A lifetime NRL ban for Ben Barba would impact his whole family
Without pre-empting any action by the NRL it would seem Ben Barba has run out of chances in Australia. But a life ban wouldn’t just affect him, it would affect his whole family, writes MIKE COLMAN.
Opinion
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It is hard to know where to start when addressing the Ben Barba situation, but easy to know where to finish. Too easy in fact.
Those commentators saying that Barba should be banned for life from rugby league are ignoring one very important fact.
This whole sorry saga and the recent allegation doesn’t involve just one man; it also involves a young woman and four small children.
Take away any hope of Barba earning a living the only way he knows how, and you take away his incentive to seek treatment for his myriad of issues.
Do that and there is the horrible possibility that the ones who will suffer most in the future are Barba’s partner Ainslie Currie and their four daughters.
Not the NRL’s problem, you say?
Well, yes and no. It is true that domestic violence is a social issue that far transcends the boundaries of a sporting code, but surely it is just as true that those sporting codes owe a duty of care to the young men and women they bring into their rarefied world.
And to their families.
Of course this is not the first time that 2012 Dally M winner Barba has allegedly fallen far short of what is expected by the NRL — and by society in general.
He was suspended and then released by the Bulldogs in 2014 after photographic evidence emerged of his partner with a bloodied face. A lifeline at the Broncos looked to have been squandered during an uninspiring 12 month stint in Brisbane but he appeared to have regained his mojo at the premiership-winning Sharks in 2016, only to be suspended by the NRL for cocaine use.
Another lifeline was offered by French rugby union, followed by impressive displays in the UK Super League which saw him sign a contract with the North Queensland Cowboys for the 2019 season.
And now this.
One has to be careful talking about an alleged incident involving Barba and Currie at Townsville casino on the Australia Day weekend.
At time of writing he had not been charged, let alone found guilty, of any criminal act but if reports of Cowboys officials viewing CCTV footage of the alleged incident are correct, they obviously saw something of enough concern to immediately tear up the contract of a major off-season signing.
Without pre-empting any action by the NRL it would seem Barba has run out of second chances in Australia.
Even if he was permitted to play here again, who would possibly want to see him running around in their club’s colours?
Well, you might be surprised. Incredible as it seems, there are always those who put the prospect of a winning season ahead of all else.
In 2002 AFL star Wayne Carey earned the ire of the football world when he was forced out of North Melbourne after an affair with the wife of his best-friend and teammate Anthony Stevens.
A few months later, after lying low on what he later revealed was a cocaine-fuelled trip to Las Vegas, he was interviewed on a phone-in pay TV footy show.
One of the first calls was from a woman who asked, “Hi Wayne, any chance you’ll come to the Swans?”
As for the Super League, it’s a different world.
When disgraced NRL player Todd Carney joined Catalans Dragons in 2015 I was the only Australian journalist in the room.
I was also the only one who even alluded to the fact that he was currently banned by the NRL. It soon became evident that it wouldn’t have mattered if Carney was Jack the Ripper as long as he could help his new team win games.
On the way back to the airport I was driven by an English-speaking cab driver who had a miniature Catalans Dragons jersey hanging from his rear-view mirror.
When I told him that his club’s newest recruit had a rap sheet as long as the Champs-Elysees he just shrugged and said, “but he is still a good player, non?”
So sure, if Barba did what he is accused of doing the NRL should ban him again — but they should leave the door open a crack.
Give him an opportunity to come back, but only under the strictest conditions — because you can rest assured that someone else will give him another chance, and another and another.
And that could be the worst thing that could happen to the people who matter most: Ainslie Currie and those little kids.
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Originally published as A lifetime NRL ban for Ben Barba would impact his whole family
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