i say its B.S

[0neye]

Sexual assault claim has league in state of shock
By Neil Breen
February 25, 2004
AT 9.15am yesterday, Sydney shock jock Ray Hadley began reading a police incident report live on air. The next 60 seconds of broadcast time on radio station 2GB ensured the 2004 rugby league season would begin in crisis.

Hadley wasn't breaking the story of sexual assault allegations made by a 21-year-old against "at least" six members of the Canterbury Bulldogs at a Coffs Harbour hotel in the early hours of Sunday morning.

That news had come out the day before, but the content of the police report is explosive.

Allegations of sexual misconduct by rugby league players have, sadly, become a pre-season norm in country regions, where teams descend to prepare for the coming seven months of competition.

The theory of the team camp is to get away from the distractions of the city and home life. In camp, players, coaches and team management can think of nothing but pure football, so the theory goes.

Hadley, a radio personality who forged his name as a league commentator, obtained the police incident report into allegations made by the 21-year-old Coffs Harbour woman.

As he read the report on air, lovers of the game could only listen in horror, wondering how much more scandal it could withstand.

The problem league has isn't so much with diehard fans, who will always be there; it is with the big end of town, the corporations who have money to spend on sponsorship and corporate hospitality.

In the past decade, rugby league has been torn apart by any number of scandals - the Super League war, the Bulldogs' salary cap debacle, sexual misconduct allegations, the John Hopoate "finger up backsides" atrocity and pre-season disgraces such as the Julian O'Neill "faeces smearing" incident in a motel room in Dubbo.

The police report, as read by Hadley, states: "About 9am, on Sunday 22 February, 2004, police and ambulance were called to the Pacific Bay Resort, Coffs Harbour, in relation to a distressed female who was alleging a sexual assault upon her. Police spoke with several staff and the alleged victim in a cleaner's room at the resort.

"Initial information to police was that the victim alleged coming to the resort from the Plantation Hotel with a Canterbury rugby league player, and was taken to the lower pool area by about six to eight of the players. She has then disclosed to a cleaner that at least six of them sexually assaulted her, without consent, by anal, oral and vaginal penetration.

"The victim was extremely distraught when spoken to by police and taken to the Coffs Harbour District Hospital via ambulance. A medical examination has been carried out but a full disclosure and statement has not yet been able to be obtained from the victim. A crime scene was established.

"Detectives made inquiries with Canterbury team management and several players were identified as having involvement with the victim the previous night. Detectives interviewed four of the players where various versions were obtained from them.

"One player admitted sexual intercourse with the victim at the pool at the time in question. The other players interviewed offered supporting versions and denied having sexual intercourse with the victim.

"No player interviewed supplied a DNA swab but were willing to after they received legal advice. There is insufficient information to arrest any person at this time.

"The victim was again spoken to on the afternoon of the 22nd, after she'd been released from hospital.

"She stated to police that she was sexually assaulted by at least six players without her consent and can only name one of them at this time. She is willing to make a full statement to police in the coming days and indicated she wants to proceed with the complaint.

"There was medical evidence to support the victim's claims in the medical examination. Further inquiries are set to continue."

Those inquiries did continue yesterday -- police are known to be pursuing the allegations "vigorously" and want all members of the Bulldogs' squad to voluntarily come forward and supply DNA samples.

The Bulldogs trained as normal at their Belmore base yesterday morning but no-one was saying anything.

The club should be well-versed in crisis management. In 2002, the Dogs were virtually thrown out of the competition on the eve of the finals when they became embroiled in the now infamous salary cap scandal.

Before season 2003 began, a 42-year-old woman alleged to police she had consensual sex with one Bulldogs player but woke up when another player was having sex with her while a third looked on. This was alleged to have occurred at the Pacific Bay Resort, the venue of Sunday morning's allegations.

Police dropped an investigation into the 2003 matter for lack of evidence.

With the Bulldogs staying quiet, until releasing a short statement late in the day, administrators at the NRL's Fox Studios headquarters reached for their well-worn crisis management handbook.

