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Football scandal spreads on internet. Again.

Tory Shepherd

by Tory Shepherd

21 Dec 11:16am

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Filed under: Football, Nick Riewoldt, Scandal, St Kilda

74 comments

Another day, another footballer caught up in a scandal.

Riewoldt fronts the media today. Pic: Norm Oorloff.

Today it’s Riewoldt fronting the media in defence of explicit pictures a teenager posted on Facebook.

He says he asked the photographer to delete the photos. Smart. He didn’t make sure that happened. Dumb.

He was naked with a camera around in the first place. Even dumber.

In the latest chapter of this unfolding story there are three footballers identified. There’ll apparently be more pictures to come, thanks to a young, angry woman.

Will footballers ever learn?
Probably not. But it’s not just footballers who cock up, and it’s not just men, either.

People are forever doing stupid things, especially when there’s alcohol or drugs involved.

And more often than not these days, someone takes a picture. And often that picture ends up on the internet, where it can go viral faster than you can say “put your shorts back on, mate”.

But there are very good reasons footballers and rugby players are overrepresented (overexposed, you could say).

People in tightly knit teams, who work and play together for hours every day, form their own strange little communities.

There’s something about being in a unit that leads to a sense of invulnerability.

Armies, even those with the strictest discipline, easily fall into antisocial behaviour (antisocial being a complete understatement when you think of the raping and pillaging of armies past).

Subcultures quickly form their own sets of rules, and normalise behaviour that is weird to the outside world.

Sports teams become a multi-headed beast, where you find your justification within the team, without reference to societal norms.

So one starts something, the rest follow. They are trained to work together.

Any hesitation disappears thanks to alcohol and the approving laughter of teammates.

This sense of being special, distinct from mere mortals, is heightened by fame, by the worship of fans, by the slavish adoration of groupies.

This fame is a double-edged sword. It’s why they act as though they are beyond rules, and it’s why whenever they caught the results flood the media.

It’s why we know Miley Cyrus smoked a bong (although I’m not really sure we should care).

You could look at Facebook any Monday morning and see incriminating pics of dozens of people. But Joe Public wouldn’t give a shit about most of them, whereas he cares, deeply, about footballers and rugby players.

This fame is also why we get to see men acting badly more often than women.

Over a couple of decades playing women’s sport, I can vouch for the fact that the ladies are not shy about getting boozed and getting their kit off.

But you don’t see as many explicit pics of prominent sportswomen, because they mostly do not have the breathtaking self assurance that comes with being revered.

Some of our female national team players are not even professionals. They’re doing jobs on the side, which to an extent keeps them in touch with real life.

The vast majority of them are nowhere near as famous as the men, thanks to less sponsorship and less television coverage. They lack the star power.

Here, there’s also a much more mundane storyline as well. Girl hurt by man seeks revenge. An age-old story.

This tale will go on, with more embarrassing revelations. There’s a toxic mix here of fame and sex and rejection.

Stay tuned. If you care.

NB: Due to legal concerns, we can’t add comments that could get us in strife - sorry!

Most commented

429Australia, you have nothing to fear but fear itself
390There's no one Thomson won't burn to save his skin
333Animal experiments won't cure me from cancer
313Thomson didn't answer the question everyone is asking
265Who murdered the Arts degree?
246A big day for Thomson, who thus far is guilty of nothing...
231South Australia. It's the middle bottom bit.
231Craig Thomson speaks. Meanwhile, in Australia...

74 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • Andrew Credit says:

      10:44am | 21/12/10

      I don’t know why these guys just don’t sleep with prostitutes? They would never have to endure such BS from the idiots they have sex with. Unfortunately there are girls who want their 15 minutes of fame so they will do things like this.

      Reply

    • mary says:

      03:11pm | 21/12/10

      Cute Andrew. A teenage girl is made pregnant and SHE is the idiot .. just her, no one else ..

      Mmm your response explains a lot.

    • Levi says:

      10:49am | 21/12/10

      Well im surprised all the GAYFL fans havent jumped on the bandwagon to defend them. If this was the NRL everyone would be having a bloody heart attack.

      At the end of the day AFL players are no different to footballers from any other code. They just have the dollars to keep people hushed. They also play an inferior, victorian childs game.

      Boys play AFL, then some grow up and play Rugby. The others are left behind as boys.

      Reply

    • Woodsy says:

      11:24am | 21/12/10

      I think any credibility for your pro-NRL argument disappeared as soon as you pulled out the pre-pubescent ‘GAYFL’ line.  You did the stereotypical image for NRL fans no favours right there champ.

    • Adrian says:

      11:40am | 21/12/10

      There’s always one idiot who makes any article about players from a footy code into a discussion about which footy code is better. Dude if you like rugby then watch rugby, nobody cares.

