What’s the Buzz: Alleged junior league abuse reported to police

St George area police are investigating allegations of abuse by a junior rugby league assistant coach at Souths Juniors who didn’t even have a working-with-children permit.

The NSWRL has alerted police to shocking allegations of abuse by a volunteer junior assistant coach who was allowed to work with teenage kids without the required working-with-children permit.

The teenagers, who played in South Sydney juniors, have all since left the club as a result of alleged racial and physical abuse last year when complaints by parents about the man’s behaviour were largely ignored.

St George area police are now investigating and interviewing parents.

A letter from a parent emailed to your columnist last week details a number of disturbing allegations.

The coach’s name was redacted for legal reasons.

The allegations in the email include:

● “Racial abuse — a trainer without WWCC in 2024 made racial remarks to Indigenous players. Trainer admitted these remarks to the club; a complaint was made and nothing was done and he was allowed to continue. The remarks didn’t cease.”

● “Verbal abuse — players in the team were continuously subjected to being called names such as the C word and also other names that are considered as homophobic. The extremely inappropriate language towards the young players continued and more complaints were made. Another example of this person’s language was when I was notified he had been telling players to “stop playing with your private parts” and “get up you fat c….”

● “Physical abuse — children were picked up and slammed on their back by him. Adults in the vicinity witnessed this and stated that it was extremely targeted and harsh for one particular player. The player then got up, emotionally and physically hurt. Myself and other adults reported this, yet again nothing was done. This particular one was not the only player this person was aggressive towards.”

NSWRL chief executive Dave Trodden immediately contacted NSW police about the allegations. Credit: Supplied.

A parent has told this masthead: “These issues had been continuously brought to the club’s attention and yet each time no action was taken. The person in question was never spoken to. The trust in the club had greatly reduced and the players and families no longer felt safe and cared for.”

Your columnist passed on the complaint to NSWRL chief executive Dave Trodden, who immediately contacted NSW police.

“We have zero tolerance for behaviour that threatens the safety of participants and incidents like those which have now been brought to our attention that are contrary to the standards of any community sport,” Trodden said.

“We have a duty to eradicate this sort of behaviour from our game so that those who play community sport can enjoy it and do so without any concerns or fears.

“We have reported the issues which have been raised with us to the police for their attention.”

To protect the identity of the young players, the name of the club has been withheld, and the club secretary declined to comment and referred us to the CEO and chairman of Souths juniors, Luke Curry and Keith McGraw.

Curry declined to comment as it was now the subject of a police inquiry.

Parents are now in talks with the NSWRL to enter the team with another club yet are facing issues regarding registration transfer rules.

We will follow this story and keep you updated.

Originally published as What’s the Buzz: Alleged junior league abuse reported to police