Staff have contingency plans for the handling of major incidents ranging from player misbehaviour, gambling and drug use.

NRL chief executive David Gallop, whose first test in league's top job was passed with flying colours when he acted swiftly against the Dogs in the salary cap case, issued a statement early yesterday before sitting through a scheduled board meeting.

In the statement Gallop, a lawyer, promised any player found guilty of a criminal offence as a result of the Coffs Harbour alleged sexual assault investigation, as well as his or their club, faced heavy sanctions.

"These penalties include fines, suspension and de-registering players," the statement said.

"It is in the interests of all clubs and players that the game makes a clear statement on this matter."

Only last week Gallop was in Dubbo during the NRL's pre-season two-day "Bush Tour" which saw 60 players visit 25 regional centres.

The bush tour is a noble idea -- the game needs promotion in country centres which suffered during and after the devastating mid-1990s Super League war.

Rugby league people in the bush, selling raffle tickets to stay afloat, felt unloved while greed prospered in the city and threatened to ruin the game.

But how can the game be promoted in regional areas when, each season, there is at the very least an investigation into an alleged atrocity?

Late yesterday, Gallop reiterated rugby league's commitment to bush areas during a press conference, saying last week's exercise had been a "feel-good week for the game" until the allegations surfaced.

Gallop also spoke of the NRL's program designed to educate players about off-field behaviour, although he did admit it may need reviewing.

Titled "Risky Business", the program is run by former Coburg Giants NBL player Michael Hall, who has been a Victorian policeman.

Hall lectures all NRL players on a club-by-club basis. This year, Hall's topic is "Recreational Drug and Alcohol Abuse".

Last year, his "Risky Business" presentation, given to all 15 clubs, was titled "Players and the Law: Assault and Sexual Offences".

That being the case, Gallop summed up the mood of the game's hierarchy yesterday when he said: "Everyone in the game is entitled to be disappointed today. I am certainly hugely disappointed."

Neil Breen is The Australian's sports editor


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IN THIS SECTION:
Sexual assault claim has league in state of shock
Gilchrist fined half match fee
Carlton warn of money worries
Heath quits Woods for open space
Troubled Reds are free to play Kefu
Confident Webb dedicated to reigning again
2004 AFL Draw
2004 NRL draw



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[0neye]

im a freak :shock:

 

[0neye]

i saw my daddy today :lol: ;-)

 

[Sydney Carton]

better take this out or breenie might have a cry

 

[iggy plop]

Yet another league hater.

Can't stand the prick. The Stephen Glass of Aussie journalsim.

 

[0neye]

Harbour say they are concerned by the number of private investigations into the alleged sexual assault of a young woman by members of the Canterbury Bulldogs football team.

Investigations have begun into the alleged sexual assault of a 20-year old woman at the Pacific Bay resort early last Sunday morning.

The National Rugby League has hired private investigators to probe the alleged incident and the Bulldogs are holding their own internal investigation.

Today, the Daily Telegraph is asking witnesses to contact the newspaper.

Coffs Harbour crime manager Jason Breton says if witnesses do contact the football club or newspapers, it will muddy the police investigation.

"What we would ask is if people have seen something then the Daily Telegraph, the NRL, the Bulldogs aren't going to prosecute the matter if and when any prosecutions are laid in the future," Detective Breton said.

"If there are genuine witnesses with genuine concerns for this alleged victim then police will prosecute that matter, if it does get to any prosecution in the future, not anyone else.

"So we are the people of course that are the specialists and the professionals in this area."

Innocence

Bulldogs coach Steve Folkes says he wishes the public knew what he knows about the investigation.

Folkes says he has no reason to doubt the players' innocence as they have never let him down before.

He has told Southern Cross radio that club sponsors and fans should stick with the Bulldogs in a difficult time.

"I wish the general public was aware of what I'm aware of and I'd say to our supporters and our sponsors, 'please keep an open mind'," Folkes said.

