Ben Barba issue hits at NRL integrity
Paul Kent
The Daily Telegraph
September 02, 2013 12:00AM
THE Bulldogs have put a hard spin on their version of events.
It would take a gullible person to believe them at their word now after allegations that finally surfaced on Sunday that Ben Barba was stood down for splitting the lip of partner Ainslee Curry, which she denies.
At the press conference to announce Barba’s original suspension in February, then Canterbury chief executive Todd Greenberg denied point blank a question on rumours regarding domestic violence.
He emphasised his denial by saying there was no cause for police involvement. As it turned out, Curry herself insisted that police were not to be involved.
"This is not a police matter," Greenberg said.
"This is a matter the club is dealing with under the club’s code of conduct."
Put down February 25 as the day the truth was stretched. That the Bulldogs as a club failed to have the validity of the woman’s claims tested by a proper investigation because, as claimed on Sunday, Greenberg and coach Des Hasler "encouraged" the woman to inform police, but they say she wanted to inform only the club and Barba’s management, the club’s integrity is seriously undermined.
Every claim, every statement, by the Dogs now has to be thoroughly tested.
Barba’s partner Ainslee Curry denied she was assaulted in a statement through her lawyers after her early editions of The Sunday Telegraph began printing on Saturday evening without identifying Curry.
No explanation has been given for how her lip was split.
If the assault occurred as it was originally claimed she told the Bulldogs, it is covered not only under the club’s code of conduct but possibly under common law and potentially criminal law.
Indeed, if the Bulldogs knew of the claim, which their denials confirm they did, and saw physical damage then they should have reported it to police.
It would be a hard case to show if police did proceed, making them wary to do so, but it is covered under law.
Was it a cover-up, or an incompetent investigation?
The NRL’s integrity unit will now run an investigation after new chief executive Raelene Castle issued a statement shortly after 7am on Sunday requesting their help.
What new evidence could the Bulldogs provide the integrity unit now that it could not provide in February, when Greenberg and Bulldogs Chairman Ray Dib met with NRL boss Dave Smith, when they gave no indication violence had occurred?
Waking up to a fresh NRL controversy, Smith will announce an independent investigation most likely headed by chief operating officer Jim Doyle, who has many questions he needs answered.
Where did the woman in the photograph get her wound stitched up, for one small example?
If she had reported herself to hospital the hospital would have been required, under law, to report to police.
The Bulldogs had a clear motivation for hiding the assault, if it did occur and if they were so inclined.
Barba was the reigning Dally M medallist, responsible for a massive 40 per cent of tries scored last year and a big player in a team that went all the way to the grand final.
Yet the NRL looks on allegations of domestic violence harshly. It stood down Wests Tigers’ Robert Lui for 12 months after he was charged with assaulting his partner.
It leaves the NRL in a terrible predicament, highly embarrassed once again.
As we all know, Greenberg has since left the Bulldogs and is now the NRL’s Head of Football. It puts him inside the administration now charged with investigating allegations.
The smell of a cover-up has dogged Barba’s season, and the Bulldogs have meandered from conciliatory to hostile in response to probes around assault rumours.
The smoking gun was always the photographs, which their existence for a time was spoken about within NRL circles.
Now that a photo is out, it gives the NRL no choice but to act on what should have happened all along, which is a transparent investigation.
