**Official** NRL 2009 Thread

[Mister Wright]

I missed what happened with Stefanovik (sp). What did he get up to?

Tips for this week:

Broncos

Dragons

Roosters

Panthers

NZ Warriors

Eels

Wests Tigers

Storm

 

[Mister Wright]

Also, it's sad to see Dave Taylor off to Souths, but I guess it was bound to happen with the amount of money they were throwing at him and the lack of game time in Brisbane. I reckon he's a real prospect so hope he does real well for them.

 

[chaminda_00]

When yes doesn't mean yes. Not sure what your meant to do as a bloke if a chick says yes and then comes out later and says she didn't wanted to do it. The moral of society is that if a girl says yes then it is all good. The morals of professional footballer are if she says yes, it depends on what she says yes to.

The problem with all this stuff the NRL is trying to do is that they are trying to have one rule for footballers and one that different for what is expected in society. Fair enough if they did a criminal act and got convicted for it. But for putting sanctions for players because they were alleged to do something or did something even concensual that not PR. It all becoming a joke if you ask me.

What is it going to take a player to walk away from the game purely due to handchuffs they are put under.

 

[Simon]

Apparently hes really lazy and hates training etc... With that sort of attitude not that worried hes going.

 

[Ausage]

I saw the story from a completely different view point. The premise was that an investigation took place at the time of the incident so everyone involved at Cronulla would have been well aware that the group *** incident took place, thus the story doesn't rest on concentual/forced *** or the criminality of the act. They wanted to ask the Sharks what action did they take in light of the evidence that: 10+ people came in and out of the room and also that players entered the room through a bathroom window which seems very odd if they were welcome. Evidence suggests the administration didn't do anything...and the current CEO apparently never knew the incident had occured

Thus the code of silence refers to the inhouse cover up of the story, no players fined or sacked etc. and the NRL kept in the dark. So the question could be, how could the behaviour be stopped if the misogynist at the top thought it was a simple case of boys will be boys. They further investigated other incidents and once again we got a sense of moral backrupcy from the clubs and Roy Master's suggesting things only changed because the Bulldogs incident went public.

Certainly the blindness of the officials was a big part of it, and the stonewalling that has happened in the past is very poor form.

Still I thought the story focused mostly on how the players themselves saw women. Blaming the players for being misogynistic pigs is easy to do, but they are being targeted while going out by, well, groupies for lack of a better word, who want nothing else but to get into the sack with them. Honestly how can they be expected to have a solid moral compass in regards to women when so much of their interaction involves them throwing themselves at their feet? It also makes it fairly clear that despite the claims that "group *** is horrible and degrading for a woman" generally the women have participated willingly.

While "Claire" certainly seemed like an unhappy woman, it's difficult to know whether she voiced her discomfort in the situation. If she was raped or coerced into this against her will I genuinely feel sorry for her, and consider it a travesty of justice that the players escaped justice. But the trouble with this trial by media is that we don't have the foggiest what really happened.

 

[Redbacks]

Because the officials perhaps condoned the practise

Cover ups didn't help the church's standing in the community, people are outraged with the sick practises that went on.

Similarly the commercial reality of the sporting world has changed. The players earn more $$ these days but only if they can attract an audience and allow sponsors to sell products. Marginalising 48% of the population (2% off for the women who dream of scoring a famous player) is against their commercial interests for a start thus the NRL will no doubt be happy to see such behaviour stopped.

 

[James90]

I definitely don't think that rugby league players are 'role models'...they're just footballers ffs. But the rugby league profession in particular does tend to bleed these sort of stories every other week. It's a probably with society as a whole but I think there's a mentality adopted by the profession as some sort of bedpost-notching proof of manhood in front of your teammates.

I'm sure the public beats this up much more than it would for seedy Bob from the local watering hole. Given that these stories do make the front page, it's important for the NRL to make a stand against it, introduce a strict code of conduct and implement counselling programs. Respect for women is an issue for the code, it's bad for the image but it's also an opportunity to set a standard for society and play an active part in standing up against the oppression of women in general. Not only is that good for society but it's good for the game and good for getting women through the gates.

I take offence to Blewy taking the, "leave the footy players alone, she was a tart" mentality as well. Yes, what was done was legal and consensual and thus Matty Johns shouldn't lose his job but lets not take it out on the victim. If she's a tart then I can't begin to think what names he deserves.

For the record I have no problems with rugby league players getting sloshed whenever they feel like and think the Brett Seymore type cases are just wrong. There's a clear distinction between that and ***ual assault though (not saying that this particular case was ***ual assault either).