"The reason that they became Bulldogs supporters in the first place, those reasons will be vindicated when all this is over."

Folkes says at least one player has breached the club's code of conduct by taking a woman back to the team hotel and will be severely dealt with.

But he has told Southern Cross radio his players deserve support.

"They're certainly guilty of bad judgment but I would like to let the police do their job," he said.

"My reasons for coming on [the radio] this morning are primarily to support my players because I believe they deserve supporting."

The National Rugby League has confirmed it has hired private investigators to probe the behaviour of Bulldogs last weekend.

The NRL says the investigation will examine possible code of conduct breaches and is separate from a police inquiry into the allegations against some Bulldogs players.

The Bulldogs squad has arrived on the Gold Coast for a trial match this weekend
;-)

 

[Sharkie73]

This bit is from todays tele;

Last night, The Daily Telegraph contacted the housekeeper but she refused to comment on what she had told police.


But she reacted angrily when asked whether she thought the woman was lying.


"If she was acting then she should win an Academy Award," she said.

If it turns out to be true Oneye all these guys can look foward to is looseing there jobs and 55yrs in Gaol #-o

 

[Penelope Pittstop]

Guys, could you supply links to all written media, thank you !!

 

[[furrycat]]

I suggest people refrain from speculation... I could easily write
"The girl is really a man"... and pretend I saw it in the paper. The media will do what they can to blow it out of proportion. As mortimer said, "Maintain the innocence, and let the police do their jobs"

 

[Sharkie73]

If your refuring to what I posted it was in todays telegraph, If I new how to put a link in I would. #-o

 

[[furrycat]]

No i'm referring in general. The media recently printed that 10 players were involved and there were witnesses.... No witnesses were around, and I don't believe the 10 players remark.

 

[Penelope Pittstop]

If your refuring to what I posted it was in todays telegraph, If I new how to put a link in I would. #-o

Just copy and paste the url in the thread, that should do it.

 

[ibeme]

http://www.abc.net.au/sport/content/s1054623.htm

...Bulldogs coach Steve Folkes says he wishes the public knew what he knows about the investigation.

Folkes says he has no reason to doubt the players' innocence as they have never let him down before.

He has told Southern Cross radio that club sponsors and fans should stick with the Bulldogs in a difficult time.

"I wish the general public was aware of what I'm aware of and I'd say to our supporters and our sponsors, 'please keep an open mind'," Folkes said.

"The reason that they became Bulldogs supporters in the first place, those reasons will be vindicated when all this is over."

Folkes says at least one player has breached the club's code of conduct by taking a woman back to the team hotel and will be severely dealt with.

But he has told Southern Cross radio his players deserve support.

"They're certainly guilty of bad judgment but I would like to let the police do their job," he said.

"My reasons for coming on [the radio] this morning are primarily to support my players because I believe they deserve supporting."

The National Rugby League has confirmed it has hired private investigators to probe the behaviour of Bulldogs last weekend.

The NRL says the investigation will examine possible code of conduct breaches and is separate from a police inquiry into the allegations against some Bulldogs players.

The Bulldogs squad has arrived on the Gold Coast for a trial match this weekend.

I've posted this in the NRL thread also

 

[[furrycat]]

I trust Steve Folkes. The players *should* not lie to him, he has been a father to them. I know they've done wrong, but they *may* not have committed sexual assault. Folkesy *hopefully* would know.

*edited*

 

[ibeme]

We can only hope for now. There's more than just the criminal element to consider also. Three different investigations are being conducted - Police, NRL and Bulldogs. Hopefully they get to the bottom of it.

 

[[furrycat]]

In regards to the police investigation, I do honestly think without a biast for the team, that the allegations are unfounded. I do not see how at 6am, a lady who was drinking all night long, was able to successfully identify 6 people in darkness (I was in Coff's that morning, and it was very dark..). The Bulldogs investigation, I feel the player who had sexual intercourse and the others who were drinking should be disciplined, regardless of their position in the team.

