Mascord: Rugby league, your image stinks, fix it.

[Different kind of Rabbit]

My two cents....

It's all been mentioned before but anyway...

Rugby League players are celebrities. Whether they like it or not. Like most other celebrities, you can't expect to earn big money, have a public profile and enjoy all of the benefits of this without the associated drawbacks that being such a person brings.

Like any person applying for any position, you need to look at the pro's and con's of becoming a 1st grade Rugby League player. If you weigh it all up and find that their are a few things you just can't live with then perhaps you need to do something else.

Todd Carney is a prime example. He obviously can't live with the rules imposed on him by being in the public eye. Loves a drink and just wants to be a lad. Well Todd, you can do this without any problems if you are a tradey or work in some anonymous office job.

It's a sad fact of life that society will hold famous people up to a different set of rules to the rest of us. This is the price that you pay for your $400k / year salary and your public profile.

If you were to earn $400k / year in the public sector, you'd have paid some other price to get there... i.e. years of study + large university bills as an example.

In life, everything has its pro's and con's. You must always weigh these up against each other. With great privilege comes great responsibility.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

Which players have actually been deregistered from the NRL or banned from the game completely?

I can only think of Tandy. Even the likes of wicks and packer would be free to play if they were actually free to walk the streets.

This talk of tough punishments has no basis. Yes players get sacked by clubs and might even be stood down for a few months before being allowed to sign elsewhere, but that's not much of a punishment.

The players probably know by now, as long as they're good enough, their career is not really in jeopardy if they play up. The likes of Carney clearly don't learn and their experiences hardly deter others when they're back earning huge bucks at a different club six months late.

The nrl love sidelining players for minor and accidental breaches of the rules on the field, to the detriment of the code, but seem loathe to act when these cretins misbehave off the field in a far more negative way for the sport.

Carney should have been deregistered years ago and the game saved from his antics. But the morons at club and NRL level didn't act. In fact I see them as complicent in this affair as a result. There's no assurance he won't be back playing again soon and free to misbehave again. He doesn't learn and neither do administrators.

 

[Scaven]

Kill the sharks, stop propping up Manly, and start expanding the code

Huh? How are the NRL propping up Manly genius?

 

[franklin2323]

Which players have actually been deregistered from the NRL or banned from the game completely?

I can only think of Tandy. Even the likes of wicks and packer would be free to play if they were actually free to walk the streets.

This talk of tough punishments has no basis. Yes players get sacked by clubs and might even be stood down for a few months before being allowed to sign elsewhere, but that's not much of a punishment.

The players probably know by now, as long as they're good enough, their career is not really in jeopardy if they play up. The likes of Carney clearly don't learn and their experiences hardly deter others when they're back earning huge bucks at a different club six months late.

The nrl love sidelining players for minor and accidental breaches of the rules on the field, to the detriment of the code, but seem loathe to act when these cretins misbehave off the field in a far more negative way for the sport.

Carney should have been deregistered years ago and the game saved from his antics. But the morons at club and NRL level didn't act. In fact I see them as complicent in this affair as a result. There's no assurance he won't be back playing again soon and free to misbehave again. He doesn't learn and neither do administrators.

Lui missed a year. Ferguson is still on a ban. My Question to that is who has been convicted of an offence while playing? Just those mentioned.

So you don't follow the NFL? Michael Vick went to jail for illegal dog fighting back to playing. Ray Lewis murder conviction still playing.

What about Joey Barton in EPL Jail time and back playing.

RL is no different then other sports in this matter

 

[East Coast Tiger]

I guess that means we can look forward to being as successful as the NFL and EPL then. Happy days.

The fact the likes of lui are playing and earning more than most people can only dream of is a disgrace. And any decent member of society would agree.

That's why so many decent members of society want nothing to do with rugby league.

 

[Penrose Warrior]

AFL player arrested on three counts of rape, little more than a single report.
NRL player pisses in his mouth, CODE IN CRISIS once again.

If you're keen to see another repeat of the Brett Stewart situation again and again, then yeah by all means let's go open slather and let the media rip into a person despite the entitlement to a presumption of innocence.

 

[franklin2323]

I guess that means we can look forward to being as successful as the NFL and EPL then. Happy days.

The fact the likes of lui are playing and earning more than most people can only dream of is a disgrace. And any decent member of society would agree.

That's why so many decent members of society want nothing to do with rugby league.

I agree with Lui though he didn't get a jail sentence so must of been on the minor scale. How many others would have similar charges but are still on the street. Given there's a white ribbon day he's hardly the 1st to belt a woman around.

So what do these 'decent' members of society do? All sports have off field issues

 

[El Diablo]

I guess that means we can look forward to being as successful as the NFL and EPL then. Happy days.

The fact the likes of lui are playing and earning more than most people can only dream of is a disgrace. And any decent member of society would agree.

