blogwatch
8 Oct 2008
Thank God That's Over: League's Nightmare Centenary
The more games they played, the worse it got. Now the fans are hurting out there, and it's not just a hangover
After months of turmoil, scandal and volatility, the Centenary rugby league season is now over and the difficulties both on and off the field for the Melbourne Storm have ended in the most unfortunate way — a record-breaking defeat by Manly 40-0.This has been a debauched and spectacular Centenary of the National Rugby League with controversy yet again being the star player.
In some ways it's fitting that the final game was played between teams representing the two factions of rugby league in Australia, the veterans of the Super League War. "The War" is remembered as the corporate wrestle during the mid-90s between the News Ltd-backed Super League and the Kerry Packer-backed Australian Rugby League — or alternatively, the time when rugby league decided it wanted to become the pay TV monolith of sport by ripping it's own heart out and chopping it in half.
Once again, league's problems are all about money. And alcohol.
The Melbourne Storm is wholly owned by Rupert's News Ltd and reportedly loses $6 to $8 million per year. Manly is owned by businessmen Max Delmege and Scott Penn. Although in better financial shape (expected loss this year of $300,000), Manly will be wanting to sell plenty of their "2008 Premiers" t-shirts as their main sponsor Delmege Commercial (yes, the property development company belonging to the team's part owner Max Delmege) is ending its $1 million annual sponsorship.
Manly have found a new sponsor in Colin Tidy's Betchoice but they'll have to work something out there, because the NRL won't allow Betchoice to put its name on Manly's jersey — the NRL has an agreement with another gambling entity, the TAB.
The NRL and most of it's clubs not only have serious financial issues, the game in Australia is being shackled by poor attendances, the salary cap system, star players fleeing the continent for big money in Europe, wrestling on field (otherwise known as the grapple tackle) and, perhaps most significant of all, players' indiscretions off the field.
This aspect has had the league-loving blogoshpere all revved up.
There is a "boys will be boys" attitude among much of the bovine league commentariat, but blogger David Weiner reminds us that this year has seemed worse than most:
The league boys have ticked all the soap opera boxes in 2008 — not only have we had sexual assault allegations, glassings, assaults and drinkers, but we've outdone ourselves this year with our own international fugitive. It's so exciting I almost forgot that three players almost got shot before the year even started.
The shooting he's referring to was the 3 March incident outside a Kings Cross nightclub in which shots were fired at star Parramatta player Jarryd Hayne and two teammates after an earlier incident inside. So maybe add "guns" to money and alcohol in that list of league's problems.
Then there's the glass problem, in particular the one Cronulla five-eighth Greg Bird allegedly used to glass his girlfriend, before apparently trying to blame it on his mate who was out playing golf. (So that's another item on the list, unless glasses come under "alcohol".)
While these off-field distractions have provided plenty of fodder for the media, a post on nrlforum.com entitled "More Bird Shit on the NRL's Centenary Windshield" expresses the widely held view among fans that these events are indicative of a more systemic crisis in the game:
While Hayne bounced back to retain his NSW spot, Bird, Carney and Sonny Bill Williams were meant to be the future of our sport — marquee players at their respective clubs who are now almost certainly lost to the game. David Gallop (CEO of the NRL) must be on the verge of a breakdown wondering how he can fix this cancer on Rugby League — there's only so many alcohol awareness seminars he can send young players to.
The conflict between fans of the game and those players intoxicated by fame and ego (and perhaps alcohol) is nowhere more evident than at the Broncos. On the eve of their final game, the spotlight of public attention was shifted away from Wayne Bennet, the modest, hard-working coach who has detested alcohol and excess all his career, and towards his own players, who have been accused of sexual assault, intoxication and drug use during another nightclub incident.
To make it even worse, according to allegations repeated by Ray Hadley on his 2GB radio show, one player video-recorded the central incident on his mobile phone, to the distress of the 24-year-old woman involved. The players questioned by police over the affair were Broncos and Origin stars Karmichael Hunt, Darius Boyd and Sam Thaiday.
The suggestion of player involvement in criminal incidents is troubling for libidinous league fans like kiki at the "oherrol" blog, where she has posted her footy observations on morals, speedos and celibacy. By "observations" she means eye candy, and her proposed Sam Thaiday Innocence Project, which she thinks is necessary because "Surely a man who hands out carnations for mothers day couldn't be involved in (alleged) yucky times?"