 

[Ausage]

I take offence to Blewy taking the, "leave the footy players alone, she was a tart" mentality as well. Yes, what was done was legal and consensual and thus Matty Johns shouldn't lose his job but lets not take it out on the victim. If she's a tart then I can't begin to think what names he deserves.

Tbf I think Blewy was referring to the blonde girl who was on earlier in the program. She claimed that she sleeps with footy players regularly, and is a "hookup service" for girls looking for casual or group *** with players. Not "Claire" who made the allegations against Johns.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Sportal NRL Dream Team

Should probably point out that two of CW's very own are currently residing in the actual top ten of the Sportal comp:

Bathe in our reflected glory oh yea lesser mortals.

 

[Blewy]

Tbf I think Blewy was referring to the blonde girl who was on earlier in the program. She claimed that she sleeps with footy players regularly, and is a "hookup service" for girls looking for casual or group *** with players. Not "Claire" who made the allegations against Johns.

Exactly

 

[Simon]

Yeh have been keeping track of our progress Dale, pretty keen to get to that top spot and score myself an iPhone. I've noticed a couple of times we have each been in the top 3 of the weekly scores. I want to get one of those Sportal prize packs, I dont think you'd be eligible to win though.

 

[morgieb]

What I don't get is why whenever an NRL player does something wrong, it's like the whole world explodes, yet AFL players can get away with it?
And why does she (chick that got raped) mention something that happened 7 years ago now?

 

[Simon]

What I don't get is why whenever an NRL player does something wrong, it's like the whole world explodes, yet AFL players can get away with it?
And why does she (chick that got raped) mention something that happened 7 years ago now?

She wasnt raped, an therein lies the problem.

The media just love stories like this, doesnt matter how trivial (not saying this is) or how bad something is they just wont let it rest until everyone is shouting the worst. The woman in this story is obviously going through a tough time but so are a lot of people in the world, what happened was obviously unfortunate but surely there are better ways to deal with it than going to a television nextwork seven years later.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Yeh have been keeping track of our progress Dale, pretty keen to get to that top spot and score myself an iPhone. I've noticed a couple of times we have each been in the top 3 of the weekly scores. I want to get one of those Sportal prize packs, I dont think you'd be eligible to win though.

Yeah, Oz residents only I think. Which kinda sucks, but I'm all about the glory anyway.

 

[Ausage]

What I don't get is why whenever an NRL player does something wrong, it's like the whole world explodes, yet AFL players can get away with it?
And why does she (chick that got raped) mention something that happened 7 years ago now?

I reckon that has a fair bit to do with the fact we pay very little attention to AFL (aside from the Swans) in NSW. There've been plenty of off field AFL incidents that have been huge news in Melbourne. I doubt this story is half as big in Melbourne as it is in Sydney.

 

[ripper868]

Yeah, Oz residents only I think. Which kinda sucks, but I'm all about the glory anyway.

Change your address to simons....

 

[Son Of Coco]

When yes doesn't mean yes. Not sure what your meant to do as a bloke if a chick says yes and then comes out later and says she didn't wanted to do it. The moral of society is that if a girl says yes then it is all good. The morals of professional footballer are if she says yes, it depends on what she says yes to.

The problem with all this stuff the NRL is trying to do is that they are trying to have one rule for footballers and one that different for what is expected in society. Fair enough if they did a criminal act and got convicted for it. But for putting sanctions for players because they were alleged to do something or did something even concensual that not PR. It all becoming a joke if you ask me.

What is it going to take a player to walk away from the game purely due to handchuffs they are put under.

I think you'd find in most cases if a girl said yes to one guy, and then not to the 5 others, there'd be a slight problem at some stage. I don't know if this is what happened here, but the idea that footballers have it tough is laughable.

A slap on the wrist and an 'education' program while they continue to rake it in...I'll say a prayer for them tonight Even if they get fired another club will pick them up and they'll continue on their merry way making just as much money.

 

[Mister Wright]

Bit rough imo that Matty Johns loses his job.

 

[NUFAN]

Broncos v Titans

Dragons v Bulldogs

Roosters v Knights - roosters are due.

Panthers v Sharks

NZ Warriors v Cowboys

Sea Eagles v Eels

Wests Tigers v Rabbitohs

Storm v Raiders

 

[99*]

Broncos v Titans
Dragons v Bulldogs
Roosters v Knights
Panthers v Sharks
Warriors v Cowboys
Sea Eagles v Eels - Nightmare to tip this one
Wests Tigers v Rabbitohs
Storm v Raiders