Jessica Halloran: NRL’s inconsistent punishments harm integrity of the game
WELCOME to NRL punishment lottery, where leaving a woman feeling “violated” after a semi-nude video-call won’t draw a fine but drunkenly simulate a sex act with a dog? You’ll cop a $125,000 plus an eight-match suspension, Jessica Halloran writes.
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WELCOME to NRL punishment lottery, where leaving a woman feeling “violated” after a semi-nude video-call won’t draw a fine but drunkenly simulate a sex act with a dog? You’ll cop a $125,000 plus an eight-match suspension.
A photograph of you pretending to urinate in your own mouth will see you possibly exiled from the game forever. Players exposing themselves on a wild Mad Monday celebration earns a club $250,000 fine.
But Souths? Nothing to see here — even though one woman says she saw more than she wanted.
The decision to exonerate the Rabbitohs players late Friday left chairmen gasping; “oh my God” and “are you kidding?”.
If you talk to most people in club land they’ll say the NRL’s off-field disciplinary scale is a mess.
“There’s a scattergun approach to punishment,” said one club chief executive. And in turn the NRL’s wildly inconsistent punishments are harming the integrity of the game.
Before the Souths scandal even broke, some time ago, Roosters chairman Nick Politis is understood to have raised this “inconsistency issue” with the NRL several times.
Politis’ concern followed the heavy sanction handed to his club regarding Rooster Mitchell Pearce who, after his simulation of the lewd act with a dog was captured on a mobile phone, was fined $125,000 and handed an eight-week ban.
This “inconsistency issue” was raised again 10 days ago at a meeting of club bosses and the NRL, which had just smashed the Canterbury Bulldogs with a $250,000 fine following their players drunken, nude, vomiting behaviour on Mad Monday.
According to those in the room at the NRL chairmen’s meeting Wests Tigers Marina Go pushed the issue — before screen grabs of South Sydney’s lewd video call had hit The Daily Telegraph.
NRL chief operating officer Nick Weeks had just addressed the room of NRL chairmen about integrity and “talking up” all the work the NRL were doing.
An observer said Go then raised the point that the sport had an issue when it came to consistency and integrity issues.
“One of the biggest issues we hear when our club speaks to commercial partners is; we can see what you are doing, but the perception is as a sport, it’s inconsistent with how the NRL deal with integrity issues.”
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Weeks dismissed Go’s concern.
“I don’t agree with you that is a problem,” Weeks said.
It is understood Go said to Weeks he needed to start looking at it from the fan’s point of view.
Go declined to comment on the exchange with Weeks when contacted by this columnist.
But several club bosses, approached by this columnist, said they agreed with Go’s exchange.
It is said the NRL head of commercial Andrew Abdo, also supported Go’s point.
But what did NRL boss Todd Greenberg and ARL commissioner Peter Beattie do when the most burning issue of the game was being debated in this meeting raised by Go? Nothing.
“They put their heads down,” said another insider.
“That was a great opportunity for them to say ‘yes’ we are listening, but they sat their there quietly, saying nothing.”
Saying nothing, says everything.
It was announced on Friday that the Souths players had been exonerated by the a five-person panel which included NRL integrity officer Karyn Murphy.
Yet it’s the opinion of many senior club officials that the murky waters around player punishment have been muddied further after the handing down of this decision.
Players exposing themselves on a wild Mad Monday celebration earns a club $250,000 fine. But Souths? Nothing to see here — even though one woman says she saw more than she wanted.
While NRL players deal with paying up enormous fines or their careers or are axed from their clubs (think Josh Dugan skipping training and drinking Vodka Cruisers on a rooftop) — in the AFL player fines are capped at $5000 for a first offence according to their code-of-conduct.
So, four years ago when GWS star forward Toby Greene was involved in a drunken altercation with a bouncer at a Melbourne nightclub — he was fined the maximum $5000 and banned by his leadership group for five weeks. He was fined by the court $2500 for unlawful assault with no conviction recorded.
One club chief executive floated the idea of bringing in an independent arbitrator to decide the punishment and just cap fines as the AFL have.
Club types have been told the media, us, have a lot to do with how punishment is handed out. The greater the media fire, the greater the fine.
So, when Pearce simulated a sex act with a dog, all captured on a secretly filmed video, went viral — worldwide — the game therefore came down on him hard.
A club chief executive, not from the Roosters, said: “I think Mitchell Pearce hurt himself more so than the game.”