NRL General Discussion Thread

[Kimlo]

By chance does Ian roberts still work for manly in some capacity?

Couldn't tell you but an article mentioned he will be at the Manly game.

 

[Organix]

I don't have any problems with clubs celebrating or promoting whatever, but if any club is stupid enough to push hot button political issues in a way where you can't object without it being a media circus, the club is incompetent.

I'm not interested in getting into the whole LGBT / religion thing but LGBT have every right to be celebrated and players should have every right to abstain. There's a clear line between bigotry and having religious beliefs where you don't want to promote something that's against those beliefs.

Forcing the issue is beyond stupid and that's exactly what Manly have done by coming out publicly without gauging the player group support first.

Fly some flags, have a LGBT mascot for the week, post a logo on your website, you don't need to force the issue by making it a jersey where players may have a moral objection where it's not possible to decline quietly.

That is where you don't go far enough along the philosophical problem of the entire issue. There is no system in which you can pick and choose which particular minority group you celebrate on any day of the year. The celebration of one minority specifically means that you now need to celebrate all of them to be equal. Then you hit the issue of reverse intuition, why don't we specifically celebrate the white players? Do we prejudice them to assume that they have had a privileged upbringing? So do we then just celebrate the white guys who were born to abusive parents? The ones who didn't go to private schools? The ones whose Irish ancestors were sent to the other side of the world to work in slavery?

The point is that we are all different, and every other round of the year the players are a person on the team, until magically they are special for a week and highlighted. But should we only recognise them in one particular round? No, we could be supporting and learning from them all the time, without the reverse-prejudicial highlighting and othering.

Everyone wins, because we get entertainment more often, artists of all walks of life get supported and platformed and they get seen as an artist. Judged on their merits. Obviously, the selection would have to be varied, but all clubs across 25 rounds doing this would be huge exposure and also just a cultural benefit for everyone going to the game.

 

[tommy]

I don't have any problems with clubs celebrating or promoting whatever, but if any club is stupid enough to push hot button political issues in a way where you can't object without it being a media circus, the club is incompetent.

I'm not interested in getting into the whole LGBT / religion thing but LGBT have every right to be celebrated and players should have every right to abstain. There's a clear line between bigotry and having religious beliefs where you don't want to promote something that's against those beliefs.

Forcing the issue is beyond stupid and that's exactly what Manly have done by coming out publicly without gauging the player group support first.

Fly some flags, have a LGBT mascot for the week, post a logo on your website, you don't need to force the issue by making it a jersey where players may have a moral objection where it's not possible to decline quietly.

If I was playing I’d still feel uncomfortable with a gay mascot cheering me on. Even if a bronco is a pretty gay animal.

 

[I bleed Maroon]

Because no team has ever worn different colours....

View attachment 19342

Good god, whose idea was that piece of filth

 

[Nashy]

Because no team has ever worn different colours....

View attachment 19342

A lot of horrible comments in this thread.

 

[Scorchie]

Right intent, poor execution

 

[Sproj]

Right intent, poor execution

Kind of sums up a lot of things NRL.

 

[Sproj]

I am also pretty sure St Kilda in the AFL has already done this kind of jersey by the way. Not sure what the reaction to it was.

 

[tommy]

I am also pretty sure St Kilda in the AFL has already done this kind of jersey by the way. Not sure what the reaction to it was.

Lol have you ever been to st kilda back in the day? There were prostitutes f both sexes plying their trade all along that beach. I bet it was received greatly in st kilda.

 

[Jason Simmons]

Don’t care either way. Wear the jersey, don’t wear the jersey, makes no difference whatsoever to me.

But I astonished at the level of incompetence at Manly to do this to themselves now, when they are fighting to stay in the race for the finals...

An apparently divisive issue in the playing ranks so yeah, let’s do it now…

 

[Organix]

NRL Code of Conduct

"Rugby League is a game for all, with a place for all."

General Principles

Participants in the game of Rugby League include:
All Players, Coaches, Sports Trainers (including League Safe Officers), Match Officials, Club Officials, Volunteers, Parents/ Carers and Spectators.

