Wanga-Gate: Rowing coach ‘shunned, unemployable’ after BBC sacking
A top rowing coach says he was shunned and taunted as a pedophile after he was sacked from the elite Brisbane Boys’ College for telling his squad not to twirl their “wangas”.
A TOP rowing coach says he was shunned and taunted as a pedophile after he was sacked from the elite Brisbane Boys’ College for telling his squad not to twirl their “wangas”.
Fresh details have emerged of David Bellamy’s $1.1 million court claim against the Presbyterian and Methodist Schools’ Association, including allegations he could not get a new job as the affair became known as “wanga-gate” in Brisbane’s top end of town.
The Courier-Mail broke the story when the saga began in 2014 after Mr Bellamy was sacked for telling students during a sex talk not to twirl their “wangas” – slang for penises – and waving his hand in front of his trousers.
BBC headmaster Graeme McDonald praised for sacking rowing coach David Bellamy over wanga row
According to documents lodged in the Supreme Court, his dismissal – which he claims came after he was asked to warn the boys about their behaviour – meant he could no longer work in his chosen career as rowing coach where he would have earned $150,000 to $200,000 year.
“Mr Bellamy was shunned. He could not obtain work for a long time,” a witness summary statement says.
“When a friend offered him labouring work in the second half of 2014, other members of the work crew quickly came to refer to him as ‘the pedophile’.
“At a neighbourhood Christmas party in 2014, one neighbour, when introduced to Mr Bellamy for the first time, immediately said ‘you’re the pedophile’ and continued to refer to him in that way throughout the party.”
Mr Bellamy became “too hot to handle” because it was wrongly believed in the rowing community he may been involved in sexual misconduct at the school, a friend said in his witness statement.
Solicitor Michael Sparksman, a businessman and the major shareholder in telecoms firm OPENetworks, said he tried unsuccessfully to find a new coaching job for Bellamy after the sacking.
In a number of social and business settings, Sparksman said Bellamy’s dismissal was described by people as “wanga-gate”. One of them was property developer Kevin Miller, he alleged.
Mr Sparksman, according to court documents, was a former board member of Rowing Australia who rowed for Gregory Terrace in his youth and became a rowing coach.
He became friends with Mr Bellamy around 2013 and tried to get him jobs as a rowing coach after his sacking.
“He spoke to Christian Anetto at Nudgee College in 2014,” court documents state.
“Mr Anetto said that Mr Bellamy had been accused of sexual misconduct and that Nudgee could not have anything to do with that.
“(Mr Sparksman) spoke to Damian Wright at Gregory Terrace in 2014. Mr Wright told Mr Sparksman that he would support Mr Bellamy’s getting the role. Subsequently, Mr Wright told Mr Sparksman that the headmaster of Gregory Terrace thought that Mr Bellamy was “too hot to handle.”
Mr Sparksman said Bellamy suffered after news of his “wanga-gate” dismissal became more widely known.
He also believed Bellamy to be a fine coach and that the school’s rowing fortunes were in decline.
“Mr Sparksman is of the opinion that Mr Bellamy was responsible for improvements to the BBC rowing program during his time as director of rowing and head coach,” the documents state.
Much has changed.
“At the … 2019 Head of the River regatta, BBC crews almost exclusively came last or second last in every rowing event,” court documents state.
The case returns to the court on Tuesday for a directions hearing.
