Matthew Johns
Details of a 2002 group sex incident involving members of Australia’s rugby league, aired on a New Zealand news program Monday, has caused a suspension and recriminations in the sport. Six Australian rugby league players were accused by a 19-year-old of taking advantage of her.
The worst of the allegations, aired in the Four Corners television program on Monday night, came from a New Zealand woman who claimed that she was 19 when she was involved in group sex with six players from the Cronulla Sharks [of the National Rugby League]. The woman said the incident, which allegedly involved Matthew Johns and Brett Firman, had left her suicidal.
“If I had a gun I’d shoot them right now. I hate them, they’re disgusting,” she said.
Police investigated the charges at the time and no charges were filed. Nonetheless, Johns Tuesday lost his job as a rugby commentator and as an assistant coach. The NRL president also apologized. Johns admitted being involved in the group sex with the woman, but said it was consensual. One coach was quoted as saying it was team-bonding experience. Details from the show seemed pretty graphic:
The woman said two men rubbed their [penises] in her face while others stood watching and touching themselves. Six men had sex with her while another six looked on. One or two even climbed into the room through the bathroom window. There was always someone touching her, the victim said.
She added: “More and more men came into the room. There was a queue at the end of the bed…when one stopped, another was doing stuff to me… I felt like a piece of meat… I felt worthless.”
Following a 2004 sex scandal, the NRL started training to try and change the culture towards women within the rugby world. A rape counselor and an academic who are helping the NRL said the league has made strides in not tolerating abuse toward women and in changing the “boys will be boys” culture. The attitudes Down Under sound distressing similar to those among many American athletes toward women.
on May 13th, 2009 at 4:19 am
it is huge story here jim - as it should be. i wonder it is going to creat change…..
you can watch the original 4 corners story here.
not to sound dramatic, but it is harrowing television.
http://www.abc.net.au/iview/#/program/370129
on May 13th, 2009 at 6:51 am
Oh come on Jim. Outsports is so freakin’ hypocritical of their view on sports I’m surprised you printed the story. Yes, the story documents repulsive actions on the part of the rugby team. However, on the front page you have photo gallery of the UCLA track meet with a caption about photos of “some of the action.”
Give me a break. I found maybe 6 or 7 photos of sports action in there. The rest was eye candy for you to drag viewers to your site. Nah, Outsports isn’t about sexual exploitation of sports. Granted this is not even close the behavior exhibited by the rugby team but don’t go “high and mighty” when you turn around and exploit straight athletes on your “sports” site.
on May 13th, 2009 at 9:58 am
Outsports is a sports site that caters to gay men… Obviously there are going to be photos of shirtless guys and homoerotic images. Gay men want to see that.
You stated yourself that the behaviour exhibited by the rugby team is “not even close” to the “exploitation” that Outsports is doing so I’m not really sure what you are accusing Jim of. Pics of shirtless guys at a PUBLIC track meet and a woman being PRIVATELY gang-banged by a rugby team seem like two completely different levels of exploitation to me.
on May 13th, 2009 at 11:33 am
Okay so you are just perpetuating the stereotype that gay man HAVE to have pictures of shirtless guys to discuss sports. And you wonder where some of the right wingers get their material. We hand feed it to them.
So this site would fail if they actually put up a photo gallery of a track meet with pictures of actual track and field events and dropped the shirtless pics? In the gallery it is evident that over half the photos (I counted 28) were put there for eye candy.
So don’t call it a photo gallery of “some of the action.” Be honest and say it was a gallery for gay guys to get their rocks off at pictures of straight guys who probably had no idea they’d end up on the site. Since it was public that gives us the right to put their photos up for gay guy’s jollies? If I’d been working media at the meet I would have pulled the credentials instantly when I saw what was going on. It’s pretty evident the guy had to have been credentialed to get field access. You don’t get those kind of photos sitting in the stands.
Naw, we’re not exploiting them. We’re just looking for track and field action and just happened spend more time taking pictures of shirtless guys. Last time I checked you don’t compete shirtless in track and field.
I came to Outsports originally to find good info and discussion among the LGBT community about sports. There is good info in here but when I would have expected Outsports to rise above the stereotype this stuff happens and then we chastise a rugby team for pathetic behavior. You’re right, it’s not the same level of exploitation but does that justify exploitation in general? Give me the “level” that’s appropriate and we’ll go from there.
on May 13th, 2009 at 11:40 am
You know it’s bad when you’re embarrassed to surf a site around your friends, let alone at work. Even the discussion boards are NSFW now that they allow hotlinking of giant images.
on May 13th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Sounds like another instance similar to the Duke sports team that was big news a couple of years ago.
on May 13th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
RBearSAT does make some good points. But I get both here. If you want to avoid the pictures you certainly can. The discussion boards offer some great conversation about a variety of sports. In addition, you do get your eye candy if you want it. Some of the pictures definitely have nothing to do with sports and everything to do with the shape of a guy’s ass, or how much he’s packin in the front, or how hard his nipples are, or how flat his stomach is, or…well you get the point. At the end of the day, Jim is a businessman. The website caters to those who can come and see some good eye candy or have good discussions about sports, OR BOTH!!
on May 13th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Good point Ron and I would be okay if that’s what it’s billed as. I guess what set me off was that the gallery was to imply that this was more about a track meet than an eye candy gallery. I personally have been viewing the site as mid-class in terms of sports info. It’s a great place for local LGBT sports organizations to find info and I really applaud them for that. It covers the LGBT side of sports such as the openly gay runner from the Conn. school that was highlighted and feature at the college’s website. But the track meet thing on the same page with a story about the rugby team just demonstrated an attitude of “we can exploit the male body regardless of whether they wanted it or not but don’t condone a rugby team’s rape of a 19 yo.” Granted once again, two different levels but please, don’t claim piety on the matter of exploitation.