Footballer or no footballer, NRL star Curtis Scott’s disturbing night cannot be allowed to slide by

The appalling treatment of NRL star Curtis Scott and subsequent embarrassment and damage to his reputation cannot be swept aside because ‘he’s just a footballer’. Paul Crawley explains why.

It shouldn’t matter what colour a person’s skin is, what religion they follow or what they do for a job, any time anyone is treated like Curtis Scott so shockingly was, those responsible should be held to account.

The footage of Scott, 22, on his visit to Sydney for Australia Day this year should be leading every news bulletin in the nation.

The level of anger should be off the charts.

Yet it is almost like, ‘oh, well, it’s just a footballer and we got it wrong here. Now let’s all move on’.”

Let’s not.

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Curtis Scott had police assault allegations withdrawn in court.

What this also highlights is exactly why the NRL integrity unit needs to stay out of all police matters involving players who have pleaded not guilty, so they have the right to a presumption of innocence without being subjected to the court of public opinion through the “no fault stand down policy”.

On Thursday Scott had all remaining charges dismissed after graphic body cam footage of police tasering him was played before the court.

Magistrate Jennifer Giles even said she did not have the “stomach” to watch Scott being tasered a third time after two separate videos showed Scott being pepper sprayed and tasered while he was in handcuffs.

And all this for doing nothing worse than falling asleep while drunk in a public park.

Scott’s form has just fallen off the map at the Raiders since the ordeal.

Yet it goes beyond what happened on the night because for months since Scott has had to live with the embarrassment and damage to his reputation.

There is no question this has destroyed Scott’s season from a rugby league perspective, and the reasons for his onfield struggles are certainly strongly related.

This is a player who came to the Raiders this season as a good signing, one good judges believed would add something to last year’s grand finalists and make them an even better team.

Scott is a player who at one point was right in Origin conversations.

But this year his form has just fallen off the map, to the point where he has struggled to even make the Raiders’ starting side.

The impact on Scott’s life goes way beyond what happened on the night.

He has been widely ridiculed as a dud buy and further humiliated because of that.

Yet people are only now seeing why it has weighed so heavily on him.

I spoke to Scott about it earlier this year, and he told me while maintaining his innocence: “I am not a bad person”.

But because the matter was still before the courts, he could not comment on the allegations relating to what happened after he was handcuffed.

Scott conceded: “I know I shouldn’t have put myself in that position (falling asleep in the park)”.

But now we have all seen exactly what happened and it is disgusting.

You don’t need to be a lawyer to work out by watching the vision that apart from being drunk and falling asleep in a public place he did absolutely nothing wrong.

It is incredibly lucky for him that he has had a coach in Ricky Stuart and a chief executive in Don Furner who have rallied around him and supported him throughout this messy ordeal.

A video grab of the dramatic park arrest on Australia Day.

In this instance the NRL also did allow Scott to play through and for that they should be commended.

However, it does point out the danger of the controversial “no fault stand down policy” that currently has St George Illawarra’s Jack de Belin sidelined after he pleaded not guilty to aggravated sexual assault charges.

De Belin is due to front court in November following a marathon legal stalemate that has dragged on since late in 2018.

It remains to be seen if Scott can recover from the further embarrassment of this week’s court hearing and get back to playing good footy in time for the finals.

We can only hope.

MORE NRL NEWS:

GREEN LIGHT: Curtis Scott to play despite charges

CHARGES DROPPED: Curtis Scott assault allegations dropped

FRIGHTENING: Footage of NRL star being tasered by police

Originally published as Footballer or no footballer, NRL star Curtis Scott’s disturbing night cannot be allowed to slide by