Groping of Mabior Chol pathetic and weird
The sight of Richmond ruckman Mabior Chol being groped by his teammates was schoolboy locker room lechery. It was also pathetic, weird and we deserve better from our AFL players, writes Susie O’Brien.
Susie O'Brien
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When Sam Newman steps in to defend you, it means you’ve done something really stupid.
The sight of Richmond players Nick Vlastuin and Jayden Short groping ruckman Mabior Chol’s genitals and sticking their fingers up the back of his shorts is bizarre and disturbing.
What grown men behave like that – especially when they know cameras are rolling?
The theme song was playing, the team was celebrating in the club rooms, so Vlastuin and Short thought they’d spice things up a bit by engaging in some sexual harassment of their mate?
Good times, fellas.
There are some shots of a women’s team members cupping each other on the bottom in photos where they presumably thought it would be out of the view of cameras, but it’s hard to imagine women celebrating a big win with some cheeky breast fondling and nipple crippling in front of a live TV audience.
It’s lucky the AFL has given us a few golden moments, such as the brilliant game between Port Adelaide and Richmond on the weekend.
Because their frisky footballers, their wandering WAGS and their off-duty officials aren’t setting high standards for the rest of us to aspire to.
Richmond and the AFL are right that Vlastuin and Short’s behaviour not in keeping with club,
community or league expectations.
It’s the sort of behaviour that, until now, was more the purview of NRL players like John Hopoate.
Remember him?
He’d insert his fingers into the backside of opponents in scrums.
Classy.
This kind of schoolboy locker room lechery reveals a basic lack of respect for the rights and feelings of others.
It’s also very, very weird.
I don’t blame Chol for saying he had no issue with it, but the videos show him looking
irritated and trying to defend himself from his teammates.
I’ll bet he hated it but the club code of brotherhood stops him from saying so.
He appeared to be subjected to the same thing by Jayden Short after a match against the
Bulldogs.
Vision has also emerged of Riewoldt tapping teammate Jayden Short on the genitals following a win over Brisbane.
It’s not appropriate behaviour for grown men, even in a locker room setting.
I’ll give Sam Newman the last word.
“Grabbing someone on the crotch in the rooms after a victory, is hardly being ‘groped’,”
Newman tweeted.
“Just means the lads in question get on extremely well with one and other – or they
wouldn’t have done it. Stop with the cow-eyes.”
Pathetic.We deserve better than this.
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Originally published as Groping of Mabior Chol pathetic and weird