NRL Players - Treat them like babies?

[Hamm.0]

Consider the following - a nightclub containing 200 people, 90% of whom are consuming alcohol. This leaves 180 people, most of whom will be in the age group you mentioned. The worst night out that I've ever seen was four one-on-one fights. Now, this is probably because of both alcohol and heightened testosterone, but obviously these 8 people had had a bit too much to drink. That leaves 172 young adults who managed to control themselves and their alcohol intake. What Rock said is 100% correct.

But don't you see that is simply a percentage mate? For example, take a look at how many registered RL players there are, and get a percentage of how many are in genuine dodgy circumstances. I figure there are approx. 480 registered NRL players and how many bad boys? Maybe 10? Say 20, that's less than 5%. Less than 5% of the NRL population have alcohol problems.

I can also tell you with 100% honesty that myself and my mates have never taken any recreational drugs of any kind, nor have we abused alcohol to the extent that we cannot control our actions. We are not the ones in the minority!

I don't take drugs either mate, but I have been to many clubs where 80%+ of the clientele are sipping water. You reckon they are all dd's?

 

[Professor47]

I think they took a good stance with Carney... well kind of ... he did get a lot of chances before they made the ultimation... ditch the drink or ditch footy for a year. THe smart ass told em to take a hike and luckilly the UK's visa restriction have kicked in and he's now serving a rather good punishment getting smashed by the bush footy mob up north for 2009. A year's ban for a serious offence is pretty good. I also liked the fact they offered a reduced punishment if he took the booze ban. Gives the player a chance to genuinly make an effort to change and turn a new leaf if they want.

I'm with this one but players can easily run off to other countries to play footy - I still think it might be the way to go because that is the price they will have to pay.

 

[Black Philip]

It should be a one warning only policy before a lengthy ban IMO and clubs should have a strict policy on alcohol in place also. For anything judged more severe with the player found guilty, or who are obviously guilty but may not face charges (e.g. Bird), then they should be de-registered and as far as I'm concerned they can stay out of the game for life. The bullshit tarnishing this games image and giving the media an excuse to over-hype the off-field troubles league seems to face so often needs to stop. Tell the dickheads they can **** off to union. I'm very glad England seem to be taking a hard-line stance on giving out visas now, that way these morons can't just piss off over there to play as well.

 

[Clintos]

Consider the following - a nightclub containing 200 people, 90% of whom are consuming alcohol. This leaves 180 people, most of whom will be in the age group you mentioned. The worst night out that I've ever seen was four one-on-one fights. Now, this is probably because of both alcohol and heightened testosterone, but obviously these 8 people had had a bit too much to drink. That leaves 172 young adults who managed to control themselves and their alcohol intake. What Rock said is 100% correct.

But don't you see that is simply a percentage mate? For example, take a look at how many registered RL players there are, and get a percentage of how many are in genuine dodgy circumstances. I figure there are approx. 480 registered NRL players and how many bad boys? Maybe 10? Say 20, that's less than 5%. Less than 5% of the NRL population have alcohol problems.

I can also tell you with 100% honesty that myself and my mates have never taken any recreational drugs of any kind, nor have we abused alcohol to the extent that we cannot control our actions. We are not the ones in the minority!

I don't take drugs either mate, but I have been to many clubs where 80%+ of the clientele are sipping water. You reckon they are all dd's?

Of course I do mate. It's a percentage in a favourable light. It just seemed the way you were going on that you were implying that it's a massive problem, and I took offence to the fact that you implied everyone my age went around blind drunk or on a drug high. I apologise if I mistook what you were saying, and I didn't disagree with your argument as such, just some of the specifics.

 

[Coxy]

The problem isn't with what the NRL should do, or what the clubs should do (directly), but it's the coaching staff and senior players of clubs that have to improve the culture. The Broncos have an awful drinking culture. I've heard from parents of some young players coming through the system who weren't drinkers, and they were made fun of, pranked, belittled. If Izzy wasn't such an awesome player I bet the players would laugh at his non-drinking.

So ironic given who the coach was...

But that's where guys like Locky need to show some off field leadership, tell his blokes it's not cool to get totally shit faced when they're out. Unfortunately Locky's not that mature.

And unfortunately there's very few senior players in the NRL that are...Civo and Price are probably the only two I can think of.

So if the players aren't capable of self regulating, then it does come down to the club and the NRL. Unfortunately if you put in strict anti-drinking clauses and threaten deregistration, all you're doing is providing more motivation for players to go to union or the ESL (provided you can get a visa).

There's no easy answer, but nothing will be effective unless the senior players take responsibility for the playing group at each club and show some leadership.

 

[Emma]

It's good to hear this morning that Manly are banning players from drinking at official club functions. I realise that still leaves a lot of opportunity for players to get drunk elsewhere, but it's at least a start and a firm instruction from the club that instances like this won't be tolerated anymore.