Gus Gould has weighed into the debate this morning,
suggesting that it is time that players were deregistered when sacked for bad
behaviour from their clubs.
Gould uses one of the arguments I used in my earlier blog 'The
Blake Ferguson Saga' being that our current system almost discourages clubs
for taking a strong stance in regard to player misbehaviour. Canberra have been
the Club that over time have suffered the most. Following their working with
and support of players like Todd Carney and Josh Dugan, both extremely talented
players, there came a point where the Club had had enough and took strong
action, sacking both these players. Unfortunately for the Raiders, both these
players were signed by other Clubs quite quickly. Those Clubs essentially benefited
from the strong stance that the Raiders took in regard to player behaviour.
This disadvantage discourages Clubs from taking a strong stance in the future.
I agree that in light of recent incidents, the Clubs do need
to take a stronger stance when it comes to player behaviour. However, the Clubs
need to work together and have a consistent approach. They need to support each
other and make a stand and say 'we do not tolerate this type of behaviour' and
stand behind Clubs who decide to deregister players.
There are many issues to wade through however. Firstly, what
sort of a misdemeanour is worthy of deregistering a player? We have had a range
of incidents this week including an alleged indecent assault, property damage
and Mal Meninga being asked to exit a bar. I would argue that these incidents
certainly range in seriousness, but Mal Meninga's response to the media beat up
surrounding his circumstances was interesting.
Most of these incidents involve alcohol.
All of these incidents involve people in our game who are
seen as role models and as representatives of our game. No matter how minor the
incident, Meninga's response suggests that he doesn't recognise the importance
of his behaviour and the role he plays as a mentor to players. By trying to
excuse his incident we get into a very complicated cycle about what sort of behaviour
we are comfortable with being linked to the people involved in our game.
Another suggestion that has been put forward this week is to
have 'minders' who go out with the players and help them to stay out of
trouble. This option is one I find silly and once again passing the buck. It
then becomes someone else's responsibility to ensure that the players
misbehave, giving players a convenient scapegoat when they are caught up
behaving badly.
Our players should not need to have a minder to tell them that
no means no from a female. Our players should not need to have a minder to tell
them that they should not throw a street sign through a car window. Our players
also should not feel the need to have minders accompany them on their nights
out.
Some of our players need a shift in attitude - they are
professional sportsman who are paid a significant amount of money to keep their
bodies in peak, physical condition. They need to start behaving this way.
I think I've blogged this issue to death - I'm looking
forward to some tremendous football over the weekend. It will hopefully give me
something else to talk about next week.
Love,
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