DIEHARD
----
- Messages
- 7,037
What dogs do - February 28, 2004
When sex is a method of team bonding, women are at risk. Jacquelin Magnay reports on how clubs can become gangs.
Another footy season, another scandal. Allegations of sexual assault follow first-grade NRL footballers like the smell of liniment. The pre-season has brought claims of sexual assault for the past two years and each time they have dissolved for lack of evidence.
But the alleged rape of a 20-year-old woman by the pool of the Pacific Bay Resort last Sunday morning is the blackest episode ever. Startling for its sheer numbers, allegedly involving six Bulldog players, and its alleged violence, the woman had to be taken to hospital in an ambulance.
But why does this happen? Does the club culture in rugby league encourage such behaviour? What is going on that highly paid, fit young men seem to think that it is their right, and indeed, their privilege, to abuse women?
At is most basic level, the alleged assault is a primal, indecent act, reminiscent of pack behaviour identified with bikie gangs or the rape cases involving gangs of Lebanese men. But these are footballers, a gang of sorts with positive intents, to entertain the masses.
But the alleged assaults of the past two years involve the Bulldogs club, one that is well known for its siege mentality. Centred at Belmore Oval, the club closes ranks, preferring to blame outsiders for any problems. It was targeted during the Super League war for supposed treachery, being the first club to sign to the rebel organisation, and then attacked for cheating the salary cap. The coach, Steve Folkes, chose to blame the media for exposing player salaries, rather than acknowledge the club had done wrong.
The players under him are sometimes immature and foolish: some of them throw cardboard from the grandstand onto any media, urinate on the field in front of cameras, or remark they should "pull their dicks out and come all over them" to photographers.
The head of psychology at the University of Canberra, Professor Bob Montgomery, said gangs in general attract people who are finding it difficult to be understood, they are involved in some sort of initiation ceremony and exhibit anti-social behaviour. "They say 'up you' to the rest of the world, they believe the rules don't apply to them and taken to extreme, sexual assault by many of a group is showing gang mentality."
It took about 60 hours after the woman had been allegedly attacked before anyone linked with the game acted. As the initial shock wore off and the public became more outraged as details of Sunday morning slowly emerged - groping of women, brawling in a nightclub, drinking until 6am, and then the alleged pool attack - the NRL chief executive, David Gallop, announced possible $1 million penalties and deregistration of players.
All of which will be immaterial, and a bit too late, if criminal charges are laid and the players face significant jail time.
"We are very disappointed about it and are very concerned," said Gallop, who has appointed an outside security firm to investigate the entire weekend's activities. "At the moment the presumption of innocence must be observed, but I am not saying that significant action will not be considered in the next few weeks."
The NRL is horrified at the impact of the allegations on its image. Rugby league is being tainted and the Bulldogs club vilified. Sponsors are nervously measuring whether the outrage of the public has had any impact on their brands.
All of this comes as the razzamatazz launch of the NRL season next Wednesday will be overshadowed by the Coffs Harbour detectives seeking DNA evidence from players. And if charges are laid the hangover from the coastal weekend will be heavy indeed.
Montgomery said rugby league was in a bind because the promotion of masculine values such as toughness, aggression and competitiveness has a direct correlation in promoting "side effects" such as risky behaviour, an inability to deal with emotions, less intimate relationships and a greater belief that male-female relationships are adversarial.
"The risk is, without anybody intending it, that the organisation promotes a culture associated with the attitude that women are something to be used," Montgomery said.
"That may not be their intention, but it is a side effect, and sometimes that can be their deliberate intention." Montgomery said any atmosphere and culture is set from the top because people in any organisation pick up on examples.
Rugby league prides itself on being the macho game, the toughest of tough games, and for eons the role of women in the code has been subservient. There are the cheergirls with their skimpy shorts, low-cut tops and pom-poms, mothers who wash the socks and jerseys, and pandering wives and girlfriends who bask in the reflected glory of "their man".
