Mitchell Pearce has been suspended for 8 matches and finned $125,000 for his behaviour on Australia Day which has been the subject of so many headlines.
The fine is the largest in Australian Rugby League history, and which $50,000 of that fine is suspended, I still think it is way over the top.
I think they got it right with an 8 match ban. Pearce has missed a chunk of the pre season and won’t be available to play for another two months.
However, to level a $125,000 fine at a player for being a non criminal act is ludicrous!
When you think back to some of the incidents Rugby League players have been involved in over the years, some of them criminal acts, it makes you wonder how a player who has not been charged with an offense can cop such a fine.
There is another way to look at this though…
This could be seen as a line in the sand moment for the NRL. With a fine this big (And even on Pearce’s salary, this will hurt) will be a wake up call to players across the competition. If a player can cop a fine this large for just being a general dope, how big will the next fine and suspension be for a criminal offence?
If the NRL allows all of its troubled players back into the game, it might be able to balance the budget at this rate!
Scapegoated into public shame for the existence of being human is mob justice and the whole public is standing idly while this occurs. The case of tall poppy syndrome in the eyes of the public of a young man completely cut down for no illegal act, but that of revenge of others for being successful.
Mitchell Pearce has been completely wrong done by from all points of his industry apart from those who stand close to him. All men make mistakes and are permitted to have some vulnerability at times, so when the author of this video intended to ruin someones life for profit I hope he spends the rest of his life looking over his shoulder.
Then their is the venom from Catherine Lumby is that of feminism and hatred that should not take place within the NRL as she seeks to bury a personal vendetta against the male sex. A sport that is dominated by males for athleticism brings forth her drive for balance and personal justice for woman kind should be booted off the NRL board by a matter of vote by the fans.
The NRL board in themselves are folding to social pressure and have simply displayed no backbone in defending it’s own product, rather it has taken a vulnerable man to break down in tears subject to the very product that plasters it’s name in sponsorship across the very game.
The pen pushers of NRL have disgusted a nation of true fans of the game and attempt to appease the general public of fence sitting supporters in order to gain more profit in the long run by protecting the brand rather than the person. So, if corporatism wins in this case at the cost of a young man’s humiliation to protect themselves, the board of the NRL should be shamed for all of their wrong actions of the past.
That would then be Justice for Mitchell.
Otherwise Mitchell should be able to take this case to the Supreme Court for discrimination within the workplace.
We should not stand idly and have select authorities tear this sport apart for the sake of personal financial gains or the need to inject feminist regimes.
The man has been publicly shamed across the world so why is it justice to continue hurting one who is vulnerable.
He has done nothing illegal, he is simply a human being. He has done nothing to tarnish the game, he has been exploited in a vulnerable position and been made to suffer.
The NRL should simply have no say in the matter period as they have swiftly shown that they are unable to handle any affairs within their product and should be dealt with for discrimination in the workplace.