NRL distances itself from The Footy Show
Written by Peter Hackney
Wednesday, 17 June 2009 10:50
The National Rugby League (NRL) has distanced itself from the NRL version of The Footy Show over last month’s controversial gay skit.
NRL Director of Media and Communications, John Brady, told SX this week that he was concerned that people weren’t making a distinction between the NRL and The Footy Show, following the programme’s May 7 skit which saw fictitious gay character ‘Elton Johns’ referred to as “faulty” and taken to hospital because of his sexuality.
“People should understand that The Footy Show and the NRL are separate entities,” Brady said. “We didn’t endorse the skit and had no input into it. Obviously, it’s caused considerable controversy in the community and offended a number of people, which we’re sorry to hear, but this is an issue for The Footy Show, not the NRL.”
“It’s the same situation with the AFL version of The Footy Show,” he said. “When Sam Newman goes on the show mouthing off, dressing as an Aboriginal, making sexist comments or whatever – as he’s prone to doing – there’s nothing the AFL can do.”
Brady affirmed that the NRL was against homophobia but said rumours of the NRL coming on board with the ‘This Is Oz’ anti-homophobia campaign (
www.thisisoz.com.au) were just rumours at this stage – but the NRL were open to the possibility, he said.
“It’s not something we’ve been asked to do, we don’t know anything about it, but if we were asked to participate, we’d certainly look at it.”
Brady’s comments come after The Sydney Convicts – Australia’s only gay rugby union club – appeared on The Footy Show last Thursday, in a bid to redress negative stereotypes about gay men and football portrayed in the skit.
Convicts President Charlie Winn said the club was generally happy with the appearance, although somewhat disappointed with the way the segment was handled.
“We’re happy that we managed to get our message across, which is that gay men can and do play football successfully, which we felt needed to be addressed on the show after the skit,” Winn told SX.
However, Winn added: “The show and the audience were quite friendly, but we were a little disappointed by the way the segment was presented – it wasn’t presented very seriously and was sort of tacked on at the very end of the show.”
Gay advocate Gary Burns, who has lodged a complaint with the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board (ABD) over the skit, has accused The Sydney Convicts of “sleeping with the enemy” by going on the show, however Winn said: “Our appearance wasn’t meant to detract from his legal action. It was never meant to be a replacement for what he’s doing – it’s in addition to it. We support and encourage his action.”