For a long time women have been the playthings of these glorified heroes. Some clubs have their regular "buns" or groupies that provide sex on demand. The Herald has previously reported that some league teams used to hire prostitutes for group sex, as part of a team "bonding" process.
Unsubstantiated stories swirl around the locker room that paint women in a degrading light: one involves a coach who ordered his team into his hotel room while he was in the midst of having sex with a woman and told them "this is what we are going to do to [a certain team] tonight".
But women throw themselves at their stars, surreptitiously writing phone numbers on pieces of paper, hanging out around training venues and frequenting known nightspots of the players. Many women aggressively pursue the players and record a notch on the wall when they score with one. But there is a code among some players that "bonus" points are given if women are shared among their mates: the more mates, the more points, and the more laughter afterwards. It is called roasting (a bit of meat being stuffed).
"The sharing of women is a bit pervasive and has developed over time," says sports psychologist Jeff Bond. "Just look at how women are portrayed in the advertising, going back to the Tina Turner ads which had the raunchy female. Now there is The Footy Show and the way they treat women, just as dumb blondes, is so wrong."
Even the language in the rugby league clubs is telling. The most insulting words a coach can make about a lacklustre performance on the field is to comment that he "played like a girl". It is in this disrespectful environment that players are conditioned.
"The culture that surrounds some clubs is wrong; it provides a platform for sex and violence," said Bond.
"Clubs protect players, it is treated as 'boys being boys' and there is a cone of protection and silence. The players have got the income to do lots of things, they have got the time and sometimes they get bored, they don't know what to do with themselves so they turn to drink, horses and sex."
There is also the question of whether illegal supplements such as steroids or testosterone are involved. These drugs have side effects of heightening aggressiveness and sex-drive.
Gallop says that abuse of women is not just confined to his code, and this is true. Just this week reports stated the US military had 112 sexual assault or sexual misconduct charges levelled against servicemen. And in sport four years ago the AFL had two separate rape allegations levelled against a handful of players.
But the sex assault claims three years in a row suggest it is a serious problem in league.
In England, it is Premier League soccer players who indulge in this porn-like behaviour.
Late last year a 17-year-old girl said she was sexually assaulted by seven soccer players in a London hotel after consenting to sex with one player. Her attackers even took pictures on their mobiles of each other in action, but the case was dropped for lack of evidence.
In 2002 players from the Cronulla club were investigated after a New Zealand hotel worker complained of being sexually abused, but the case was dropped.
Last year at the same Coffs Harbour resort a 42-year-old woman alleged she was sexually assaulted after having consensual sex with one Bulldogs player. She woke up having unwanted sex with a second player, and a third was looking on, presumably awaiting his turn. The case did not proceed for lack of evidence.
The Bulldogs club rebuked the players in question, issued fines and introduced a code of conduct which bans players from bringing outsiders back to the team hotel. Suspensions were not considered, because the club wants the players on the paddock and performing well.
The players know this: whenever he is in trouble a manager and his club will want to believe his story and sweep any nastiness under the carpet. Fans are equally stoic. His long-suffering girlfriend or wife may not be so forgiving - but only if she finds out.
It is in this tacitly approving environment that players find it difficult to understand that when a woman says no, it might actually mean no. Some players appear to have no sense of appropriateness and believe consent is not an entitlement. And of course, the code was only worth the paper it was written on.
"They believe it is all OK and that women are fair game," says Bond.
And when things get out of hand, as it may have done on Sunday morning in Coffs Harbour, there is disbelief that it can't, once again, be covered up.
According to the police incident report, the local police were only able to interview four of the players because the team had to catch a plane back down to Sydney. Would any of the Sydney Lebanese men accused of gang rape been afforded such courtesy - and time - to get their stories straight?
On Monday night the Bulldogs' chief executive, Steve Mortimer, was claiming there wasn't much in these latest rape claims. He had spoken to the players and was reassured.
By Tuesday morning Mortimer wasn't saying anything and then by the afternoon he issued a statement, claiming the club would take a strong stance.
Within two days there was a distinct shift in attitude at the club.
