Unsavoury Olyroos drama shows how football still has much work to do
A group sex scandal hit soccer this week — but who knew about it? One thing for is the game desperately needs a cultural review into its treatment of women, writes Jessica Halloran.
Football
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It is a disturbing fact that four Olyroos footballers felt it was OK to engage a woman in a group-sex bonding session in an Australian team camp.
Sport Australia sources say the British woman was left “devastated” after this “extreme” and “incredibly serious” incident with these four Australian players at their team hotel in Cambodia in March earlier this year.
The woman formally complained to the Australian embassy in Phnom Penh after she was “kicked out” from the players’ hotel room, then locked out in the corridor as she had tried to seek assurances from the players their sexual encounter hadn’t been filmed.
The Olyroos’ group sex encounter clearly left this woman feeling degraded and distressed. Although the woman’s complaint was later withdrawn, it had already automatically been passed on to Sport Australia and then to the Football Federation of Australia, which started an independent investigation over several months.
Eight months on, the FFA this week released a statement with little detail that said the players were punished for “unprofessional conduct”.
Lachlan Wales, Nathaniel Atkinson and Brandon Wilson will not feature at next year’s Olympic Games if Australia qualifies, while rising star Riley McGree will pay no further part in the Olyroos’ qualifiers after they were suspended for this incident.
Football’s festering cultural issues involving women must be the first problem the new FFA chief executive must tackle when they take up the job on January 1.
It is a sport long overdue for a wide-ranging cultural review after a litany of negative incidents involving women in the past 12 months.
While other sporting bodies have had the guts to face its issues head on — such as the National Rugby League implementing the “no-fault stand-down’ policy and embarking on its own lengthy cultural review — football is not even lagging but seemingly ignorant of their huge problems.
Just look to the handling of this Olyroos group sex incident that has angered some at the top of the game.
Two outgoing FFA board members, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin and Crispin Murray, resigned last month after not being told of the incident before an investigation began.
And what of coach Graham Arnold and the other officials who oversaw an under 23s Australian team culture that had players engaging in this “male bonding” on tour?
Did the Olyroos team officials report the incident back to the FFA? Or would they never have known but for the complaint passed on to Sport Australia? Who thinks the way these officials handled this serious incident was OK?
Melbourne City pair Nathaniel Atkinson and Lachlan Wales, Perth defender Brandon Wilson have all been banned from national team selection until August 10 (missing the Olympics if Australia qualify). Adelaide United midfield Riley McGree has been suspended until April 1.
But why do they still get to play in the A-League? Being involved in an “unprofessional” “gangbang bonding situation” doesn’t matter if you want to play football domestically?
Controversies over the treatment of women have arisen in many corners of the game.
Former Matildas coach Alen Stajcic denied allegations of bullying, presiding over a ‘‘toxic’’ team culture and fat-shaming.
The lack of women in leadership positions may have a role to play, with some disappointed over the exit of the highly regarded Emma Highwood, the FFA’s head of women’s football and football development, who resigned in August. And you can literally see the dearth of female coaches in the W-League — only Canberra’s Heather Garriock — and it’s thin at the top of the Australian football ranks in general.
Then there’s the homophobia.
Several male FFA staff members, including Stajcic, were alleged to have frequently talked about a “lesbian mafia” that was out to get them/him. Stajcic denied using the homophobic slur.
It’s no surprise several gay Matildas players have found it difficult hearing the negative connotations around their sexuality. Heterosexual players have also the found the term offensive.
It’s unacceptable to have a group denigrated like this. And it’s unacceptable for some to be routinely demonising women in the game.
Yet it is clear the FFA want to encourage women in governance and administration roles?
Absolutely the FFA has done some brilliant work of late when it comes to equality – the fact the Matildas and the Socceroos will be paid equally for national duties is a progressive move. A move that heralded worldwide praise.
This week the FFA announced a 10-year business case plan to find new sources of funding to “create a road map of KPIs, benchmarks and timelines towards achieving full equality in football for women and girls to be integrated into FFA’s overall strategic plan”. But it’s just not enough.
When group sex is happening as a team-bonding experience on an Australian team tour, bigger questions need to be asked of what’s going on in the game.