Video footage shows Gold Coast Suns coach Stuart Dew urinating outside a Queensland pub
Damning video footage has emerged of Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew urinating outside a Queensland pub. In a bizarre twist the identities of who filmed the moment and the high profile owner of the establishment have been confirmed.
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Damning video footage has emerged of Gold Coast Suns coach Stuart Dew urinating outside a Queensland pub.
The clip shows Dew urinating against a pub wall during a booze-up with club officials at the Miami Tavern Shark Bar.
Multiple club sources confirmed on Monday afternoon that the video was filmed by Suns general manager of football Jon Haines.
The Miami Tavern Shark Bar is owned by billionaire pokies king Bruce Mathieson, whose wife Jill is the Gold Coast Suns’ No.1 female ticket holder.
Urinating in a public place is a criminal offence, which can result in a conviction being recorded and carries a $533.80 penalty in Queensland if it is committed in the vicinity of a licensed premises.
But despite Suns’ chief executive Mark Evans being made aware of the incident several months ago, it is understood no action was taken against Dew or the staffer who filmed the clip.
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Evans confirmed the incident when contacted by News Corp on Monday, but did not comment further.
In a statement, the Suns said: “This is phone footage from two-years ago that was unfortunately shared via a private what’s app group involving a small number of work colleagues. Everyone involved is embarrassed and regrets what happened.
“The club was aware of the video and has cautioned the employees about both the behaviour and the filming and distribution of the vision. It was clearly inappropriate.”
In the footage, several voices are heard heckling Dew.
One woman jokingly asks whether he played for the Canterbury Bulldogs, which has been embroiled in a spate of off-field drama in recent years.
Dew finishes urinating, turns to the camera and smiles awkwardly.
It is understood a senior staffer who filmed the footage distributed it to a group of friends on a social media platform, during the revelry.
Realising his error the next morning, the staffer asked everyone who received the video to delete it.
But the footage had already leaked out.
The video was circulated this week by disgruntled sources close to former Suns staffers made redundant in recent months.
The AFL and NRL have previously cracked down on identical offences.
In 2008, Blues bad boy Brendan Fevola was fined $10,000 by Carlton for urinating in public, while former rugby league star Willie Mason was hit with a $2000 sanction by the Roosters for a pub incident the following year
It comes at a sensitive time for the AFL and Queensland Government, as the code prepares to celebrate their historic grand final at the Gabba next month while battling claims of double standards and special treatment over COVID-19 border closures.
An entourage of more than 400 AFL officials and stakeholders, including league boss Gillon McLachlan, were let loose on the Sunshine State last Tuesday after a contentious 14-day quarantine stint at a luxury Gold Coast resort.
Demons midfielder Harley Bennell was suspended for four matches and Melbourne were fined $50,000 after he left the team hub to apparently pick up a new car on Saturday.
Also on the weekend, Collingwood president Eddie McGuire provoked the ire of Hawks president Jeff Kennett after posing up for snaps while out partying at the Pink Flamingo night spot in Broadbeach.
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Two weeks ago, Richmond players Sydney Stack and Callum Coleman-Jones were banished from Queensland after being involved in a 3.30am scuffle outside a Gold Coast kebab shop.
And eyebrows were raised earlier this month when it emerged that Evans had swapped cars with the club’s Victorian-based list boss Craig Cameron before the staffer entered Queensland via a border checkpoint in late July.
While the vehicle swap, apparently to speed up Cameron’s border crossing, was described by a Queensland government official as “very odd”, it was deemed not to have breached any restrictions.
Dew, 41, signed a two-year contract extension with the beleaguered Suns in July.
The $250 million AFL expansion club has never finished higher than 12th on the ladder in a 10-year existence plagued by off-field controversy.
Originally published as Video footage shows Gold Coast Suns coach Stuart Dew urinating outside a Queensland pub
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