Matthew Johns sex scandal in 2002

[bartman]

If Rugby League players were little angels then the media would turn its attention onto another sport because they like the controversy.

I think it would be in the games best interest for the players to avoid behaviour that could be deemed anti-social. AFL players wrongly have a better reputation than Rugby League players so Journos just keep painting up the image of the caveman League player compared to the angel AFL player.

If Rugby League managed to have even ONE year of no off field nonsense, if the players did the right thing for just one year, then you would see more attention paid to AFL because scandals sell papers and the media would happily turn on AFL if they were forced to, because at the moment League is such a convienent target.

Abosulutely agree. We dig our own grave because our administration, clubs, and a hefty slice of the players themselves - not to mention the fans, as evidenced in this thread - have their head in the sand. We are easy targets, but we don't have to stay that way.

But to change that image and media portrayal takes listening to the message that tonight's program seems to be trying to make, and wanting our code to do something about it.

The 4 corners journo has it spot on when she says (http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/lhqnews/nrl-braces-for-a-bad-news-day/2009/05/10/1241893849333.html)

Ferguson said she had been asked by people within the game why league was being singled out and she admitted that the other codes had similar issues.

"I don't think anybody would want to make that case," she said. "However, when you listen to people saying, 'Why don't we look at AFL, why don't we look at soccer, why don't we look at this', I think they're defensive mechanisms aimed at diverting attention from this crucial question.

You only have to read this thread to see the truth of that in action, instead of people admitting that we (our game, our players, rightly or wrongly) have an image problem and need to act to change this situation for the future.

 

[El Diablo]

I don't, specifically. I think other codes and the comparision is irrelevant.

why is it irrelevant :?

why is it that Greg Bird was attacked by the media yet an AFL player wasn't?

i know one mad Brisbane Lions fan who attends every game and he could tell me all about Greg Bird and say he's a typical woman bashing League meathead.

that same person was totally unaware that a player from his club was on charges for the same thing. i had to show him this aricle http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2009/03/13/58691_gold-coast-news.html

how is it that an AFL fan knows more about off field incidents in a code he doesn't follow?

because the media target NRL players and let the other lads off

comparisons with other codes are very relevant if you are expecting league players to adopt a much stricter code of conduct

even if they were to do so the media would still go after them.

 

[bartman]

i have said a few times i have no problem with their behaviour

i have n problem with their behaviour because it is a lot better than sporsman of other codes

if they aren't being told to change then neither should Rugby League players

You have no problem with their behaviour, I have no problem with their behaviour so long as its legal.

But, I simply recognise that our game's financial future - and its image and its media portrayal, which are all linked - is in our game's (amdinistration's) hands. Thi sprogram should (and hopefully will) help our game to act.

We can keep on shooting the messenger(s) - or we can maybe expect more of our sportsmen, so that the game they play and we love can rise above its current public image and so media attention can and will then be deflected to other codes. Imo it's worth the investment (serious education and mentoring etc) and worth the impositions (on personal freedoms that allow the players to aspire to or earn the healthy paychecks our game now gives them).

 

[Pass the Ball]

You only have to read this thread to see the truth of that in action, instead of people admitting that we (our game, our players, rightly or wrongly) have an image problem and need to act to change this situation for the future.

Admittedly there are only a couple here that feel it is acceptable behaviour because other codes do it...

 

[bartman]

why is it irrelevant :?

why is it that Greg Bird was attacked by the media yet an AFL player wasn't?

i know one mad Brisbane Lions fan who attends every game and he could tell me all about Greg Bird and say he's a typical woman bashing League meathead.

that same person was totally unaware that a player from his club was on charges for the same thing. i had to show him this aricle http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2009/03/13/58691_gold-coast-news.html

how is it that an AFL fan knows more about off field incidents in a code he doesn't follow?

because the media target NRL players and let the other lads off

comparisons with other codes are very relevant if you are expecting league players to adopt a much stricter code of conduct

even if they were to do so the media would still go after them.

It's irrelevent to me, because I don't give a sh*t about the other code. I couldn't name you one of their players, unless Barry Hall is still running around.

