NRL bosses distance themselves from former gender adviser Catharine Lumby

NRL bosses have distanced themselves from former NRL gender Adviser Catharine Lumby after she blasted the game’s leadership on women’s issues.

Catharine Lumby blasted the NRL’s leadership on women’s issues

Rugby league bosses have distanced themselves from former NRL gender adviser Catharine Lumby after she blasted the game’s leadership on women’s issues on morning television.

Lumby appeared on the Seven Network’s Sunrise on Thursday morning saying she would be “reconsidering” her position with the game after a Parramatta player was caught up in a sex-tape scandal. But both NRL CEO Andrew Abdo and chair Peter V’landys say she has no role with the code.

Abdo told The Australian Lumby had done some “good work for the NRL in that past” but was no longer formally involved with the game.

“Catharine is entitled to make comments as an expert in the field, but she is not the NRL’s gender adviser, nor is she currently engaged by the game in any formal capacity,” Abdo said.

“She has done some good work for the NRL in the past, but this was some time ago. The NRL partners with a range of leading experts in the gender equity space for access to best practice knowledge and expertise, training, accountability and networking.

“We know there’s more work to do in this space and we know as a collective our players can be better. We are continually looking at all of our wellbeing and education programs and how we can make them more effective. This also involves looking at how we can change the culture within our game.”

V’landys went further, saying Lumby must stop using the NRL for self-promotion.

“Catharine Lumby should not use the NRL brand to promote herself,” V’landys said. “She has absolutely nothing to do with the NRL. She doesn’t have to stand down from any position because she hasn’t got a position with the NRL. As far as we are concerned, she should stop using the NRL and stop saying she represents us because she doesn’t.”

Lumby told The Australian she was hoping to meet with the NRL CEO to “sit down” and discuss the game’s approach to gender issues and flagged “working with” the code in the future.

Lumby said she had a lengthy conversation with Abdo on Thursday following her appearance on Sunrise.

Abdo publicly stated in February that Lumby had no part in the game in any advisory role.

“I had a constructive and productive conversation with Andrew Abdo, I was very pleased to talk with him. I was honest, that I was and have been concerned that the NRL, an organisation which has shown much leadership on the issue of sexual assault and harassment of women off the field, did not appear to me, to be communicating enough with the experts involved, and the teams internally,” Lumby said.

“The CEO assured me that he is highly committed to gender equality and I applaud that and I look forward to working more productively with him, or seeing him work more productively with other experts.”

But V’landys said Lumby’s assessment of an incident involving Broncos star Payne Haas and a police officer — where she defended the footballer, calling for cultural understanding and not a suspension for his expletive-riddled showdown with police — was off the mark. Court documents revealed Haas told a female officer: “Cause you’re a woman you think I won’t touch ya.”

V’landys said: “Any person that thinks someone can abuse a policewoman and swear at her and intimidate her without a penalty, I don’t think is ever going to be a consultant for the NRL. I am sick and tired of her using the NRL to promote herself.”

V’landys and Peter Beattie, the former ARLC chair who is now a commissioner, pushed for the world-leading no-fault stand-down policy, for players accused of crimes against women, as well as embarking on a cultural review.

Abdo said the game was constantly working to improve.

“No sport in Australia has a stronger stance regarding violence or disrespect towards women than our code,” Abdo said.

The furore erupted after Lumby went on Sunrise stating she was “hitting her head against a wall” when it came to the game’s gender issues after a Parramatta player was caught up in a sex tape incident.

Lumby told Sunrise she was “reconsidering” her pro-bono position with the NRL.

“Some days I feel like I’m hitting my head against a wall, and frankly, I don’t know where the leadership in the NRL is on this any more, to be honest with you,” Lumby said. “I mean, I don’t see the same level of commitment I once saw, so I’m really reconsidering my position.”

“But I believe these issues remain very important right across our whole culture.”