Off-field behaviour and social media awareness must be addressed
We’re only twenty days into the new year and off-field behaviour has dominated the headlines thanks to the ongoing leaking of video footage. Clubs ensure that players are educated on the use of social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. That education needs to be extended to the potentially ‘dirty’ apps such as WhatsApp, Snapchat and Kik.
Fans are also sick of players being charged by police, whether it’s for drink driving, assault or domestic violence, with Jarryd Hayne and Dylan Walker in trouble over separate incidents. Every time in sentencing it feels that excuses of ‘being a role model in the community’ are lame.
It feels there are blurred lines between the committed offence and how the NRL Integrity Unit punishes. Furthermore, why players like Todd Carney are left in the cold to resume their NRL careers when others continue after more serious offences?
Maybe the best plan is for players to lay low, and for commercial media to not go seeking out clubs in private function areas, looking for a story.
