I have zero sympathy for them.
It’s not just rugby league
Look at Weinstein
The music industry
That bloke from the breakfast TV show in the US
They have been told
They’ve had lessons
They been told over and over again
It’s 2018
Facebook twitter Instagram are rife , everyone has a high definition video camera in their hands ALL the time.
Mat Johns somehow made it back to the top.
He is rare
It’ll never happen again.
Not now.
Don't get me wrong mate, I have no sympathy for them either. I'm just trying to paint a picture of what these players grew up to and the environment that surrounded them.
I'll use DeBellin as an example as it is his thread.
He's 27 now, in 2002 when the Johns incident occurred he was 11 but the story was pretty much on the down low and "nothing to see here".
When it really broke out with all the details of the gang bang etc it was 2009. DeBellin was 18, his formative years, playing footy, trying to make a name for himself, along with a lot of other hopefuls.
The story was huge and they now know the fill extent. I dare say they all watched The Footy show on 9 and Johns would've been a hero to many of them.
At 18 what do you reckon these kids were talking about in regards to the incident?
Would it be "Matt Johns is an awful man who cheated on his wife and should be punished "
Or would it be "Man that Matty Johns got a chick back and got her to feed the boys!" *laughing*.
Low and behold a couple of years later he's back on TV and making a helluva career.
Now if The Matty Johns Show calls and asks you to be on it the answer is yes. Maybe they even think they too can make a career after footy saying dumb jokes and having no ability to read a game. Plus, Matty Johns f**ked up in his career and still made a go of It, why can't I?
I agree with you that this will not happen again.
It's just these boys are protected from their teens and into their career. They take a long time to mature as men, some don't ever.
They've had dubious heroes and role models to look up to and yet no one from News Ltd or the other mob connect the dots and see where the rot really is, or won't say it.