A huge region-first festival of music and culture; climate change prompting a human sign record attempt; pornography found on display phones in a Bega store. A smattering of interest and comments there.
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However, what got readers really talking this week was a footy game in Bega.
A council discussion over whether to offer some in-kind support so Bega can host an NRL exhibition match in February raised eyebrows and blood pressures, both inside and out of the chambers.
Two of the councillors used the debate to take issue with the NRL as a whole, not just the use of ratepayers’ money to assist with ground maintenance and portaloos.
That the players have “less than exemplary public profiles” meant the NRL exhibition match between Canterbury and Canberra should not be played in front of our youngsters. (That one of those same councillors then said she wouldn’t have any issue if it was a women’s team wanting to come play is a whole other editorial in waiting...)
We shouldn’t tar an entire sport with the same brush. Yes there have been numerous incidents and instances of players bringing the sport into disrepute. But those are what the media will focus on for a story. There’s not much of a story in the everyday good behaviour of the majority, and only limited engagement from media consumers on the community outreach events the NRL and CRL undertake.
However, we shouldn’t disregard the lewd, offensive behaviour conducted by some of these young men who have such a large public profile.
The Bulldogs are one of the teams heading to Bega in February and as fate would have it, one of the teams at the centre of many of the recent indiscretions. Most recently their Mad Monday “antics” in Sydney.
Yes it was a private event that may not have garnered much attention if not for a major Sydney media outlet splashing paparazzi images across successive front pages. However, getting nude in public with your team-mates and puking in the streets is not behaviour to be condoned, or brushed aside saying “boys will be boys”.
The club has been hit with a record $250,000 fine by the NRL and several players were individually fined as well as charged by police over their “obscene” conduct. One of whom was Adam Elliott – a Tathra product and surely a bloke many young Bega Valley footballers look up to as inspiration.
When his disgrace was shared by us, readers came to his defence as well as suggesting you’d see worse at local Mad Monday activities.
That’s not an excuse. That’s further proof for the argument a toxic subculture exists within the sport that needs removing, for the good of the game as well as for its many fans.