Suddenly everyone realised that this case wasn't going to go the way of previous ones. This time the woman wasn't going to be convinced to back down, nor would this be a simple "he-said, she-said" scenario that many women find is too emotionally draining to proceed with.
This time there are independent witnesses and the attempt by some players to speak to the woman before she gave her police statement failed. At the very least it has forced sporting authorities to take the issue seriously.
A torrid history
1995: Sydney Bulldogs are the first club to commit to the rebel Super League organisation. The club are bitterly divided and four players return to the ARL fold.
1998: A Bulldogs player, Barry Ward, was fined $10,000 for calling St George five-eighth Anthony Mundine a "black c---". But the club said sledging by players was a personal matter and should have been left on the field of play.
2000: Police and Sydney Football Stadium security staff set up barriers between groups of rival supporters when the Bulldogs play, leading to the introduction of on-the-spot fines for unruly behaviour at league games. Police pay visits to the homes of Bulldogs' supporters, warning them against hooliganism.
2002: Bulldogs exposed by the Herald for deliberately cheating the salary cap for the 2001 and 2002 seasons by more than $1.5 million. As punishment, the NRL relegates the Bulldogs from the top of the table to wooden spooners. Club president Gary McIntyre and other board members resign because of the scandal. A separate inquiry is launched into property development arrangements that the club made with Liverpool Council.
2002:Bulldogs player Darrell Trindall arrested for the assault of a 36-year-old woman. He was dismissed from the club.
2003: Three Bulldogs players questioned by Coffs Harbour police after a 42-year-old woman claimed she had consensual sex with one player, but woke up having unwanted sex with a second player while a third player watched. The case was dropped for lack of evidence.
2004: Six Bulldog players accused of sexual assault by a 20-year-old woman in Coffs Harbour.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Fair enough the allegded acts are vile and disgraceful and totally deserved to be greatly attacked. But its bloody obvious someone has a grudge against Rugby League and a chip on their shoulder. She is attacking an entire code and the entire club! I dont believe that is fair. And why does it take two of these clowns to write dribble?
Are they supposed to be rugby league corrispondants? If they are, fire them they have no love for the game.
When sex is a method of team bonding, women are at risk. Jacquelin Magnay reports on how clubs can become gangs.
Another footy season, another scandal. Allegations of sexual assault follow first-grade NRL footballers like the smell of liniment. The pre-season has brought claims of sexual assault for the past two years and each time they have dissolved for lack of evidence.
But the alleged rape of a 20-year-old woman by the pool of the Pacific Bay Resort last Sunday morning is the blackest episode ever. Startling for its sheer numbers, allegedly involving six Bulldog players, and its alleged violence, the woman had to be taken to hospital in an ambulance.
But why does this happen? Does the club culture in rugby league encourage such behaviour? What is going on that highly paid, fit young men seem to think that it is their right, and indeed, their privilege, to abuse women?
At is most basic level, the alleged assault is a primal, indecent act, reminiscent of pack behaviour identified with bikie gangs or the rape cases involving gangs of Lebanese men. But these are footballers, a gang of sorts with positive intents, to entertain the masses.
But the alleged assaults of the past two years involve the Bulldogs club, one that is well known for its siege mentality. Centred at Belmore Oval, the club closes ranks, preferring to blame outsiders for any problems. It was targeted during the Super League war for supposed treachery, being the first club to sign to the rebel organisation, and then attacked for cheating the salary cap. The coach, Steve Folkes, chose to blame the media for exposing player salaries, rather than acknowledge the club had done wrong.
The players under him are sometimes immature and foolish: some of them throw cardboard from the grandstand onto any media, urinate on the field in front of cameras, or remark they should "pull their dicks out and come all over them" to photographers.
The head of psychology at the University of Canberra, Professor Bob Montgomery, said gangs in general attract people who are finding it difficult to be understood, they are involved in some sort of initiation ceremony and exhibit anti-social behaviour. "They say 'up you' to the rest of the world, they believe the rules don't apply to them and taken to extreme, sexual assault by many of a group is showing gang mentality."
