Benji Marshall not guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm

[chrisD]

Nothing incident. I highly doubt any of you would walk away if the reports are true.

They're on mega money to do something they love, it's not too much to ask that they keep their fat heads off the front of the papers for the wrong reasons.

That said, I highly doubt this constant negative press is actually hurting the game, I think it's just become part of the ride. Apart from the three fed up callers on talk back radio I know of no-one else we're losing or have lost due to bad behaviour, it's just something to talk about between games.

 

[Scarves]

I'm glad I'm part of Generation Y. I read the first two lines of the article, I didn't see my name in there, so I lost concentration, and used my credit card to buy something on line. Now all I want to know is if this is going to affect my fantasy league team?

 

[Eels Dude]

pff. responsibility. NRL players get money due to the sheer amount of fans that watch it. LUers generally some of the biggest fans going around, do you pay up to see footy, or "role models". I honeslty don't care if Benji decked some merkin for being a merkin. Wish the media would stop wasting our time.

It's not a matter of being a "role model" or not. By acting more responsibly they're saving themselves. They're the ones who risk receiving fines or suspensions by their club, or even having their contracts torn up, or even lose their own sponsorships deals due to bad publicity. Look at Tiger Woods for example. The media scrutiny is way over the top, but players need to be aware of how bad the media can be and what can result from it, just for their own sakes.

 

[innsaneink]

I have had some fun with this thread just to stir up Tigers fans but here's my actual opinion.

Benji has probably done the exact same thing any one of us would have done under the circumstances. The level of scrutiny NRL players get is way over the top. But they should be aware of this. These guys earn up to 10 times what most people their age are earning and their is responsibility to come from that.

Not just responsibility but they should be aware of the fact that if they head out at 3am in the middle of the city where just about everybody else is drunk off their toes, then there could be trouble regardless of whether they instigate it or not. Because everybody knows who they are and if they cop an odd insulting comment, racist or otherwise, they should be smart enough to just ignore it as opposed to decking a bloke. Because having such a high profile has it's downside.

So if Benji hit a bloke in the face because he was racially taunted, well he should known better really. With a profile like his, you cannot just do something like that and expect it to go un-noticed. It's not a hangable offence and hopefully not as bad as it sounds. People get into fights every weekend in the city and far worse than this one... but the best thing to do is walk away ESPECIALLY if you've a profile like Benji does. If he'd have done that he wouldn't be in this position at all, wouldn't have to speak to police etc. But you cannot have it both ways.

What garbage.
What he earns has nothing to do with it and besides, you werent there were you? Unless you were you dont know how he was taunted and if his alleged violent response was justified or not....so dont say ''If he did this or done that, he'd be sweet"
You cannot always ''just walk away"....

 

[adamkungl]

It's not a matter of being a "role model" or not. By acting more responsibly they're saving themselves. They're the ones who risk receiving fines or suspensions by their club, or even having their contracts torn up, or even lose their own sponsorships deals due to bad publicity. Look at Tiger Woods for example. The media scrutiny is way over the top, but players need to be aware of how bad the media can be and what can result from it, just for their own sakes.

i very much doubt this will effect benji's career

 

[innsaneink]

It's not a matter of being a "role model" or not. By acting more responsibly they're saving themselves. They're the ones who risk receiving fines or suspensions by their club, or even having their contracts torn up, or even lose their own sponsorships deals due to bad publicity. Look at Tiger Woods for example. The media scrutiny is way over the top, but players need to be aware of how bad the media can be and what can result from it, just for their own sakes.

They are....what rock did you crawl from?
Have you not read the umpteen stories on what NRL players now go through away from training....heres one from just last week...I'll highlite the pertinent part for you.

..........The old days of booze-fuelled nights are now fraught with danger. People armed with mobile phone cameras have snapped everything from Willie Mason urinating in a city lane to an intoxicated Sonny Bill Williams in a toilet cubicle with ironwoman Candice Falzon in a pub toilet.
Ayshford said sometimes, on his rare nights out with friends, strangers wanting to prove their toughness had challenged him. He is well aware there are consequences if he takes the bait. Young players have been expelled from clubs due to grog-induced errors of judgment............
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/rookies-learn-life-lessons-101-20110226-1b963.html

 

[El Diablo]

what makes footy players stupid is that they still willingly do interviews with DT journos

 

[Eels Dude]

What garbage.
What he earns has nothing to do with it and besides, you werent there were you? Unless you were you dont know how he was taunted and if his alleged violent response was justified or not....so dont say ''If he did this or done that, he'd be sweet"
You cannot always ''just walk away"....

Irrelevant to the point I was making. You cannot always walk away obviously. But players need to be aware in certain situations they cannot act like a regular member of the public may do. If it was me in that position I'd have probably decked someone too if I'd received taunts like that.

The money should be irrelevent. But he earns what he does because he is in the entertainment industry and his salary is based on how good he is at what he does. And like anyone in the entertainment industry there are certain sacrifices and expectations that come from that.

You can look at people like Charlie Sheen or Lindsay Lohan who make a motza out of their profiles... but then when they screw up even in just the slightest way they're gonna cop it from the media all the time. It's the way it works, like it or not. And that's the price you pay for the profile and money you make. Cannot have your cake and eat it too.

 

[Eels Dude]

i very much doubt this will effect benji's career

It probably won't. I wasn't saying that in relation to Benji specifically but moreso in regards to NRL players as a whole. They just need to be careful than you or I.

