Outrage junkies have field day over David Fifita’s Bali misadventure, writes Mike Colman
Sure, it wasn’t a good look for the NRL but did David Fifita do anything worse than dozens of other 19 year-olds out on a big weekend, asks Mike Colman.
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It was six years ago, in a column following the latest rugby league scandal of the day, that I wrote these words:
“You hear it all the time when a footballer gets into strife. The details are splashed all over the back page, the fans are incensed, and after a suitable period of public outrage a coach or chief executive comes out and says: ‘Hey, come on, he didn’t kill anyone’.”
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Well, on this occasion I would like to change the script slightly. In the case of David Fifita I’m not waiting for a coach or chief executive. I’m getting in first and saying it myself.
Hey, come on, he didn’t kill anyone.
Although from the intensity of the outcry following Fifita’s lost weekend in Bali I could be forgiven for thinking he may have.
While the full details of what occurred are yet to be investigated and published by the NRL Integrity Unit, at this point all that is known for sure is that Fifita, letting his hair down with teammate Payne Haas a few days before returning to the rigours of pre-season training, had too much to drink.
After that it gets a bit hazy. According to the allegations of a nightclub security guard, Fifita threw a punch. (Although given the lack of effect the alleged punch achieved, I’m guessing it wasn’t much of one. If David Fifita really wanted to hurt you, I doubt you’d be in a position to be posing for happy snaps three days later).
An apology and handshake were happily accepted, no charges laid and Fifita headed home. End of story.
Or at least it would have been end of story if not for one small detail. His name.
Consider for a moment these two scenarios.
It is early Sunday morning and a young reporter walks up to the desk of his news editor, rifling through the pages of a notebook.
“What have you got?” he is asked.
“A 19 year old kid got pissed in Bali, took a swipe at a security guard. Got locked up but they’ve released him after he said he was sorry.”
The editor doesn’t look up.
“Give me two paragraphs and we might squeeze it into the overnight briefs if the bowls results run short.”
Scenario two is the same as the first except the reporter adds, “um, the kid’s name is … David Fifita”. At which point the editor jumps to his feet, grabs his phone and screams: “Hold the front page!”
Okay, I get it. It’s not a good look for the NRL or the Broncos, but let’s all take a deep breath. What Fifita is alleged to have done is nothing more or less than dozens of 19 year-olds are rapped over the knuckles for doing at the Valley, Gold Coast or Bali every weekend of the year.
On the scale of one to 10 sporting atrocities, 10 being sexual assault, domestic violence, match-fixing or drug abuse and one being arriving late for training, I see the allegations against Fifita as a five or six at worst.
Yet the calls for his head are off the scale. One blogger this week demanded that he be fined $200,000 and suspended for 10 matches – and gained plenty of support.
Seriously? The only recent $200,000 fine in this country I have been able to find evidence of was levelled against TV chef and restaurateur George Calombaris who was found guilty of underpaying his staff $7.83 million.
Unlike with Calombaris, David Fifita’s fate will not be determined by a court of law. It will be up to the NRL Integrity Unit to come up with a suitable punishment.
And even though he didn’t kill anyone you can rest assured that there will be plenty of outrage junkies out there bitterly disappointed that he wasn’t treated as if he did.
Originally published as Outrage junkies have field day over David Fifita’s Bali misadventure, writes Mike Colman