when they select information that supports their views, ignoring contrary information, or when they interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing attitudes. Anyway, it sums up your delusional belief that i in someway worship commentators that in both cases i wouldnt have spent more that 30 minutes watching in the last 3 years ..And the fact that you seek to redefine it in order to suit your obtuse argument only confirms it. Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarry Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarry
Grem
Roar Rookie
Can’t disagree with that and the ones that did make the news were huge – bank robber, caught in Thailand smuggling drugs, missing wife, etc.
Grumpy
Guest
Where do you start? Players who admitted taking illicit substances feted as Immortals (at least he owned it), players banned for failing drug tests in other codes welcomed with open arms because they are "characters", smart lawyers jumping to the "it's a cultural thing" or mental health thing line (thus cheapening real cultural & mental health problems), thuggery labelled as "passion". If you want to be professional, adhere to an enforceable code of conduct & know if you breach it you're gone. 2nd chances ok, but not 3rd, 4th, 5th.
Choppy Zezers
Roar Rookie
Stuart, this is as sanctimonious, reactive, judgemental and bereft of any insight into the causes of behaviour/compliance as it gets. "yet also reflect an entitlement felt by some young players who appear to lack the grounding and intelligence to handle public adoration and attention". Entitlement? No. Lack grounding? Lack something but not grounding. Lack intelligence? No. But other than that it was fine.
Grem
Roar Rookie
Just google the numbers of people that actually play rugby league as registered players. It’s not that many and declining. The reasons are many, but bad headlines from player behaviour doesn’t encourage people, not just mums, to recommend the game to their family. https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/is-rugby-league-dying-the-never-before-released-numbers-that-have-nrl-powerbrokers-concerned-20210519-p57tah.html
Choppy Zezers
Roar Rookie
Not really
Choppy Zezers
Roar Rookie
Brilliantly said, Hutcho.
Choppy Zezers
Roar Rookie
That's what she said
Choppy Zezers
Roar Rookie
"Hey. Where did my Dufty go?"