Participants are encouraged and expected to:

• Show positive acts of sportsmanship, discouraging all instances of foul or illegal play, or acts of violence, both on and off the field.
• Demonstrate the greatest levels of respect, protecting the rights, dignity and worth of every person regardless of their gender, ability / disability, sexual orientation, cultural background or religion.
• Lead by positive example, and condemn the use of recreational and performance enhancing drugs and doping practices; their use endangers the health of players and is contrary to the conceptn of fair play.
• Celebrate the “good news” stories, and understand that cyber-bullying, which includes negative or demeaning comments, status posts, personal messages or emails, is deemed as a serious form of harassment.
• Accept that the integrity of the sport is of paramount importance, therefore, no coach, player, Club official or match official is allowed to participate, or be directly or indirectly involved in any way, in gambling.

Breach of NRL Code of conduct? Only issue is that the players were previously tolerant until they were forced into this action. The key words used are PROTECTING THE RIGHTS, which is now very debatable, as they actively do not see them as having rights.

It is a spicy can of worms Manly has opened.

 

[theshed]

My first reaction to the jersey was “this seems tokenistic because surely in this day and age no one holds any ill views of homosexuality”. Ironically they proved just how far from tolerant a large portion of the population still is.

Pretty eye opening stuff and Manly have made a much bigger statement than I think they intended.

 

[Jedhead]

NRL clubs move to distance themselves from gambling industry

Canterbury and South Sydney have joined a cohort of sports clubs pledging to refuse money from betting agencies

www.theguardian.com

I missed this earlier in the year but huge credit to Souths and Bulldogs. Fantastic move.

With the recent announcement that ladbrokes will withdraw their sponsorship from our club I’d love it if the Broncos took the opportunity to follow suit.

Tyson is the only Gamblor we should be associated with.

 

[broncos4life]

That round is also about being charitable and donating and helping out indigenous communities in serious need. Is there a charity where I can donate to gay communities because….…y’know……they could use a bitof help? Lifeline or is it a 1800 number?

Not the point at all and you are deflecting rather than saying “you know what, yeah I got that wrong”.

 

[broncos4life]

My first reaction to the jersey was “this seems tokenistic because surely in this day and age no one holds any ill views of homosexuality”. Ironically they proved just how far from tolerant a large portion of the population still is.

Pretty eye opening stuff and Manly have made a much bigger statement than I think they intended.

You only have to spend some time in this thread to realise how necessary it still is. Some truly disgusting and vile stuff has been said in here. Shameful.

 

[levikaden]

It’s just ticking a box virtue signalling.
Like f1s “we race as one” and then go to Saudi.

 

[Midean]

What a shitstorm this is.

Doesn't matter which side you support here.
You are either a homophobe or a bigot against religion.

As Jason said, Manly couldn't have picked a worse time to push a controversial hot topic.

The weird thing to me is everyone knows that homosexuality is a sin and condemned in both Islam and Christianity but are completely fine in supporting players who follow these religions.
It would be like turning a blind eye to having a KKK member in the team and getting bent out of shape when he refuses to play in the indigenous round.

I believe in freedom, but really, these religions that are supposed to be all about love and acceptance yet condemn people based on their lifestyle are completely fucked.

What a mess.

 

[Jedhead]

You only have to spend some time in this thread to realise how necessary it still is. Some truly disgusting and vile stuff has been said in here. Shameful.

Our sport is Rugby League. Traditionally, it was categorised as "The working man's game". Much has changed since those halcyon days - so much so that we even have a quickly developing women's comp.

We still though have a core supporter base made up of those of us in society that either failed at or failed to get a decent education. As such there is still huge numbers of our fanbase who are simply plain ignorant of their own mis-informed prejudices.

Don't forget kids are not born homophobic, racist or religiously bigoted. In fact I found the only thing my kids hated growing up was going to bed early.

This round is supposed to be when we celebrate the women in league. As such there is a fourth strip we run out in (home, away, Indigenous) and of course some addition of the colour pink as a nod to those tireless females who do so much behind the scenes to keep our great game functioning. Why the Manly heirarchy decided to make it all about the LGBTIQ community without prior consultation is a bit perplexing.

Having said all that, the way the NRL is currently administering the game, especially the ad hoc changes to the rules, we may not have a game with its current supporter base in a few short years. If by chance we still do have a game, I feel it is incumbent on all of us to discuss/debate/analyse our game and hopefully come to an understanding where our fellow supporters are able to understand more than the game itself.