The last few weeks of the season were dominated by media coverage of the Melbourne Storm and their coach, Craig Bellamy. Bellamy vehemently rejected a decision made by the NRL Judiciary which saw the Storm's captain banned for two matches (including the grand final) for the infamous "grapple tackle". Bellamy criticised the decision and the integrity of the judiciary members, resulting in a fine of $50,000 to be paid by the Storm to the NRL.
While judiciary members are considering legal action for defamation, Storm fans, like David Wiseman from theroar.com.au aren't too impressed either:
We're currently in the midst of the smear campaign to end all smear campaigns with the latest allegations that the Storm killed Bambi and liked watching Big Brother. The only thing the Storm are guilty of is winning games. Surely it would take something more significant to unite the NRL, News Limited rugby league scribes, and most of the Fairfax journalists?
But Fairfax have not been alone in the popular new sport of Storm-baiting. It's intriguing that Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd press also seemed to be targeting the Storm, as News Ltd owns the Melbourne team. In fact, because News Ltd owns 50 per cent of the NRL too, Melbourne Storm's $50,000 fine will be paid by News Ltd to an organisation it co-owns.
Melbourne Storm's financial losses may be related to the fact that seemingly few Melbournians have any interest in rugby league. The highlights from Melbourne blogs around the whole issue include: "'Melbourne Storm' thrashed in stupid sport" and "Bring back the AFL...please!"
This league Centenary year has been a chaotic shambles of poor foresight and knee-jerk reactions to crises. Perhaps in celebrating its history there will be serious changes made to ensure league fans have a future competition to look forward to, otherwise fans, TV audiences and sponsorship dollars may continue to drift towards the other major sporting codes.
On the other hand, people have written off rugby league before, yet it's still with us. Maybe there's still enough passion left in league to see it through.
Anyone unsure just how passionate the league blogosphere really is should check out "Hitler is a West Tigers fan", and feel his pain as he decides whether or not to buy 2009 season tickets.
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I’m a (proudly libidinous) friend of the Errol girls, and I’m sure you’ll be relieved to know that the sam thaiday innocence project is a joke. If you really want to know what the girls (and their imaginary interns) think about player behaviour you might like to have a read of http://oherrol.wordpress.com/2008/09/16/kiki-does-serious-times/
also feel free to send all donations to the STIP via paypal. we’re a bit low on funds.
Kiki says:
"a) League is almost entirely male dominated. If anyone is disrespectful to women it’s probably because they don’t SEE any women in an everyday context. Sure there might be a receptionist and a physio here and there, but basically its men men men all the time. Most players join clubs from a very young age and they basically grow up in this manufactured environment. If some of them end up having slightly skewed views on women, it’s hardly a suprise.
b) Without this every day interaction with women, the boys are left with very little to go on. To be frank, if I was 20 year old guy and offered sex on a platter every time I went out, I would probably come to think that the only way men and women interact is sexual, too."
Well, thank God for that. For a second I thought it might be the players’ fault…
B, I certainly don’t think trying to understand how people form the skewed views they do, or why they might be relatively naive when it comes to women (because that is the issue Kiki was discussing there) has anything to do with abrogating or denying personal responsibility.
If you look at the para in context it’s actually about whether there is a general lack of platonic relationships with women in league, and whether that has something to do with sexist behaviour.
I agree with her that, because of the points she mentioned above, football teams and the NRL are in a unique position to take positive action to help players (god knows some of them are only about 16) grow up in a culture that is less male-dominated and more representative of our culture as a whole.
But the question of whether these boys form healthy non-sexual relationships with women and the question of breaking the law, violence, and sexual assault are completely different things. In no way do I think what you’ve quoted is apologism for people who commit anti-social behaviour, act criminally, or violate others.
I’m shocked if you don’t agree. Unless you’re just being inflammatory?
As far as that goes, ‘culture’ or ‘growing up around men’ is fairly irrelevant. To quote the amazing Shane Webcke, it doesn’t matter what they tell you or what your teammates are doing "you always know what’s right or wrong".
I wonder why Kiki didn’t quote Shane Webcke. Interesting.
If my memory’s right, he hadn’t said it when she posted. Such unfortunate timing.
Oh look, I don’t think Kiki is really being an apologist; certainly not compared to some in the football business who will defend their fellow players to the death and blame it all on the media and wicked women who entrap poor footballers. I’m sure she holds no truck with sexual assault or violence against women.
But I will be most refreshed when a fan, or a sports reporter, or an ex-player - somebody who actually does love the game - comments on the issue simply by saying, "Hey, you’ve behaved like a pack of bestial pricks, and you can go f*** yourself no matter how sheltered your lifestyle is".
