Parra to call last drinks
Adrian Proszenko | March 15, 2009
EXCLUSIVE
Parramatta are set to become the first NRL club to slap a booze ban on their players in the wake of the Brett Stewart scandal.
Manly fullback Stewart has been suspended for four games and the club fined $100,000 following a boozy season launch at Manly Wharf Hotel this month. NRL poster boy Stewart is facing a sexual assault charge involving a teenage girl and is scheduled to face Manly Local Court on April 7.
The latest league scandal has prompted Eels chief executive Denis Fitzgerald to push for a blanket alcohol ban on all NRL players at the next club CEOs' meeting. However, even if he doesn't have the support of club bosses, league's longest-serving CEO will press ahead with plans to make the Eels a booze- and cigarette-free zone from pre-season training to the end of the premiership campaign.
"We would have to have further discussion about that with the players and at board level," Fitzgerald told The Sun-Herald."It's conditional on that. The best way is to have that in a standard NRL contract. If they don't go with it's something we will still consider [at Parramatta]."
Fitzgerald first broached the subject with the Eels playing group 12 months ago after Jarryd Hayne was shot at in Kings Cross, believing the NRL would go down the same path.
"It was not an idea that was particularly warmly greeted by the players," Fitzgerald conceded. "[But] we're looking to have another chat with the players and the leadership group about moving that way. By the same token, my thoughts have been that everyone should do it together, across the board. The players mix so much together and often move from team to team, so it's important it becomes a cultural change across the game rather than just one club.
"I think an alcohol ban will come into play here, but it's something we need to have an in-depth discussion about at the CEOs' meeting.
"Not only should players not consume alcohol, but they shouldn't be allowed to smoke either. It's not just because of bad behaviour but because we demand so much of the players and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on their physical fitness.
"Drinking alcohol has no positive effects, it only has a detrimental effect or no effect at best. We spend so much time focusing on diet and maintaining their peak physical condition but we don't take severe or strict steps when it comes to drinking."
A booze ban is unlikely to go down well with Parramatta players. Eels pair Eric Grothe and Brett Finch were quizzed on the issue during the week and both were vehemently against the move.
Kangaroos coach Tim Sheens also opposed blanket alcohol bans.
"I've had the odd player who has had a self-imposed ban, but I've never said to a player, 'You must go off it,"' Sheens said. "I don't think you can make someone do that, it's something you have to do yourself.
"A number of players drink and play the game and it's only a very small group who upset everyone. Not everyone should pay the price for that, that's ridiculous."
One club paying the price is the Bulldogs, who are the only NRL side entering the season without a major sponsor. CEO Todd Greenberg said the constant negative headlines were making it harder to get one on board, but he did not support an alcohol ban.
"We support players drinking alcohol responsibly and being accountable for their actions," he said. "You can't put rules up you can't police."
Fitzgerald conceded there would be difficulties policing the hard-line stance but was determined to press ahead regardless.
"We can certainly police it publicly and also follow up with breath and urine testing," Fitzgerald said. "With those measures in place we'd soon catch players regularly breaking the rule.
"Alcohol-fuelled incidents are often the only time rugby league makes news in non-eastern states. I've got a sister in Perth and
the perception over there is that league players are all alcoholic thugs."
Former NSW coach Phil Gould kick-started the zero-tolerance debate last September and renewed calls for an alcohol ban after the Stewart incident. However, the motion is likely to be knocked on the head by club chief executives, potentially leaving Parramatta to enforce it alone.
"Every person is entitled to have a beer with their mates or share a glass of wine with their partner over dinner," Knights CEO Steve Burraston said.
"It would be ridiculous to suggest otherwise. The key is to ensure players consume alcohol responsibly. We prefer to go down the route of educating players and we've done a lot of work over the past 12 months with the assistance of the Australian Drug Foundation."
Burraston said there could be instances where an alcohol ban was appropriate for certain individuals, but he was opposed to a blanket ban.
"This really isn't a football matter, it's a social matter," he said.
"If an electrician gets drunk and bashes someone in the pub, do we demand that all electricians give up the drink? To say that all footballers should be banned from alcohol is equally as silly as that would be.
"I enjoy having a glass of wine with my wife at dinner. Do I then go out and become abusive or hit someone?
"No. Most players don't either and we shouldn't forget that."
