By JESSICA HALLORAN
FOOTBALLERS charged with domestic violence should be immediately stood down.
You might say, ‘what about Shaun Kenny-Dowall’ who was acquitted.
This is not about ‘innocent until proven guilty’ or overlooking Radradra’s denials of wrongdoing issued through his sister this week.
This is about setting a tone, a standard, that criminal charges mean something in the rugby league world.
The NRL needs to send a message to the wider community that charges of violence against women are a serious issue.
The governing body needs to show that criminal charges are a bigger deal than whether or not a footballer laces up the boots on game day.
That criminal charges are more serious than your team winning.
That, can you believe it, criminal charges rank above a footy game.
The US’s NFL implemented a ‘Personal Conduct Policy’ at the end of 2014 after footage of star Ray Rice dragging his fiancee, who he had knocked out after he punched her in the face, emerged on gossip website, TMZ.
Now, when NFL players are charged, there is a “specific criteria for paid leave for an individual formally charged with a crime of violence, including domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse”.
Add to that a “baseline suspension of six games without pay for violations involving assault, battery, domestic violence, dating violence, child abuse, other forms of family violence, or sexual assault, with consideration given to possible mitigating or aggravating circumstances”.
They’re just criminal charges, so what?
And that sentiment of “so what” was evident from the time Radradra casually arrived back at training on Friday.
Radradra, who is alleged to have kicked his girlfriend when she was pregnant, was back at Parra training like nothing had happened.
By allowing Radradra to play on Saturday night, the NRL and the Parramatta Eels are indicating to the wider community that “it’s not a big deal”.
But it is a big deal.
Enough is enough and now it needs to change.