Then again, I guess I just did, didn’t I? I’ve been a lover of numerous sports for many years, and this sort of thing does get a tad wearing.
I think if anyone is disrespectful to women it’s because they’re dicks.
Well in one sense we’re agreeing … there’s a reason why we had to fire imaginary intern greg bird, as stupid as we felt doing it.
But as far as attitudes go, all the stuff that’s not so easily noticeable or not so easily defined, like what words you use (‘slut’), how you approach women, whether you respect women; I do think that there is room for multiple influences. I do think culture plays a part.
It’s something that can be fostered by a club or teammates who don’t tell you to pull your head in when you’re 15 and acting like tool, and even by the general public who don’t see anything wrong with it when it’s directed at them.
Maybe it’s because I’m an optimist and I want to believe that attitudes can be influenced for the better as well as for the worse.
ps That’s why I love Shane Webcke! Go team Webcke!
"It’s something that can be fostered by a club or teammates who don’t tell you to pull your head in when you’re 15 and acting like tool"
And of course, the better you are at the game, the less likely anyone is to tell you to pull your head in.
The thing that shocks me most is that anyone expects anything better from league players. The news is that these guys come from backgrounds where violence is commonplace, respect for women only extends to mums and girlfriends and alcohol binging is an accepted bonding activity.
That being said police, taxi drivers, politicians and all manner of other people display the same behaviours. If we really want to see a change in sportsmen we would need to change our societal value system. Then when we ask footballers to stop being jerks the appeal will have some bite.
I am not sure why the behaviour we are talking about can’t be dealt with by the law. I think the club based application of fines and suspensions gives the players the impression that they exist in a different system from the rest of us and are above the law. I have to wonder if the police give them some leeway because of an awareness that they will pay for their crimes under the NRL. Let’s get it away from the sport and treat these guys as I hope we treat all sexual or violent offenders.
The NRL should be paying folk from the welfare sector to engage all players in group activities designed to explore not just the behaviours mentioned but also the player’s role in society.
I love league, and think there is plenty more passion to go on with, as long as the game leaves off their plans for world domination and concentrates on making the existing competition something we can all be proud of.
Totally agree with you Dog that league’s obsession with expanding is kind of self-defeating. Too much focus on taking over the world (or at least the Western and Southern states) can distract them from keeping the things that people actually love about league, like the love for your local team and the face to face interaction with players and coaches and other fans.
I can’t disagree with you more about the stereotypes of league players though. I have met plenty of lovely, gentlemanly players and fans … and plenty of dickheads. For every Todd Carney and his brushes with the law there is a Steve Menzies or a Steve Price.
The truth is these are social problems, not footy problems. Players run the spectrum of character and behaviour like everyone else. The difference between Sonny Bill’s mythical bus driver and a footballer isn’t the behaviour - more that league might just be the perfect way to magnify all those social problems. In terms of coverage or scrutiny, and maybe also even in terms of attitude.
I dunno that players get overly special treatment under the law, to be honest.
I think any leniency they get because they’re footy players is balanced by people wanting to throw the book at them because they’re footy players.
What I do think is tricky is the inconsistency of club’s decisions and the NRL actions. I think maybe they’re not quite sure how to deal with the problems either.
having proactively ignored rugby league for the last 12 years, i’m glad to learn that its final demise is relatively imminent.
the only reason rugby league had for existing was that union was an amateur sport. that anomaly has now been corrected so league should do the polite thing and take itself off into the corner and eat a bullet.
also, that hitler video is a (rather poor) imitation of this version about sheffield united getting screwed by west ham from october last year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nh7gm4jj6c
Not much book-throwing seems to get done, sassy. None of these guys ever seem to actually get convicted.
So it turns out that Rugby League is just as bad as football (ahem, soccer, not rugby league/union/Aussie Rules) in the old scumbag department. And the evil eye of one Rupert Murdoch is somewhere in the mix as well. It could just as well be the English Premier League but for tighter shorts, shite (apologies, NM monitors) haircuts and daft team names.
Football is my first sporting love, but I do have a lot of time for Rugby League and Aussie Rules, for example. There is much about football that diappoints me and gives me a feeling of deep disquiet. Footballers in much of Europe earn far more than your average Aussie RFL or AFL player..and can be just as prone to the same sort of scabby-arsed behaviour as those profiled above.
It’s a world-wide thing, sporty scumbag behaviour, both on and off the pitch. It is hardly a new phenomenon, women being used/raped/abused/sexually assaulted by sportsmen (and even on occasion, sportswomen), but it doesn’t make it right.
