South Sydney players in alleged lewd video chat scandal

THE South Sydney Rabbitohs are reeling as explosive emails alleging two players in a nude video chat are revealed.

AN alleged nude video chat scandal has hit the NRL on the eve of the second week of the finals series, with Rabbitohs coach Anthony Seibold threatening to walk out of a press conference.

According to an exclusive story in The Daily Telegraph, South Sydney is investigating accusations “high profile” players left a 23-year-old woman feeling “violated and disgusted” when a Facebook video chat turned lewd.

In the biggest story of the day, The Daily Telegraph also released the explosive emails sent to the club from the woman.

An image of the first email sent to the Rabbitohs.

In one of the emails, the woman said she unsure the emails were being taken seriously.

“I am still feeling very violated by the experience and as I think about it more and speak to my friends and family for their opinion, they are making me realise how degrading it is to women and how these men think they can get away with absolutely anything just because of their social status,” the email read.

“It is actually disgusting and I am more annoyed by the situation now than I was before.”

The Daily Telegraph news art image

Seibold declared on Friday the accusations have “thrown a bit of chaos” at his club, but stressed he would not comment on the accusations until the NRL’s investigation concludes.

He also said he doesn’t know which players are involved.

“Our club will treat the allegations seriously, as do the NRL integrity unit,” he said.

“I understand the investigation is ongoing. Outside of that there is no comment that I can make on it this morning.”

He admitted the scandal breaking the day before his team’s massive clash with the Dragons at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night is, “A little bit of chaos thrown at us”.

He also threatened to walk off from the scheduled press conference because of continued questions surrounding the 23-year-old woman’s accusations.

“Of course it’s not ideal,” he said. “Again I’m not going to make any comment on that because they’re still allegations at the moment.

The South Sydney 2018 jumper.

“I’m not willing to make any comment until the investigation is completed. I’m not going to play judge and jury here today.

“They are accusations at the moment. I’m not going to answer any further there. I’ve said I’m not going to make any comment. Now if you continue to go down that route then I’m going to walk away. I’m not obliged to talk about that this morning. I’m obliged to talk about tomorrow night. And that’s what I’ll talk about.”

South Sydney earlier on Friday released a statement.

“The South Sydney Rabbitohs will investigate claims in today’s media regarding alleged player behaviour in May this year,” the statement claimed.

“A thorough investigation will be undertaken in conjunction, and in close co-operation, with the NRL’s Integrity Unit. Since receiving contact details last night for the female involved, Rabbitohs officials have attempted to make contact via phone and email.

“The Rabbitohs take any allegations of player misbehaviour very seriously and will not be making any further comment until the completion of the investigation.”

The accusations have swept across the NRL and hijacked public attention away from the NRL finals with morning TV and radio conversations instead dominated by the South Sydney scandal.

The South Sydney Rabbitohs are facing allegations players exposed themselves to a woman on social media. #9Today pic.twitter.com/8rv42H1BVs

— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) September 13, 2018

Rabbitohs players are facing allegations they exposed themselves to a young woman on social media without her consent. #NRL #sun7 pic.twitter.com/R5EsQvrMAP

— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) September 13, 2018

The conversation turned quickly to the impact the scandal could have on the Bunnies’ season with NRL great Laurie Daley declaring the added scrutiny has the potential to “ruin their season”.

Daley told Sky Sports Radio on Friday morning the players will be affected by the arrival of television cameras at Friday’s final training session.

“This story will get bigger and bigger as the days and weeks go on and the Rabbitohs have got a big game against the Dragons on Saturday night, so I’m just wondering how much this will shake them and put them under the microscope,” he said.

“You can only imagine at today’s captain’s run what it is going to be like. Every television and radio and newspaper journalist will be there and they’ll be looking for comment from the players.

“This has got the potential to ruin their season.”

When asked if it could derail their season, Daley said: “100 per cent”.

He also said South Sydney could face action from the NRL if it emerges that the club did not notify the NRL integrity unit about the situation.

The club’s statement makes it clear that South Sydney officials did inform the NRL of their own investigation this week.

The report claims two stars have been accused of exposing their private parts to the woman during a “funny” video chat that turned ugly.

The woman has reportedly claimed to have possession of screenshots taken from the chat to support her claims of player misbehaviour.

The Daily Telegraph has not published the screenshots and has not identified the players involved.

The video chat is reported to have involved several star players, but only two have been accused of acting inappropriately.

One player is accused of exposing his genitals, while a second player is accused of flashing his bottom.

Rabbitohs coach Anthony Seibold’s preparation to play the Dragons has been thrown into disarray. There is no suggestion he has any connection to the woman’s allegations.

The incident is reported to have occurred while the Rabbitohs were in New Zealand following their 30-10 win over the Warriors on May 26.

She has claimed her phone records can also support her claim that one player also repeatedly called her mobile phone following the incident.

She says she came into contact with the players after initially exchanging comments on Instagram.

The woman has said she felt appalled by the actions of players during the chat in May.

She is also dissatisfied by the official response from South Sydney when she first notified the club of her complaints.

The report claims the woman contacted South Sydney just days after the video conversation, lodging an email that was received by Rabbitohs football department manager Brock Schafer on June 1.

His response reportedly informed the woman that her complaint would be taken “seriously”.

She never heard back from the football club. The Rabbitohs have announced their intent to respond to the woman on Friday.

“I find it disgusting how these boys think they can get away with this crap,” the woman told The Daily Telegraph.

South Sydney is still investigating why the woman’s follow-up complaints to the club went unanswered, however, a South Sydney spokesman has said the club has concluded the woman’s emails were identified as spam mail by the club’s mail server — a conclusion supported by an independent contractor’s investigation of the club’s email system.

South Sydney is yet to announce if they have made contact with the woman again.