Benji Marshall in trouble

[mrslong]

It's good that you can't just go around saying whatever the heck you want to people though.

Yes, but a punch should never be acceptable response to a verbal taunt. Even if it's vulgar, disgusting, offensive and derogatory.

I find that flipping the bird is an acceptable response to any verbal taunt.

 

[Coxy]

Exactly.

But the problem here isn't that Benji has a short fuse. It's that he was drunk. If he'd been sober he wouldn't have reacted that way.

Pure and simple. It comes down to this. If you're high profile, and can't control your actions when drunk, then don't drink in public.

 

[Coxy]

You're not wrong. Benji rarely gets into any sort of scuffle on the field, he's usually a cool headed sort of guy. (I recall the Titans game last year and the Mitchell Pearce fight but that's about it) So he definitely doesn't have any anger issues or anything like that. He just can't cop shit when he's drunk.

And he's certainly not alone there. Hence why there's so many reports of assaults and violence at nightclubs and districts on a Friday and Saturday night.

Again the issue is, Benji Marshall has a lot more to lose than the "yobbos" as they so glibly put it that target them with verbal abuse. So if you know you can't cop shit when you're drunk, don't drink. Duh. Why is this concept so difficult for high profile sportsmen?

 

[lynx000]

I think that question will never be answered Coxy. If they have not had enough examples (of the consequences of bad behaviour when on the drink) in recent years to point them in the right direction I doubt that anything will achieve this. The thing that annoys me the most about this though is it just keeps adding fuel to the anti-league sect just at a time when the spotlight was squarely on the AFL for once.

 

[Coxy]

I think that question will never be answered Coxy. If they have not had enough examples (of the consequences of bad behaviour when on the drink) in recent years to point them in the right direction I doubt that anything will achieve this. The thing that annoys me the most about this though is it just keeps adding fuel to the anti-league sect just at a time when the spotlight was squarely on the AFL for once.

And after last night's 60 Minutes, no doubt the heat will be more on the AFL and Demitriou in particular. As unstable and immature as this girl's behaviour has been, Demitriou's actions have been poor.

But that's another topic so I will stop right there.

The worst thing about this situation is that the NRL is pretty much powerless to put stiff penalties onto players who muck up because of the fear the players will just defect to other codes or overseas. To me that's no loss, but it's another poor view of the game if players are defecting.

 

[mrslong]

You're not wrong. Benji rarely gets into any sort of scuffle on the field, he's usually a cool headed sort of guy. (I recall the Titans game last year and the Mitchell Pearce fight but that's about it) So he definitely doesn't have any anger issues or anything like that. He just can't cop shit when he's drunk.

LOL! are you taking the p!ss. He's always losing his temper.

 

[Anonymous person]

they should suspend him for 12+ weeks.


because hes in Queenslanders fantasy footy team [icon_lol1.

and like QLDer said, yes, verbal abuse is actually enough for you to be able to punch someone and not get in trouble.

 

[Nashy]

Everyone has the right to bear arms. How can this possibly be misinterpreted?

 

[Porthoz]

I think the state of mind as well as the sort of verbal taunt makes a huge difference to whether or not violence is warranted.
I abhor violence, but to give a simple example...
If I had just lost someone, like my mum or wife or daughter, and some idiot taunted me with the usual verbal abuse related to your family, I'd probably punch him in the face in a blood rush, and I don't think any court would convict me!

In Benji's case, if the guy really only taunted him with Locky being better than him (which is a fact [icon_razz1 ), then it's very poor form. But like Coxy, I doubt that would be enough for him to react like that... [icon_shru

 

[Anonymous person]

I'd love to see the law that says you can assault someone if you're verbally abused. Not saying there isn't, but I'd love to see the law and how it can be interpreted.

its just that assault is a common law, meaning its basically judges discretion.

if someones mouthing off at you calling you everything under the sun, and you crack them one in the nose and claim self defence, i think most judges will say 'fair enough' and call it just that.

 

[QUEENSLANDER]

I'd love to see the law that says you can assault someone if you're verbally abused. Not saying there isn't, but I'd love to see the law and how it can be interpreted.

Ill try find it, but a few years ago i was hit in a pub, after allegedly calling this guy a name. Problem was, i didnt call the guy anything, but i couldnt prove that, and according to the law, if i called him something he was in his right to hit me.

 

[QUEENSLANDER]

This is from the QLD criminal code act 1989, im sure its similar for NSW

269 Defence of provocation
(1) A person is not criminally responsible for an assault
committed upon a person who gives the person provocation
for the assault, if the person is in fact deprived by the
provocation of the power of self-control, and acts upon it on
the sudden and before there is time for the person’s passion to
cool, and if the force used is not disproportionate to the
provocation and is not intended, and is not such as is likely, to
cause death or grievous bodily harm.
(2) Whether any particular act or insult is such as to be likely to
deprive an ordinary person of the power of self-control and to
induce the ordinary person to assault the person by whom the
act or insult is done or offered, and whether, in any particular
case, the person provoked was actually deprived by the
provocation of the power of self-control, and whether any
force used is or is not disproportionate to the provocation, are
questions of fact.

So all u would have to say is "he called me a dick, which made me lose self control" and you're free.

 

[Bucking Beads]

This is from the QLD criminal code act 1989, im sure its similar for NSW

269 Defence of provocation
(1) A person is not criminally responsible for an assault
committed upon a person who gives the person provocation
for the assault, if the person is in fact deprived by the
provocation of the power of self-control, and acts upon it on
the sudden and before there is time for the person’s passion to
cool, and if the force used is not disproportionate to the
provocation and is not intended, and is not such as is likely, to
cause death or grievous bodily harm.
(2) Whether any particular act or insult is such as to be likely to
deprive an ordinary person of the power of self-control and to
induce the ordinary person to assault the person by whom the
act or insult is done or offered, and whether, in any particular
case, the person provoked was actually deprived by the
provocation of the power of self-control, and whether any
force used is or is not disproportionate to the provocation, are
questions of fact.

So all u would have to say is "he called me a dick, which made me lose self control" and you're free.

That is a pathetic law IMO. [icon_shru

 

[Coxy]

Depends what the judge thinks is a "normal person" reaction.

 

[Flutterby]

OK, I am not defending Benji smacking this guy at all - BUT I just have to ask, if this douche had been taunting in any way someone who wasn't a footballer (or other well-known person) and got smacked would he have gone to the police about it? Probably not - he most likely would have just sucked it up and slunk off home with his tail between his legs.

It sucks for them, but people with a profile have to realise they will be treated differently to "mug punters" to borrow a phrase.

 

[dukey]

One of Benji's mates should've done it for him.

 

[Je$ter]

OK, I am not defending Benji smacking this guy at all - BUT I just have to ask, if this douche had been taunting in any way someone who wasn't a footballer (or other well-known person) and got smacked would he have gone to the police about it? Probably not - he most likely would have just sucked it up and slunk off home with his tail between his legs.

It sucks for them, but people with a profile have to realise they will be treated differently to "mug punters" to borrow a phrase.

100%

If it was anyone besides Benji Marshall the guy would have done jack shit.

 

[Coxy]

Quite likely, but then the guy probably wouldn't have taunted a nobody either.

Whether you report it, or whether the media reports it, is irrelevant. Marshall shouldn't have hit him (which I know Flutterby agrees, hence saying she's not defending Marshall doing so).