And another one.. George Burgess charged.

[Charmamba]

Rabbitohs player George Burgess has been charged by police in Queensland overnight with two counts of wilful damage of a car, 2UE has reported.It is understood the star player, who just turned 21, threw a street sign through a car window.
Burgess, a front rower who was born in England, debuted for the Rabbitohs in 2012.

I am hearing a souths player charged by police for incident in Cairns. More shortly on@NewsTalk2UE
— Andrew Voss (@AndrewVoss9) June 17, 2013​

Rabbitohs NRL player George Burgess charged over Cairns incident | News.com.au


What the **** is going on with these idiots?

 

[Browny]

Alcohol the cause and solution to all of life's problems

 

[jarro65]

And he's now been stood down by the Rabbits

 

[subsbligh]

Young, fit, famous, cashed up, full of booze, idolised by everyone, women falling over themselves, time on your hands, living day to day with other young men in a sheltered environment with similar values ...... TROUBLE.

There's no silver bullet solution. There never will be.

 

[subsbligh]

And he's now been stood down by the Rabbits

There goes my fantasy team

 

[Coxy]

Young, fit, famous, cashed up, full of booze, idolised by everyone, women falling over themselves, time on your hands, living day to day with other young men in a sheltered environment with similar values ...... TROUBLE.

There's no silver bullet solution. There never will be.

Yep, just need to treat them like kids. Come down hard and consistent on any misbehaviour.

 

[nopatience101]

Professional athletes don't go on drinking binges, if they want to be paid like professionals they can damn well act like it and sacrifice the drink, if they can't or wont live up to the expectations of a professional they can go and get a real job with long hours and shit pay and then they'll have something to drink about. They keep telling us they have short careers, so they have the rest of their life to drink. The game needs to rid itself of this drinking culture and so called bonding sessions rubbish, the game has outgrown it.

 

[Kimlo]

Oh man, I was a huge fan of the G burger, disappointed to see him do that.

But really, who throws a street sign through a car window? It just sounds like something out of a hulk movie :laugh:
Good things he's been stood down by Souths, that's the right thing to do.

 

[Je$ter]

Young, fit, famous, cashed up, full of booze, idolised by everyone, women falling over themselves, time on your hands, living day to day with other young men in a sheltered environment with similar values ...... TROUBLE.

There's no silver bullet solution. There never will be.

Summed it up perfectly.

 

[Twiztid]

What a dick. I am interested to know, how close was he to the car? Was he standing next to it with a street sign and just threw it in (hulk style) or was he throwing the street sign up the street (why though?) and it came out of the hand wrong and hit the car. Not saying it was right but just to see which action he took to cause the damage.

 

[Coxy]

The answer is to tear up the contracts of players who go on the drink and act like buffoons. If you want to keep drinking and acting like a buffoon, as nopatience said, get a real job.

 

[nopatience101]

All these incidents are the result of the game treating grown men like children with lowered expectations, they sanction binge sessions in controlled club environments as if its a solution when all it does is enable and normalise binge drinking and antisocial behaviour. But it's ok because it's behind closed doors! In this day and age for clubs to be actively encouraging these drinking sessions is remarkable and it says a lot about the clubs and the codes professionalism. The game is failing the players.

 

[Huge]

I have a different point of view to a lot of the posters here. I actually do not regard sportspeople as anything special so I don't expect them to live by some unrealistic standards. I think people charged with upholding the law should be expected to achieve a loftier standard including the judicial side. However if a judge/police officer/federal politician drinks and drives they do not have to endure the unbelievable high and mighty, wowserish ejaculations of the average sportsfan.

Why oh why do people elevate sports stars to such pedestals ? Why not consider that the only skills they have are the ability to play the chosen sport. No extra abilities come with sports prowess but people expect incredible things from people who haven't been given any extra training to deal with these situations, situations which occur daily for we commoners but without the ramifications .

I have never met a twenty year old with the wisdom of a sixty year old so why does anyone expect them to act so wisely. I vote for all people to be judged by the same standards irrespective of the supposed duty they owe their sport or employers. Nothing in the last fifty years, no depraved act or crazy unthinking stunt by a league player has made me feel any differently about the game of rugby league. I'm a little smarter than that.

 

[subsbligh]

wowserish ejaculations of the average sportsfan.

If there are BHQ awards for phrase of the year, shut the gate, we have a winner.

