56 The Australian Women’s Weekly | MAY 2019
NEWSPIX. GETTY IMAGES. AAP.mean you’re always the best person in
the world, but you know that, like it or
not, you are going to be judged to a
much higher standard.”
“A lot is demanded of a professional
athlete, both on the field and off the field,
but I think, when you are looking at a
professional athlete, you are looking at a
whole person. Because what happens off
the field is linked up with what happens
on the field,” says Professor Catharine
Lumby who has, over 15 years, advised
the NRL on cultural change and
education programs for players.
Young footballers are conspicuous, in
a high-pressure environment, pursued by
women, given free drinks all night in clubs.
In a momentary lapse of judgement a
lucrative career can be thrown away, a
young woman damaged, a member of
the public injured. All of it will be filmed
on phone cameras.
“Going out drinking,” recalls Jason
Akermanis, “was always fraught with
danger. Not just with members of the
opposite sex, but also from members of
the public who had a couple of beers under
their belt. I find that, with rugby league
guys, they have their individual problems
and when they start drinking it just
exacerbates the problem that they have. ”
But Marina Go, along with other
women who work with the sport, is
taking a hard line, no longer prepared
to put up with excuses, or what Jessica
Halloran calls “entitled behaviour”.
“As soon as you put on a jumper and
walk onto a football field in prime time,”
says Jessica, “you are automatically a role
model. We have had something like six
footballers running around the NRL last
year who had either pleaded guilty
to or were found guilty of domestic
violence. That is not okay. It comes back
to how women are being respected and
the attitudes to women in the footy club.
Where are the boundaries?”
Marina agrees. “Little boys and girls
look up to these men. No man should
behave like this; there is no excuse. There
should be no apology for them. There
should be no doubt this is not acceptable.
They can’t play the game they love so
much if they behave like this.”
While no-one is concerned about
consensual sex, with sex tapes, Marina
says, “the NRL is in a whole next world
of pain. The issue for us is why there is
such a lack of respect towards women
from some of the players. The problem
is when there are violent acts or acts
denigrating women. That is the stuff thathas come to light. The accusations of
sexual assault and the lack of respect- that is the stuff we care about. ”
According to a report by the ABC, sex
tapes of NRL players are being shared
almost daily on WhatsApp, not by the
footballers, but by the friends they sent
them to. Even if the sex was consensual,
there may have been no consent by the
women involved to film and share them.
And it is the treatment of the women in
the tapes that is most disturbing. A
woman being choked; a woman being
called a “f...ing ratbag” while her head is
pushed into a man’s groin; a man eating
a hamburger while a woman performs a
sexual act; two men rest their feet on a
woman’s head while she is performing
oral sex on a man.
Penrith Panthers player Tyrone May,
22, filmed a sexual act with a woman at
Coffs Harbour in February last year as
well as with another woman at Kingswood
in western Sydney in May. The sex was
consensual but the women claim they
were unaware they were being filmed.
When they became aware that the
tapes were circulating on the internet
without their permission, the women
complained to the police and Tyrone
May was charged under revenge porn
BenCousins JackdeBelin
The 2005 Brownlow Medallist
has pleaded not guilty to
14 charges, 12 relating to breaching
a family voilence order.Jack de Belin has entered a
not guilty plea to a charge
of aggravated sexual
assault.