Bird faces life ban if convicted
the Nrl Could Ban Greg Bird For Life If The Cronulla Lock Is Found Guilty Of Glassing His Girlfriend In The Face.
Bird, 24, Faced Sutherland Court On Monday To Answer A Charge Of Maliciously Inflicting Grievous Bodily Harm On His Girlfriend, Katie Milligan.
The Incident Occurred Early On Sunday Morning And Milligan Underwent Surgery To Repair A Fractured Eye Socket At The Prince Of Wales Hospital.
Bird Spent The Night In Police Custody. He Was Granted Strict Conditional Bail Which Included A $5000 Surety And Terms That He Must Not Approach Or Contact Milligan Or Other Witnesses In The Case.
Following Monday's Court Hearing, Cronulla Stood Down Bird Indefinitely Pending The Outcome Of The Case With Chief Executive Tony Zappia Conceding It Was Unlikely Bird Would Play Again This Season.
The Nrl Has Shown It Will Come Down Hard On Errant Players And Recently Deregistered Todd Carney For 2009 After The Canberra Half-back Refused To Accept The Club's Punishment For A Several Alcohol-related Incidents.
Bird's Case Will Be Heard At The Downing Centre Local Court In Sydney On October 8.
As Well As Having The Power To Deregister Players, The Nrl Recently Banned Bulldogs Backrower Sonny Bill Williams For Life After He Walked Out On His Club To Play Rugby Union In France.
"if The Allegations Are Proven Then Of Course His Future In The Club And In The Game Will Come Into Question," Nrl Chief Executive David Gallop Said.
"these Are Very Serious Allegations Against The Player.
"at This Stage The Best Solution For All Parties Is That The Legal Process Is Allowed To Unfold With Greg Off The Field.
"we Acknowledge That The Club Is Taking The Matter Extremely Seriously."
After Electing To Suspend Bird, Cronulla Was Forced To Defended Itself Against Accusations Of Double Standards After It Stopped Short Of Sacking The Test Five-eighth.
It Was Only Two Years Ago That The Sharks Dumped Hooker Tevita Latu In 2006 A Day After He Admitted That He Had Punched A Teenage Girl In The Face And Broken Her Nose.
Zappia Defended The Decision Not To Take Sterner Action Against Bird, Arguing The Circumstances Between The Latest Incident And Latu's Charge From Two Years Ago Were Not The Same.
"it Was Pretty Cut And Dried Circumstances And The Matters Were Not Contested By The Player," Zappia Said Of Latu.
"from What I Understand Happened This Morning At Court, Greg And His Counsel Said They'd Be Strongly Defending The Allegations. It's A Slightly Different Situation."
The Nrl Supported Cronulla's Hardline Stance In 2006 By De-registering Latu, Forcing Him To Head To The English Super League To Continue His Career With Battlers Wakefield.
However, Gallop Backed The Sharks' Position On Monday.
"each Situation Is Different," Gallop Said.
"certainly If There's A Full Admission Then Clubs Are Able To Act More Quickly Than Otherwise."
It Is Understood The Sharks Are Bitterly Disappointed With Bird After He Lied To Club Officials Including Zappia By Initially Claiming He Had Not Been Involved In The Incident.
Bird's Deception Came To Light In Court With Documents Showing He Had Pressured His Flatmate, Brent Watson, With A Series Of Text Messages To Take The Fall.
In Announcing His Indefinite Ban, Zappia Conceded The Situation Was Unlikely To Change Before Bird Had His Day In Court.
"he Certainly Won't Be Training Or Playing With The Nrl Team And I'd Say It's Highly Unlikely He'd Be Playing Again This Year," Zappia Said.
The Incident Could Not Have Come For A Worse Time For The Third-placed Sharks, Who Were Well Placed To Break A Title Drought That Stretches Back To Their Competition Debut In 1967.
Sharks Coach Ricky Stuart Said He Was Disappointed In The Allegations And Addressed The Players Yesterday To Ensure The Case Did Not Derail Their Season.
"they're Very Disappointed But We're Basically At The 30km Mark Of A Marathon And We're Not Going Back To The Starting Blocks," Stuart Said.
Bird's Representative Future Is Also In Doubt For The End Of Season World Cup With The Arl Last Night Vowing To Back The Stance Taken By Cronulla.
Even If Bird Is Cleared, He Is Unlikely To Be Selected For The Kangaroos Given He Would Not Have Played Any Football By The Time The Five-week Tournament Starts In October.
"certainly We Would Respect And Support Any Ban The Club Has On The Player," Arl Chief Executive Geoff Carr Said Last Night.
"if He's Not Got A Court Appearance Until October, At This Stage He Hasn't Got Many Opportunities To Push His Claims."