It took about 60 hours after the woman had been allegedly attacked before anyone linked with the game acted. As the initial shock wore off and the public became more outraged as details of Sunday morning slowly emerged - groping of women, brawling in a nightclub, drinking until 6am, and then the alleged pool attack - the NRL chief executive, David Gallop, announced possible $1 million penalties and deregistration of players.
All of which will be immaterial, and a bit too late, if criminal charges are laid and the players face significant jail time.
"We are very disappointed about it and are very concerned," said Gallop, who has appointed an outside security firm to investigate the entire weekend's activities. "At the moment the presumption of innocence must be observed, but I am not saying that significant action will not be considered in the next few weeks."
The NRL is horrified at the impact of the allegations on its image. Rugby league is being tainted and the Bulldogs club vilified. Sponsors are nervously measuring whether the outrage of the public has had any impact on their brands.
All of this comes as the razzamatazz launch of the NRL season next Wednesday will be overshadowed by the Coffs Harbour detectives seeking DNA evidence from players. And if charges are laid the hangover from the coastal weekend will be heavy indeed.
Montgomery said rugby league was in a bind because the promotion of masculine values such as toughness, aggression and competitiveness has a direct correlation in promoting "side effects" such as risky behaviour, an inability to deal with emotions, less intimate relationships and a greater belief that male-female relationships are adversarial.
"The risk is, without anybody intending it, that the organisation promotes a culture associated with the attitude that women are something to be used," Montgomery said.
"That may not be their intention, but it is a side effect, and sometimes that can be their deliberate intention." Montgomery said any atmosphere and culture is set from the top because people in any organisation pick up on examples.
Rugby league prides itself on being the macho game, the toughest of tough games, and for eons the role of women in the code has been subservient. There are the cheergirls with their skimpy shorts, low-cut tops and pom-poms, mothers who wash the socks and jerseys, and pandering wives and girlfriends who bask in the reflected glory of "their man".
For a long time women have been the playthings of these glorified heroes. Some clubs have their regular "buns" or groupies that provide sex on demand. The Herald has previously reported that some league teams used to hire prostitutes for group sex, as part of a team "bonding" process.
Unsubstantiated stories swirl around the locker room that paint women in a degrading light: one involves a coach who ordered his team into his hotel room while he was in the midst of having sex with a woman and told them "this is what we are going to do to [a certain team] tonight".
But women throw themselves at their stars, surreptitiously writing phone numbers on pieces of paper, hanging out around training venues and frequenting known nightspots of the players. Many women aggressively pursue the players and record a notch on the wall when they score with one. But there is a code among some players that "bonus" points are given if women are shared among their mates: the more mates, the more points, and the more laughter afterwards. It is called roasting (a bit of meat being stuffed).
"The sharing of women is a bit pervasive and has developed over time," says sports psychologist Jeff Bond. "Just look at how women are portrayed in the advertising, going back to the Tina Turner ads which had the raunchy female. Now there is The Footy Show and the way they treat women, just as dumb blondes, is so wrong."
Even the language in the rugby league clubs is telling. The most insulting words a coach can make about a lacklustre performance on the field is to comment that he "played like a girl". It is in this disrespectful environment that players are conditioned.
"The culture that surrounds some clubs is wrong; it provides a platform for sex and violence," said Bond.
"Clubs protect players, it is treated as 'boys being boys' and there is a cone of protection and silence. The players have got the income to do lots of things, they have got the time and sometimes they get bored, they don't know what to do with themselves so they turn to drink, horses and sex."
There is also the question of whether illegal supplements such as steroids or testosterone are involved. These drugs have side effects of heightening aggressiveness and sex-drive.
Gallop says that abuse of women is not just confined to his code, and this is true. Just this week reports stated the US military had 112 sexual assault or sexual misconduct charges levelled against servicemen. And in sport four years ago the AFL had two separate rape allegations levelled against a handful of players.
But the sex assault claims three years in a row suggest it is a serious problem in league.
In England, it is Premier League soccer players who indulge in this porn-like behaviour.