If the Bulldogs in question are guilty of it, I will be very surprised, and they should receive the punishment. If it turns out that this was unfounded, The players should still be disciplined for breaching the code, and letting themselves get into this situation.

 

[ibeme]

One thing's for certain, the rest of the sporting world, including league players will learn one big lesson from this.

 

[0neye]

This bit is from todays tele;

Last night, The Daily Telegraph contacted the housekeeper but she refused to comment on what she had told police.


But she reacted angrily when asked whether she thought the woman was lying.


"If she was acting then she should win an Academy Award," she said.

If it turns out to be true Oneye all these guys can look foward to is looseing there jobs and 55yrs in Gaol #-o

YARH IF IT IS BUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF ITS B.S WHAT THEN ;-)

 

[0neye]

SPORT
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'We've got an issue with the Dogs'
By Stuart Honeysett
February 28, 2004
NRL chief executive David Gallop was in his office on Monday morning when media director John Brady knocked on his door.

"We've got an issue with the Dogs," Brady said.

By 6.30pm that night, after it was widely reported that at least six Bulldogs players were under police investigation for the alleged rape of a 20-year-old woman in Coffs Harbour, they had more than an "issue" on their hands.

By the next morning, after a graphic police incident report had been read out on radio, it was a full-blown crisis. Gallop's first reaction was not to panic. His experience with the salary cap scandal involving the same club two years ago had taught him that.

But he did quickly spare a thought for the happier times he had experienced in Dubbo only a week before when he had helped former Test captain Brad Fittler and his Sydney Roosters team-mates Luke Ricketson, Adrian Morley and Anthony Minichiello promote the game in the bush.

"I'm not saying a lot of that good work has been undone but it's like a cannon has been shot into the ship," Gallop said.

"The ship was sailing well. It won't sink but it took a big blow."

That cannon struck somewhere around the pool of the Pacific Bay Resort in Coffs Harbour last Sunday morning.

It came after a wild night of celebrations which lasted until sun up following the Bulldogs' trial win over Canberra.

It left a young woman hospitalised, pressing rape charges, and has cast another ugly shadow over the once proud Bulldogs.

The story broke on Monday but the situation reached flashpoint on Tuesday morning when Sydney morning radio talkback king Ray Hadley read the police incident report on air.

Suddenly anything else that was going on in the game was redundant. One of the game's most successful Australian coaches Chris Anderson was replaced by Wayne Bennett but that hype lasted a day.

Other stories about Penrith prop Martin Lang retiring, Brisbane centre Brent Tate facing a season on the sidelines and the NRL wiping clean judiciary carry-over points barely rated a mention.

The police incident report was stomach-churning stuff. It talked of a woman whose dignity had been stripped, of DNA tests for four players and of medical evidence supporting her accusations.

The Bulldogs quickly adopted the siege mentality which got them through the salary cap crisis - for which they were fined $500,000 and stripped of 37 competition points after admitting to cheating the system - and pulled down the shutters at their bunker in Belmore.

It was also reminiscent of their approach to a similar sex scandal at the same Coffs Harbour hotel last year.

The players trained in silence on Tuesday and declined to talk.

Football manager Garry Hughes reacted angrily to press coverage, saying the club was being portrayed as "full of rapists".

Things were not going much better in the front office. The club's chief executive, Steve Mortimer, a favourite son and former champion halfback who rescued the club at the height of the salary cap scandal, became unglued at a press conference on Wednesday. It was an understandable reaction, given he has $2million of sponsorships on the line and is watching a club he has loved for most of his life unravel once again.

Mortimer announced the players involved faced fines and possible suspensions for breaching their code of conduct, a code which would be toughened in light of what happened.

The Bulldogs joined the NRL in investigating the incident and each day, as more and more was revealed in the media, the police appealed for everyone to back off.

A large cloud now hangs over the Bulldogs' season. The first-grade squad is expected to compete while the public looks at them with accusing eyes.