That's why so many decent members of society want nothing to do with rugby league.

and would they instead follow AFL?

how the media portray their game http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-ne...irytale-return-to-the-afl-20101007-168y6.html

what the victim thinks https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/8228283/krakouers-afl-fairytale-angers-bashing-victim/

 

[franklin2323]

If you're keen to see another repeat of the Brett Stewart situation again and again, then yeah by all means let's go open slather and let the media rip into a person despite the entitlement to a presumption of innocence.

Yet it was fine for Stewart to get the guilty treatment before court? The media can't go hard at one and not the other

 

[franklin2323]

and would they instead follow AFL?

how the media portray their game http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-ne...irytale-return-to-the-afl-20101007-168y6.html

what the victim thinks https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/8228283/krakouers-afl-fairytale-angers-bashing-victim/

It isn't just those sports. I mentioned Soccer and NFL's issues. Cricket have match fixing going on. RU had Cooper, O'Conner and Beale off the top of my head act like dicks

 

[Canard]

I agree with Lui though he didn't get a jail sentence so must of been on the minor scale. How many others would have similar charges but are still on the street. Given there's a white ribbon day he's hardly the 1st to belt a woman around.

So what do these 'decent' members of society do? All sports have off field issues

I agree with your sentiment and what your trying to say to extent.

However, I would reconsider the bolded part, that doesn't help your arguement in anyway.

 

[Matchball]

Everyone has their opinion on how league should be.
Gus blabs on week after week about his ideals and now this Muppet stuck with his 80's hair do.
Where will it end?

Opinions are like assholes and so it goes.

 

[Chook Norris]

League has way too many emotionally stunted munters who struggle to put together a basic sentence. And that's just the bloody commentators.

Those in the forum whinging about unfair media coverage, or who get their panties in a twist about AFL doing this and that, sorry but that is a lame attitude.

League has a severe 'we are hard done by' siege mentality, which does the sport no favors.

Great game though.

Sums up a lot of the comments in this thread. It's all the media's fault :crazy:

 

[East Coast Tiger]

And the usual suspects go straight to the 'but but afl...' nonsense. Some people really don't get the point do they?

Trying to compare sports isn't even the issue. There are people in rugby league towns from rugby league backgrounds who turn their nose up at the game. Doesn't even mean they follow other sports instead. Some do. The point is a huge number of very normal people think league is a bogan game and its pretty hard to argue most of the time. What other sports do is irrelevant.

 

[franklin2323]

I agree with your sentiment and what your trying to say to extent.

However, I would reconsider the bolded part, that doesn't help your arguement in anyway.

Maybe I could of worded it different.

Mascord and others expect players to be robots when these issues aren't just RL or sport exclusive.

They said on the news early in the week. Fines for not leaving premises had increased. How many of those people get suspended from work? or even got publicly shamed?

 

[franklin2323]

And the usual suspects go straight to the 'but but afl...' nonsense. Some people really don't get the point do they?

Trying to compare sports isn't even the issue. There are people in rugby league towns from rugby league backgrounds who turn their nose up at the game. Doesn't even mean they follow other sports instead. Some do. The point is a huge number of very normal people think league is a bogan game and its pretty hard to argue most of the time. What other sports do is irrelevant.

When it's a RL are grubs statement what other sports do is relevant. Ok genius what sport do we look at as to how to fix this behaviour? I am Dave Smith and co would be looking there if there was an answer

 

[chrisD]

The majority of rugby league fans want the shoulder charge back. Purposeful misrepresentation at best.

 

[franklin2323]

The majority of rugby league fans want the shoulder charge back. Purposeful misrepresentation at best.

I didn't say he listened to the fans...

NFL getting sued for causing head injuries.. RL rules change. If another sport finds away to lose dickheads. RL will follow.

We are a very small sport on the world scale these aren't issues exclusive to RL

 

[Perth Red]

When it's a RL are grubs statement what other sports do is relevant. Ok genius what sport do we look at as to how to fix this behaviour? I am Dave Smith and co would be looking there if there was an answer

I think the challenge is RL faces quite a unique situation compared to any other sport. We have a triple whammy:
1) bogan players who act like dckheads
2) a unfair reputation as a bogan sport
3) a unfirendly media that is keen to stick the knife in at any opportunity.

Most sports only have to deal with number 1. We have to deal with all three meaning any indiscretion is magnified ten fold in terms of impact on the games reputation and appeal. Like others have said we can't look at other sports for answers we have to find them ourselves. What I'd do if I was CEO:

A clear and consistent penalty system for player misbehavour from the NRL rather than clubs responsibility
A decent media dept (weren;t they employing 20 people or something?) that turns around the public perception through positive news
Tougher isolation action on journos that constantly sht on the game
A major and sustained brand marketing offensive that promotes the attributes of RL and what makes it the game we all love so much

 

[chrisD]

I didn't say he listened to the fans...

NFL getting sued for causing head injuries.. RL rules change. If another sport finds away to lose dickheads. RL will follow.

We are a very small sport on the world scale these aren't issues exclusive to RL

Wasn't replying to you.