Late last year a 17-year-old girl said she was sexually assaulted by seven soccer players in a London hotel after consenting to sex with one player. Her attackers even took pictures on their mobiles of each other in action, but the case was dropped for lack of evidence.
In 2002 players from the Cronulla club were investigated after a New Zealand hotel worker complained of being sexually abused, but the case was dropped.
Last year at the same Coffs Harbour resort a 42-year-old woman alleged she was sexually assaulted after having consensual sex with one Bulldogs player. She woke up having unwanted sex with a second player, and a third was looking on, presumably awaiting his turn. The case did not proceed for lack of evidence.
The Bulldogs club rebuked the players in question, issued fines and introduced a code of conduct which bans players from bringing outsiders back to the team hotel. Suspensions were not considered, because the club wants the players on the paddock and performing well.
The players know this: whenever he is in trouble a manager and his club will want to believe his story and sweep any nastiness under the carpet. Fans are equally stoic. His long-suffering girlfriend or wife may not be so forgiving - but only if she finds out.
It is in this tacitly approving environment that players find it difficult to understand that when a woman says no, it might actually mean no. Some players appear to have no sense of appropriateness and believe consent is not an entitlement. And of course, the code was only worth the paper it was written on.
"They believe it is all OK and that women are fair game," says Bond.
And when things get out of hand, as it may have done on Sunday morning in Coffs Harbour, there is disbelief that it can't, once again, be covered up.
According to the police incident report, the local police were only able to interview four of the players because the team had to catch a plane back down to Sydney. Would any of the Sydney Lebanese men accused of gang rape been afforded such courtesy - and time - to get their stories straight?
On Monday night the Bulldogs' chief executive, Steve Mortimer, was claiming there wasn't much in these latest rape claims. He had spoken to the players and was reassured.
By Tuesday morning Mortimer wasn't saying anything and then by the afternoon he issued a statement, claiming the club would take a strong stance.
Within two days there was a distinct shift in attitude at the club.
Suddenly everyone realised that this case wasn't going to go the way of previous ones. This time the woman wasn't going to be convinced to back down, nor would this be a simple "he-said, she-said" scenario that many women find is too emotionally draining to proceed with.
This time there are independent witnesses and the attempt by some players to speak to the woman before she gave her police statement failed. At the very least it has forced sporting authorities to take the issue seriously.
A torrid history
1995: Sydney Bulldogs are the first club to commit to the rebel Super League organisation. The club are bitterly divided and four players return to the ARL fold.
1998: A Bulldogs player, Barry Ward, was fined $10,000 for calling St George five-eighth Anthony Mundine a "black c---". But the club said sledging by players was a personal matter and should have been left on the field of play.
2000: Police and Sydney Football Stadium security staff set up barriers between groups of rival supporters when the Bulldogs play, leading to the introduction of on-the-spot fines for unruly behaviour at league games. Police pay visits to the homes of Bulldogs' supporters, warning them against hooliganism.
2002: Bulldogs exposed by the Herald for deliberately cheating the salary cap for the 2001 and 2002 seasons by more than $1.5 million. As punishment, the NRL relegates the Bulldogs from the top of the table to wooden spooners. Club president Gary McIntyre and other board members resign because of the scandal. A separate inquiry is launched into property development arrangements that the club made with Liverpool Council.
2002:Bulldogs player Darrell Trindall arrested for the assault of a 36-year-old woman. He was dismissed from the club.
2003: Three Bulldogs players questioned by Coffs Harbour police after a 42-year-old woman claimed she had consensual sex with one player, but woke up having unwanted sex with a second player while a third player watched. The case was dropped for lack of evidence.
2004: Six Bulldog players accused of sexual assault by a 20-year-old woman in Coffs Harbour.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Fair enough the allegded acts are vile and disgraceful and totally deserved to be greatly attacked. But its bloody obvious someone has a grudge against Rugby League and a chip on their shoulder. She is attacking an entire code and the entire club! I dont believe that is fair. And why does it take two of these clowns to write dribble?
Are they supposed to be rugby league corrispondants? If they are, fire them they have no love for the game.