Maybe we just have to accept that our game's media management must be a damned side worse than AFL's, since their behaviour is worse but it doesn't stick? Either way, it comes back to our game needing to do something to change the situation, for the game's future health. That could be proper investment in an extensive ongoing education and mentoring program (not just 3 people for the whole leage and NYC), or it could be investment in the best Media relations firm there is?

I can't see either strategy working to improve the game's fortunes and public image and future appeal though, unless the employees/players pull their weight by thinking with th ehead on their shoulders instead. Teachers and police etc have stricter behavioural codes for empoloyment - why don't we use them as a comparision for what rugby leage needs from now on, instead of the code for AFL players?

 

[bartman]

Admittedly there are only a couple here that feel it is acceptable behaviour because other codes do it...

It's just they post a hell of a lot :lol:.

 

[God-King Dean]

What to be called a s**t?
That term is rarely used, because due to society it's inappropriate to put down a male for having multiple partners and having promiscuous sex.

As it is, few have pointed out that Matt Johns not only participated in group sex in front of other team mates but had a wife and children when doing so...yet 's**t, trollop, bag' whatever is rampant...

Why?
This is irrelevent, if a woman had done similar then yes.

All I'm saying is certain terms are used for the sexes.

You call dude a s**t he's be like " Fugg yeah ! "

Call a chick a neanderthal & she'd say " Umm... k... "

 

[Newcastlerabbit]

keep trying buddy.

No probs.

 

[Flapper]

I don't think it's acceptable, but I disagree with the microscope being more closely applied to League than the other 3 major codes overall.

That said, if the players all managed to be discreet and not make idiots of themselves in public the media will have nothing to report on, so they'll either have to keep digging up old sh*t from 1978 (which the average joe will wake up to and realise the stupidity of), or start reporting the AFL indiscretions with more gusto.

 

[myanonymoususername]

i have said a few times i have no problem with their behaviour

i have n problem with their behaviour because it is a lot better than sporsman of other codes

if they aren't being told to change then neither should Rugby League players

So you're happy for the NRL to be in a race to the bottom of the barrel?

 

[myanonymoususername]

The female should be named and shamed as well, not hidden, because after all didnt she say yes at the time(or has she conveniently forgotten that fact)

By all reports, she seems to dispute that fact, which is why she would have involved the police in the first place, and why she is speaking now.

 

[myanonymoususername]

where does it say that in their contract?

And given a choice of "ok, couldn't give a rats arse what you do off the field, we're only going to look at what you do on it" and here's $150k a year versus "everything you do is of interest to us" and here's $250k, I'd be quite confident of 100% acceptance of the 2nd offer.

 

[bluesbreaker]

The woman is a s**t. She f**ked a group of different men, in front of a whole bunch of other different men. Yes, the men involved are JUST AS stupid for doing it as well, but i'll call a spade a spade, anyone who is f**king stupid enough to follow a team full of professional athletes back to their hotels late at night, on the balance of probabilities, has a fair idea of what she's in for, and if not, why the 7 year silence?

Referring to her rapist as 'matty'?

Too much sh*t don't add up. An attention seeker on the level of StormChaser i'd say.

 

[Noa]

:shock: c**k :shock:

 

[Apey]

what a f**king joke it's been so far.

Anyone going to keep standing up for it if it keeps going on like this?

 

[El Diablo]

what a f**king joke it's been so far.

Anyone going to keep standing up for it if it keeps going on like this?

so is it a hatchet job just like i predicted?

 

[S.S.T.I.D]

what a f**king joke it's been so far.

Anyone going to keep standing up for it if it keeps going on like this?

I must agree. Nothing hard hitting at all.

 

[Noa]

Nothing hard.....at all.

Cept a c**k .

 

[El Diablo]

well on MNF they've been going on about refs for the last 10 minutes

 

[Dazzat]

I will draw a line.

Men should be leaders in today's society.

No matter what women 'put out' we should be man enough to treat a woman like a woman.

Anything less is treating women like a piece of meat.

Anyone who attempts to justify 'group sex' at outlined in tonight's show is a pathetic individual that needs to take a close look at themselves.

One day when you have a daughter you may understand. Until that time ... I basically feel sorry for anyone who justifies the actions described on tonight's show.

On second thought, I don't feel sorry, I feel utterly disgusted.