 

[Coxy]

Sorry, but I don't expect your average person to go out and throw signs through car windows, or grab the snatch and funbags of a woman at a nightclub, or punch a woman in the face. In all cases I would expect they would face charges, and unless their occupation is janitor they might well lose their job.

I certainly wouldn't expect to retain my job if I was charged with indecent assault! Or at the very least I would expect to be stood down without pay until the outcome is known.

It wouldn't be acceptable for me or my staff to be out until 3am drinking piss on a work trip. I've had a staff member show up extremely hungover on a Monday morning, every Monday morning, and I sacked his arse (after appropriate number of warnings).

I hate that some people seem to think we're setting too much of an expectation for players. FFS, they're grown men. Whether 18 or 80, you have a responsibility as a member of society to not be a ****. Hundreds of people are charged with various offences related to excessive drinking and related behaviour every week.

Players like Ferguson deserve everything they get.

 

[subsbligh]

I have a different point of view to a lot of the posters here. I actually do not regard sportspeople as anything special so I don't expect them to live by some unrealistic standards. I think people charged with upholding the law should be expected to achieve a loftier standard including the judicial side. However if a judge/police officer/federal politician drinks and drives they do not have to endure the unbelievable high and mighty, wowserish ejaculations of the average sportsfan.

Why oh why do people elevate sports stars to such pedestals ? Why not consider that the only skills they have are the ability to play the chosen sport. No extra abilities come with sports prowess but people expect incredible things from people who haven't been given any extra training to deal with these situations, situations which occur daily for we commoners but without the ramifications .

I have never met a twenty year old with the wisdom of a sixty year old so why does anyone expect them to act so wisely. I vote for all people to be judged by the same standards irrespective of the supposed duty they owe their sport or employers. Nothing in the last fifty years, no depraved act or crazy unthinking stunt by a league player has made me feel any differently about the game of rugby league. I'm a little smarter than that.

Inevitably, there are two ways these threads go after a player incident.

Those on the "NRL playes are role models, whether you like it or not" and those, like you and me CF, that say footy players:

1. act in a way not unlike the rest of their demographic (young men 18-25);
2. should not be considered role models, or more precisely that parents are the real role models so stop pointing the finger at the NRL stars on their kid's wonderwall;

I expect nothing in the way of moral standards from NRL stars. I would have acted 3 times as stupidly when I was 18-25 if I had access to the privileges of time, money and fame that they have.

 

[subsbligh]

Sorry, but I don't expect your average person to go out and throw signs through car windows, or grab the snatch and funbags of a woman at a nightclub, or punch a woman in the face. In all cases I would expect they would face charges, and unless their occupation is janitor they might well lose their job.

I certainly wouldn't expect to retain my job if I was charged with indecent assault! Or at the very least I would expect to be stood down without pay until the outcome is known.

It wouldn't be acceptable for me or my staff to be out until 3am drinking **** on a work trip. I've had a staff member show up extremely hungover on a Monday morning, every Monday morning, and I sacked his arse (after appropriate number of warnings).

I hate that some people seem to think we're setting too much of an expectation for players. FFS, they're grown men. Whether 18 or 80, you have a responsibility as a member of society to not be a ****. Hundreds of people are charged with various offences related to excessive drinking and related behaviour every week.

Players like Ferguson deserve everything they get.

Yep, and there's nothing controversial about that.

You commit a crime, you should be punished.

I take entertainment value from rugby league in consideration of my hard earned $.

I don't expect a moral compass as well. I really couldn't care less how those players behave off the field. But the law should apply to them equally as everyone else. There's no indication here or in any other recent case that it hasn't.

 

[Coxy]

The thing is, your and my hard earned dollars to buy tickets and merchandise in part subsidises their lifestyle to act as dickheads. Just as I object to politicians who spend taxpayer dollars on hookers and limo trips to do wine tastings, I object to my supporter money being spent funding boozy, disgusting behaviour.

As nopatience said, a truly professional athlete would not treat their body and mind like that.

Do I expect a high moral compass? No, not beyond an average person's understanding of right and wrong, sensible and stupid. Professionalism? Yes.

Should the legal process take its place? Yes.
Should the NRL tear up contracts and deregister players who repeatedly get on the piss and act like dicks? Absolutely. I don't care if they end up playing rugby in Japan. Good luck to them. But the NRL shouldn't accept it. 99% of players have a drink and do so in moderation and don't act like fuckwits. The 1% have no place among the elite of the game.

They're welcome to play local league and hold down a "real" job.