The NRL itself has to try to conduct business as usual - the season launch is on Wednesday night and the celebration will certainly be overshadowed by the rape allegations.

The NRL runs a program to educate players about off-field behaviour, which sees former Coburg Giants NBL player and Victorian policeman Michael Hall giving lectures to all clubs on topics including drug and alcohol abuse and assault and sexual offences.

The NRL is concerned that a planned boost to the programs for this season will be seen as a knee-jerk reaction to the Coffs Harbour scandal but Gallop believes conduct is an area these days that should be shared by the league, the clubs and the players themselves.

"That's a complicated puzzle," Gallop said.

"Obviously everyone has a part to play. There's clearly going to be lessons to be learned about what happened in Coffs Harbour last weekend.

"It's very important that the community's legal processes are observed and that includes, in respect of the criminal allegations, the presumption of innocence. But we want to look at the entire weekend and the range of conduct."

Part of that conduct has focused this week on player behaviour and their attitude towards women.

"I can understand how people would level that criticism at rugby league this week," Gallop said.

Bearing that in mind, Gallop remembered a sage piece of advice from the late Peter Moore, the Bulldogs patriarch who would be horrified at the scandals which have engulfed his club in recent years.

"I think 'Bullfrog' used to say these things never happen at 2 o'clock in the afternoon in a cafe," he said. "And perhaps that's a lesson that needs to be continually learned
;-)

 

[0neye]

Police call players in

By CINDY WOCKNER

February 28, 2004

A POLICE Strike Force will travel to Sydney on Monday to begin interviewing and DNA-testing a group of Bulldogs players over the alleged sexual assault of a woman.


The 11 detectives and analytical staff from Coffs Harbour and the NSW Sex Crimes Unit will videotape the interviews and testing of the players.

Bulldogs lawyers will be present during the process but will not be able to participate in the interviews conducted by Strike Force McGuigon. Players will then be asked to give a DNA sample.


The samples will be compared with that taken from the alleged victim of an assault by at least four Bulldogs players at Coffs Harbour Pacific Bay Resort early on Sunday morning.


The 20-year-old woman claims that she was assaulted at the pool of the resort where the team was staying following their trial match against Canberra the previous evening.


The interview process will take place in the offices of the Sex Crimes Unit in Parramatta.


Players have indicated they intend to willingly provide DNA samples. If they refuse police can obtain a court order.


To take a buccal swab, the players will be given a piece of plastic, similar in appearance to a paddle pop stick, and asked to place it inside their mouths and rub it against the inside of their cheeks. Saliva and skin cells adhere to a tab at the end of the swab, which is then sealed and barcoded. The taking of swabs will also be fully video and audio taped.


Detectives in the coastal town were yesterday continuing their inquiries into the allegations, piecing together events of the night one week ago when the young woman says she was assaulted by players at one of the resort's swimming pools in the early hours of Sunday morning.


The young woman had gone with players from the Plantation Hotel to the Pacific Bay Resort and yesterday police were taking statements from security staff and personnel at the hotel in a bid to piece together the hours.


It is understood they are trying to ascertain what occurred at the hotel in the hours before the alleged assault and to determine what time particular players left – and with whom.


They are also interviewing taxi drivers who ferried the players and the young woman, as well as her girlfriend, back to the resort in the early hours of the morning.


Sources told The Daily Telegraph yesterday that the alleged victim, who remains distressed by the incident, has been moved by police to another safe location.


The Daily Telegraph also understands that three nights before the alleged assault, a group of five Bulldogs players returned to the resort with a young woman after a night out in town.


A local taxi driver says he drove five players and one girl to the resort from the Plantation Hotel and that the young woman looked worried at first but assured him she was fine.


"Four players went one way and the woman went with another player in the opposite direction – towards the beach," the driver said.


This means that the players involved may have breached their own code of conduct.


The young woman involved in Sunday morning's incident was found sobbing uncontrollably near a car park driveway, clothed but soaking wet
[-o<