South Sydney's decision to cover up the alleged ben Te'o assault is a black eye for rugby league

SOUTH Sydney's decision to cover up the Ben Te'o incident has damaged the game of rugby league, writes Rebecca Wilson.

Rabbitohs - Rebecca Wilson te'o

SOUTH Sydney's Ben Te'o used to be coached by Wayne Bennett at the Brisbane Broncos.

It is a shame that arrangement doesn't remain in place given that Bennett's view of clubbing, headphone-wearing, Gen Y footballers was "that nothing good ever happens after midnight".

Something very bad happened four-and-half-hours after midnight a bit over a month ago in Brisbane.

The undisputed facts paint a bad picture without even knowing the full story. Woman in room with two footballers, Darius Boyd and Corey Norman, when third player Ben Te'o turns up.

All four had caught a taxi together to Norman's Brisbane home. Woman ends up with fractured eye socket, says she is left on the floor bleeding and the players bolt.

It does get worse. The woman in question does not lodge an official police complaint (she is now being urged to do so) but the clubs were informed. The players were cleared by their club and the NRL was not told. None of the trio has been stood down.

The woman at the centre of the allegations may not be Snow White. Social media has gone haywire this week with allegations against her, aimed at her alleged reputation as a "bad girl".

Somehow in this world, the more your reputation is diminished as a female, the less blame can be laid at the feet of those who hurt you.

Te'o said: "I found myself in an unfortunate circumstances that were not caused by me and I acted appropriately to deal with a difficult situation."

It would be my view that no matter how dreadfully or unfortunately the young woman was behaving, she would have little chance against three super fit professional footballers.

Shane Richardson is the chief executive of the South Sydney Rabbitohs. He is the captain of the faction that farewelled Gallop and welcomed Dave Smith to the NRL with great glee.

Richo is famous for making "off the record" remarks to journalists and pretending it was not him.

In this case, every single thing has been totally off the record. Big Richo decided he could handle the Te'o stuff in house.

Big Richo was judge and jury who cleared Te'o and continues to maintain that not standing him down until all of this is sorted is entirely appropriate.

Big Richo decided to not tell new NRL boss, Dave Smith, who he heralded as a messiah five months ago.

Big Richo, great supporter of the new NRL Integrity Commission, forgot about integrity and accountability when it mattered most.

Here we have a woman with serious injuries after an alleged assault at 4.30 in the morning. Ambulance and police attended.

Three highly-paid football stars (and each one of these blokes is a representative player) leave from the scene and only one thinks to call the police. Something very bad has obviously gone down.

Big Richo decided to sweep it conveniently under a carpet until the media started sniffing around the edges of the rug. When he finally fronted the media he did so in front of a black screen devoid of sponsorship logos.

This is all too unsavoury for the glossy new Crown casino to put their logo behind.

Smith is reportedly livid Richardson left him out of the loop. In fact, Richo did not even create a loop. It was between him and Te'o, one of the players who has the Rabbits perched nicely at the top of the NRL ladder.

Richardson denies he let things slide because of the club's push towards its first premiership in more than four decades.

Smith now has his integrity investigators looking at the case. I'm not convinced they do a better job than the police but such is the nature of the NRL now that another layer of bureaucracy has been added to deal with these matters.

I deeply suspect Gallop or John Quayle would have just picked up the phone and called the police officers who attended the scene.

Now, however, we have a mess. Big Richo continues to maintain Te'o's innocence. Te'o's father says he is innocent. So does Te'o. None of them has outlined exactly what the "unfortunate" circumstances were. They have not provided a complete version of events.

The NRL commission has been mute this week. Smith read from a prepared statement in front of a media scrum. His inability to state a clear message without notes is alarming - it is not rocket science to say you are deeply concerned, you will take action and you are now in charge.

Big Richo might like to remember transparency when next he decides to smother an issue. This is a cover up in my opinion and no amount of dancing around that carpet will repair the damage done to the code this week.

DANGEROUS GAME

THE lines between journalism and cheerleading are becoming more and more blurred with a handful of prominent Sydney scribes.

While Essendon's world caves in because of the ASADA investigation, and the Cronulla Sharks look at a similar fate, several media types have taken it upon themselves to lead the charge from the front to discredit the law and drug enforcement agencies.

One particular column has become a stream of direct quotes from Stephen Dank, the man front and centre in the Essendon and Cronulla allegations.

Dank has, in recent weeks, slammed ASADA, claimed to have been cleared by the Australian Crime Commission and, almost comically, called for a Royal Commission into the entire affair.

He is also, we are told by said scribe, a good friend of Paul Gallen, with whom he maintains regular contact.

If it weren't so serious, you would laugh.

One wonders what the newspaper's editors are doing when this stuff is cleared for print.

COLOURFUL FRIENDS

THE same reporter surprised several onlookers in Bondi last week when he lunched with colourful Sydney identity and nightclub owner John Ibrahim.

A female television sports reporter was also in attendance at this cosy gathering.

I'm no angel but I'd be hesitant to hang out with Ibrahim, which I believe would be the collective view of most of my colleagues.

The federal government is still fuming over Ibrahim's presence at the NRL season launch earlier this year, where he was a guest of his lunch mate.