 

[Evenflow]

get it right

they pay for mobile footage where dickheads have set up players

So because some random forummer (a Tigers fan no less) has claimed he knows the person involved and said he set Marshall up then that makes it true in this case?

Anyway since we're generalizing, shouldn't you be watching mardi gras? Or more likely are you there posting from your float?

 

[El Diablo]

So because some random forummer (a Tigers fan no less) has claimed he knows the person involved and said he set Marshall up then that makes it true in this case?

Anyway since we're generalizing, shouldn't you be watching mardi gras? Or more likely are you there posting from your float?

they paid for a photo last time you idiot

2008 i think it was

Ambushed Benji not first to be framed

The Sydney Morning Herald was contacted hours later by an unnamed man offering to sell images of the fracas. The Daily Telegraph bought them and published them yesterday

 

[Eels Dude]

They are....what rock did you crawl from?
Have you not read the umpteen stories on what NRL players now go through away from training....heres one from just last week...I'll highlite the pertinent part for you.

Why are you trying to argue when you're basically agreeing with me? I'm well aware of what the NRL do and clubs do to educate their players? Sometimes it doesn't always sink though. Benji is probably one player who is smart enough to take something from this education. But he still needs to be careful but there's a lot of idiots out there who probably don't like simply because he's Benji Marshall and it's best to ignore them rather than get into an altercation with them, even though it's a natural response to do so.

 

[Charles Bronson]

a non story.

with the amounts of idiots out and about things like this happen everyday.

 

[innsaneink]

Irrelevant to the point I was making. You cannot always walk away obviously. But players need to be aware in certain situations they cannot act like a regular member of the public may do. If it was me in that position I'd have probably decked someone too if I'd received taunts like that.

The money should be irrelevent. But he earns what he does because he is in the entertainment industry and his salary is based on how good he is at what he does. And like anyone in the entertainment industry there are certain sacrifices and expectations that come from that.

You can look at people like Charlie Sheen or Lindsay Lohan who make a motza out of their profiles... but then when they screw up even in just the slightest way they're gonna cop it from the media all the time. It's the way it works, like it or not. And that's the price you pay for the profile and money you make. Cannot have your cake and eat it too.

Im sure Marshall is aware more than most that things are different for players seeing as he's been faced with this before.
However he is human and everyone has a breaking point.
Not excusing him...thats just how it is.
Its not about having you cake and eating it too.....no one, the most famous or even the sh*ttiest toilet cleaner or process worker doing 20 hours O/T deserves to be racially taunted

 

[innsaneink]

Why are you trying to argue when you're basically agreeing with me?

Just having some fun with a silly eels fan :roll:

I'm well aware of what the NRL do and clubs do to educate their players? Sometimes it doesn't always sink though.

A couple of your posts it seems as though youre not aware.

Benji is probably one player who is smart enough to take something from this education. But he still needs to be careful but there's a lot of idiots out there who probably don't like simply because he's Benji Marshall and it's best to ignore them rather than get into an altercation with them, even though it's a natural response to do so.

Yes, as mentioned previously, hes been there, done that....that said he should be able to live his life and enjoy what it has to offer.

 

[Eels Dude]

Im sure Marshall is aware more than most that things are different for players seeing as he's been faced with this before.
However he is human and everyone has a breaking point.
Not excusing him...thats just how it is.
Its not about having you cake and eating it too.....no one, the most famous or even the sh*ttiest toilet cleaner or process worker doing 20 hours O/T deserves to be racially taunted

Nobody deserves. But there's a right and a wrong way to go about things. If Benji reacted the way he did I don't blame him. I certainly wouldn't feel guilty about decking a bloke if they verbally abused me in regards to something racial or otherwise. But at the end of the day if I did that and broke someone's jaw I'd be the one in s**t. And NRL players due to their profile need to make sure they do their best to stay clear of incidents like this because there's a lot more scrutiny on them than the average joe. And if that means not going down to Maccas at 3am on a friday night to grab a quarter pounder when you're the only person there that isn't a drunken lout, that's a sacrifice that has to be made.

 

[Ulysseus]

You can look at people like Charlie Sheen or Lindsay Lohan who make a motza out of their profiles... but then when they screw up even in just the slightest way they're gonna cop it from the media all the time. It's the way it works, like it or not. And that's the price you pay for the profile and money you make. Cannot have your cake and eat it too.

Charlie?
Cop it from the media?
Mate, be realistic, Charlie has been f**king up since the f**king 80's and every time he has come of the rails and gone bat sh*t crazy we have simply put a hand on his shoulder, told him everything was sweet and let him keep doing his things.
Until this point nothing has really reduced his earnings capacity.

 

[Tonearm Terrorwrist]

Coffee's not coffee...

 

[themacemaceman]

Its ironic that if this had of occurred on the field the name caller would be suspended for racial vilification. Benji would probably have got 10 in the bin for retaliating. So I say benji should get the same punishment as on the field.....10 in the bin!

 

[Danish]

no one deserves to be racially taunted but at the same time no one should give a sh*t about some pack of bogans taunting them.

Benji should have just had a laugh to himself that what he earns in 3 months is more than all 8 of them put together, and if he needed to respond just quietly tossed them one of his 3 karat earrings and asked how many of their mothers that would cover for the evening.... greek included of course.

No reason to resort to violence although I completely understand it