No excuse for Leniu being ignorant of the impact of his words - eight-week ban sends strong message against racism

On Monday morning, my local café was buzzing because the footy is back.

Three Rosettas is many things, but for me it’s a café where the locals gather to banter about rugby league with owner George, who is a mad Wests Tigers fan.

On Monday, rather than talking about who was leading the café’s tipping comp, Spencer Leniu was the focus and whether he truly understood the impact of using the word ‘monkey’ to describe Ezra Mam.

Opinion was divided, but my view is that there is no excuse for Leniu not knowing the impact of his words.

The NRL judiciary certainly seemed to agree with this view and handed Leniu an eight-game ban – a strong message suggesting that such language will not be tolerated.

As to whether Leniu did or didn’t understand the impact, allow me to draw a parallel with player misbehaviour off the field.

I was born in Australia and had a regular suburban upbringing. My upbringing was extremely fortunate. But it’s always important to remember, that not everyone has the same upbringing.

Players grow up in different countries, with different cultural differences and sometimes in non-nuclear families.

Sometimes our players have extremely difficult upbringings and are confronted with family members in prison, alcoholism, violence and drug use.

This is all important information which needs to be taken into context to understand why players misbehave off the field. We need to meet people where they are.

It’s never an excuse, but context matters and can help inform our understanding of why a player has behaved the way they have.

The same applies to Leniu. He may have been born overseas and not lived in Australia when Andrew Symonds was called a ‘monkey’.

Spencer Leniu in Las Vegas. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

He may have existed in a rugby league bubble and been totally unaware that Adam Goodes was called an ‘ape’ and booed and taunted each week until it became too much. The result was the AFL losing one of its most celebrated and iconic players.

But being ‘unaware’ is not an excuse, particularly given the amount of education players receive from the clubs on a whole range of issues. We can have the debate about whether players ‘should’ be role models, but I think it’s irrelevant given that ultimately the players are role models and need to accept that when they sign a contract to be a professional rugby league players.

When it comes to support and celebration of the Indigenous players in the game, rugby league does an outstanding job. In fact, I think it does the best job out of any professional sporting league in the country.

I reflect on the growth of Indigenous Round over so many years, the advocacy of ARL Commission member Megan Davis on the ‘Uluru Statement from the Heart’ and the way that increasingly, Indigenous players and their allies are willing to stand up and call out words or behaviours that are unacceptable. I know personally, I have learnt so much about Indigenous culture and history through rugby league.

That is powerful.

When Leniu fronted the judiciary, one argument made was that casual slurs were regularly used between players of different backgrounds.

This is another opportunity for our game to learn and to continue to grow.

I’m not sure how much of this type of language is used among NRL squads but there is an important conversation here about each person understanding the impact of words and playing groups setting a standard for what is and what is not acceptable.

Broncos players Ezra Mam and Selwyn Cobbo with a group of young Indigenous kids after a Brisbane Broncos NRL training session at Suncorp Stadium on Monday. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

In a circumstance where a more senior player using a casual racist slur to refer to a more junior player, there may be a situation where the more junior player is too afraid or is uncomfortable to speak up. The junior player may also be comfortable with the language, but we should not make that assumption.

Our Indigenous and non-Indigenous players also need to work together. It is not the responsibility of our Indigenous players to keep calling it and bearing the load of educating the rest of us.

Latrell Mitchell has been criticised for ‘speaking up’ too much about this issue. Some media commentators have also been critical of how much chatter happened in the media prior to Leniu fronting the judiciary.

I applaud Mitchell for standing up. I also applaud Mam for how quickly he spoke up and to the Brisbane Broncos for the way they have rallied around him and provided so much support.

For Leniu, it is not my intention to pile on and have him rubbed out of the game. The penalty was fair and I hope this is an opportunity for him to grow and develop a different perspective.

He may not have meant what he said, but Mam’s reaction after the game should certainly show to him how much of an impact his words had.