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NRL's David takes on the Goliath in the room
Richard Hinds
May 16, 2009
DAVID GALLOP has always been an incongruous figure. With his grey hair, jerky mannerisms and lawyer's glasses perched on the end of a beaky nose, he sometimes looks more like the honorary secretary of a local coin-collecting society than the most powerful figure in the tough, feudal world of rugby league.
More than his bookish appearance, the thing that has enfeebled Gallop during his seven years as the NRL's chief executive has been his inability to deal with the game's ingrained culture of sexual misconduct. How often had Gallop been left standing like a befuddled headmaster wagging his finger at misbehaving schoolboys who, emboldened by the cheering of the fans and the winks and nods of club insiders, ignored his warnings?
Tuesday seemed like just another day-in-the-life of an apparently decent man doing a dirty job - this one spent responding to the disturbing
Four Corners report that detailed several incidents of gang-banging and other improper conduct by NRL players.
Given the barbaric nature of some members of his constituency, Gallop enters "damage control" in his diary as often as others enter "coffee with Kate". It was anticipated before his press conference that he would simply repeat the apology issued immediately after
Four Corners went to air and point to the educational programs to which the ABC had been granted access - apparently in the belief this might soften the investigation's impact.
That proved a major miscalculation after the harrowing testimony of those who had endured animalistic rituals at the hands of NRL players was heard. The account, particularly, of a New Zealand woman who had been subjected to a two-hour ordeal by Cronulla players including Matthew Johns, was difficult to watch and even more difficult to ignore.
The clumsy response of one of the young players attending the league's education program did not provide the NRL any relief. He suggested it was not what you did to a woman, but you how treated her afterwards, that determined the acceptability of your conduct. Seven-player gang-bang? Got to be worth a bunch of flowers and a bottle of real champagne. Maybe even a lift home - after you've finished your beer.
Whether it was the testimony of the abused women, or how feckless the game was made to seem in its attempts to deal with its problems, the mild-mannered Gallop had a different look about him when he spoke on Tuesday. Firm in his dealing with the recalcitrant Manly after the Brett Stewart sexual assault allegations, Gallop now seemed emboldened. Like a small-town sheriff in a wild west movie who had decided things would be different around here from now on.
Momentarily abandoning the safe ground of his legal training and the rhetoric about re-education, Gallop made two significant points - the game would not tolerate the "degradation of women" (as opposed to merely waiting in the wings to punish those convicted of illegal acts), and those who did not get into line would be run out of the game. "So much of what we saw last night was fundamentally indefensible," Gallop said. "If anyone in the game today is ignoring the importance of that message, then frankly they will need to find another career."
Even as Gallop spoke, those rugby league fans who can barely recite their ABC, let alone watch it, were rallying behind Johns. On websites and radio talkback, they made it clear they fully expected Johns's alter-ego Reg Reagan to pop up on
The Footy Show on Thursday night - perhaps now calling on the game to "Bring Back The Bun".
These knuckle-draggers brandished the word "consent" like a shield. The 19-year-old woman set upon by the Cronulla players had consented to sex, they argued. They didn't quite say "she was begging for it". However, by stating firmly that any behaviour that degrades women was unacceptable, Gallop had ripped that flimsy defence from their hands. "Violence against women is abhorrent, and sexual assault and the degradation of women is just that," he said.
Words alone won't mean much. But the ostracism of the popular Johns, who has been stripped of his club and media roles, sends a powerful message to the apologists and the low-lifes. No more hiding behind the back-slappers and powerful mates.
Gallop must have squirmed watching
Four Corners, but he should be empowered by the portrayal of the damage caused by some. For a moment on Tuesday, the coin collector looked like The Terminator.
