Bravo to NRL for ditching errant player
Years from now, leaguies may well look back on February 2019 as the time when the culture of the game changed forever. And for the better.
After a series of incidents involving NRL players committing violence against women, CEO Todd Greenberg has drawn a line in the sand with the deregistration of the talented but deeply flawed Ben Barba.
CCTV footage shown to the NRL’s integrity unit appear to show Barba committing three separate acts of violence against his partner and the mother of his four children at the Townsville Casino on Australia Day.
Barba had just returned to the NRL to play with the Cowboys after spending two years in England playing in the Super League. And he didn’t go to England because he liked the weather. He was there because he’d been banned after testing positive for cocaine — his second strike for drug use. So, yeah. Barba has form.
There is absolutely no doubt that Barba is a talented footy player. He was signed to the Bulldogs as a teenager and he is one of only two men to win both the Dally M Player of the Year and the Super League’s Man of Steel player of the year. But while he’s good on the field, off it he’s a nightmare.
The NRL have been given him second, third and fourth chances — but this time, the administrators have had a gutsful. Todd Greenberg did not mince his words in his press conference this week. We’re going to get tougher and stronger on players that do the wrong thing because we cannot afford the damage it does to our game, he said.
Violence against women sits at the top of the pile when it comes to offences for which players would be held accountable, he went on, and players needed to understand that it’s a great privilege to play rugby league and to earn a significant income.
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