Trust is earnt. Clearly the current culture and quality of person representing Manly cant be trusted, or there would be no need for a curfew, and then they went and confirmed it!
I think we are more or less agreeing on this point. Clearly the club didn't trust the players and put the curfew on them. Wether that was a reasonable thing to do based on the player's previous actions or not is pure speculation.
Or are you suggesting the only reason they went on the pss and to a strip club was because their employer had told them not to?
I'm not suggesting "the only reason" anything happened is due to anything else. That is a rather hyperbolic interpretation of my point. I'm saying I would resent having a curfew put on me, and would resist it. I don't think many players would be too different.
I doubt their employer said specifically not to go on the piss (though possible) and really doubt they specifically said not to go to a strip club. Where they went is more or less irrelevant except to people who are moralising over them being naughty boys staring at titties.
The fact they broke the curfew shows a break down in the relationship with the club (as does the fact they had a curfew). We have seen where this leads with other players. It has been the beginning of the end of the player's time at the club in other circumstances.
re was it that bad? my missus response when she heard the story was "what a set of idiots, and they call themselves professional athletes. But is it RL so I suppose you cant expect anything else, I wonder what their wives think?". If that is most of the general publics response then yeh it does cause problems for the game and club from letting kids play to deciding to invest your hard earned in being a fan. Sure they didn't smash the place up or start an all out brawl but, like it or not, a large amount of the great unwashed would read the story and just have their prejudices or perceptions of RL reinforced, and that does us no good what so ever.
People predisposed to think of rugby league players as almost entirely thuggish or moronic are probably just confirming their bias with this sort of news, and not likely to support the game any way.
People who want to take offense at players going to strip clubs are probably offended by anyone going to strip clubs, or strip clubs existing. But this is not an issue they should have specifically with rugby league players, unless they are again predisposed to dislike rugby league players (same with judging their drinking behaviour, though probably less common...of course, the alcohol industry contributes to much more death and suffering than strip clubs...).
The important part of this for rugby league and particularly Manly fans, that the relationship between club and players seems strained, will be lost on people who don't care about league anyway.