Sports stars have a duty to be role models, especially in today’s circumstances, and it does reflect badly on a sport as a whole if some of its biggest names fall below the mark of common decency.
When society as a whole realises that sportspeople are, at the end of the day, merely people and that they aren’t capable of being set on pedestals (or, in some cases, standing upright on a Saturday night), the better. They are role models, but, at the end of the day, also people. No more, no less.
"Not much book-throwing seems to get done, sassy. None of these guys ever seem to actually get convicted."
What I meant is that the attitudes balance each other out.
I’d say that - especially considering the nature of the charges that are usually involved - the treatment foty players get is pretty much par for the course (damn confusing sporting metaphors)
Sexual assault cases and domestic violence cases in particular have low conviction rates and frequently involve uncooperative witnesses or recanted statements.
Look at the Laffranchi case, or even Bird and Milligan. I don’t think the results would be any different if these weren’t sportsmen.
Hi sassy,
You will have to forgive me my impression of league players, I played third grade for Railway in Bathurst in about 1981 and they were some pretty rough diamonds.
Many old league players will offer the opinion that this stuff always happened and that increased scrutiny has meant that all indiscretions become public. This is bourne out by what I have observed in country towns and city nightclubs. They, however, think of this as a bad thing, whereas I see it as a chance to socialise newer players to be better men and citizens.
As for attitudes baancing each other out I say this is the problem. We seem to be looking for excuses to mitigate the punishment sportmen get. The same seems to operate for politicians, not charged because they have already paid by losing their status.
If there is no criminal matter to answer I am uncomfortable with the ‘role model’ line of attack. As Patman points out there are arseholes everywhere, just that a plumber arsehole, or teacher arsehole rarely gets put on TV for it.
Again the rich nuances and seemingly chaotic fantasy realism of rugby league make it difficult for anyone to ascertain what exactly, is what.
For a long time now, some commentators have derided league stars as unfairly hounded while others say they are given free reign.
I think one of the interesting claims by the league community is that the players off-field behaviour is a reflection of our society. I’d like a Nat Crime Authority study on whether this is the case.
I don’t think it is simply a case of one or the other. Sassy is correct in stating that assault crimes against women have a low conviction rate and I think it is unreasonable to suggest our judicial system makes uncharacteristic decisions based on the profession of some defendants. However, the moment someone says ‘rugby league’ and ‘role models’ I dry retch. Let’s just acknowledge we are all role models and forget the… youngsters looking up to their league heroes narrative.
The prevalence of mobile phone cams and CCTV aren’t doing league players any favours but I think a national competition half owned by a media conglomerate which reports and supposedly critiques it, is another significant problem.
I’m not sure what Rugby League has to do with the kind of behaviour addressed here. There is an easily identifiable boozy, misogynistic element in our cities and regional centres. It spills over into the public sphere as a result of the intersection between sport, celebrity, mass media and misogyny. Thus in a way it’s through the cult of celebrity that surrounds our high profile League, Union, AFL stars that unacceptable attitudes towards women manifest themselves. This does not mean that similar behaviour doesn’t occur just as destructively in pubs, clubs, parties and homes all across the country - from men from all backgrounds.
Spot on, Dr Dog; you get that in Gaelic Football as well except that they don’t get paid for it. Except that the Irish International Rules team mostly make mincemeat out of the Australian team..
I was referring to matters in the world of sport, though, Dr Dog, and you gave me a perhaps undeserved compliment (thanks anyway) but you are correct; you get arseholes in all walks of life.
There will be people reading/reacting to this who think you are an arsehole. There will be people reading/reacting to this who think I am an arsehole. There will be those who weigh in with an argument who I will classify as an arsehole (as of yet unknown).
However, those in the "celebrity" circuit are directly in the firing-line, and, according to their behaviour, could well be classified as the biggest arseholes of all. Is it fame? Is it fortune? is it family circumstances? Hmmm.. Who cares? They will influence an entire generation, they should realise this, and should act accordingly - responsibly.
well said sheffinho. if anything it’s almost a cop-out that people are so ready to pronounce bad behaviour to be solely the province of sportsmen or league players … an easy way to deflect discussion of the problem away from the ordinary person who doesn’t want to admit that they do it or enable it or ignore it, too.
I think that everyone’s singing from the same songsheet here; that’s one for the NM historians to take note of.. Reprehensible behaviour occurs in all walks of life; it should be up to those in the public eye, however, to act as role models. By the way, Sassy and Sheffinho, I include you in that number - you’re both spot-on, so, "All things.."