    • Levi says:

      11:53am | 21/12/10

      Well you obviously have a big chip on your shoulder about it Woodsy, as most AFL fans tend to, struck all too near the truth i see. Don’t worry mate, you will be a big boy one day.

      AFL = the North Korea of football codes. Do it our way or we hate you.

    • Woodsy says:

      12:30pm | 21/12/10

      Haha not at all mate, whether it’s AFL, NRL, soccer or whatever sport there is always morons so this is not solely an AFL problem, like you said.

      Absolutely no chip, but you said if it was NRL players involved in this type of thing then there would be a bloody heart attack. Checked out any of the papers today? Looks pretty hysterical to me.

      The only problem here is that your argument makes absolutely no sense whatsoever other than trying to make it a dick-measuring contest, but whatever makes you happy lil fella.  I think Adrian summed it up nicely.

    • JB says:

      01:37pm | 21/12/10

      Levi is spot on, I mean, real men dont play with themselves! They get dogs to do it for them!

    • Mrs Smythie says:

      02:12pm | 21/12/10

      I agree with Levi, just look at the way it is being micro managed by the AFL to make the players the victim here. If this was an NRL player the victorian media would be livid with vile towards these group sex animals. These are after all boys that look like men.

    • gorgonzola says:

      08:06pm | 22/12/10

      @woodsy,when someone versed in sport talks Rugby they are referring to Rugby Union,not Rugby League .NRL.your reference to NRL not only heightens your ignorance but also is a clear explanation of the blinkered existence you live and properly places you in the same category as the young woman and the gentleman she entertains and most AFL fans,Try to read something not recommended by your peers

    • Davo from St Kilda says:

      10:09pm | 22/12/10

      @gorgonzola - as far as we football fans are concerned, there is only one true national sport - AFL. rugby and soccer can fight it out for the leftover scraps.

    • john says:

      10:49am | 21/12/10

      This is juicy more ways than one, a jealous angry woman, a disloyal teammate, a sex starved public hungry for skin pics of a blonde sexy footballer.

      In 2010 we also need the pics to make the grade for scandal, without them their is no scandal. Just suggestive hype.

      Reply

    • RT says:

      05:33pm | 21/12/10

      Personally I think the juciest part is, if you believe the AFL’s story, is why St Kilda players posing and taking photos of each other naked (and doing quite a bit more if you believe the descriptions of the photos)...

      No girls involved at all…

      Not only that, but then storing them on a computer to look at later…

      Gay much?

    • Simonious says:

      10:50am | 21/12/10

      “He was naked with a camera around in the first place. Even dumber. “
      I think your are being harsh there with that comment. The guys was asleep and like me he likes to sleep naked. The fact that you wake up and one of your stupid teammates is taking a photo of you is not your fault. I do agree though he should of grabbed the camera off his mate and deleted it himself. What i would be more concerned about is what is a teammate doing with a collection of naked photos of his teammates on his PC. Is this his way of trying to come out of the closet. The other thing is this girl was 17 and was in a relationship with a player over the age of 18. Isnt that statutory rape if they had a sexual relationship.

      Reply

    • Levi says:

      11:10am | 21/12/10

      nope 16 is the legal age unfortunately. Most teenage girls dont even know how to tie their shoelaces properly at 16, let alone judge when to keep their legs shut (which should be more often incidentally). Hence I have to pay tax for baby-bonus flat screen TV’s and government benefits for these dumbarse girls and their destined to fail broods. It seems that movie “idiocracy” is somewhat prophetic, I don’t see Darwinism shaping the birthrate of undesirable types too much

    • BL says:

      11:11am | 21/12/10

      “The fact that you wake up and one of your stupid teammates is taking a photo of you is not your fault.”

      Simonious, you should actually see the photo. Nick is posing in it, smiling while holding onto his penis and is standing next to a teammate. The other photo is of another player masturbating. These photos were staged, posed for and they knew what they were doing. I 100% believe the teenage girl was there and probably took the photos,. The AFL are trying to cover up the fact their players were involved sexually with a minor.

    • john says:

      11:26am | 21/12/10

      IMHO, No I don’t think so. According to Wiki. the guy was not older than 2 years than the girl, and she was over 16 and not under guardianship.
      Quoted from Wiki below:
      Victoria
      It is an offence in Victoria to sexually penetrate a person under the age of 16 (Crimes Act 1958, s45(1)). However it is a defence if the younger party was aged 10 years or older and the offender was not more than 2 years older than the younger party, or they were married. (s45(4)(b)). Further it is an offence for a person to sexually penetrate a person under the age of 18 if that person is under the care of the offender (s48) (guardian, teacher etc). A person under the age of 18 is not allowed to work as a prostitute nor to be in a brothel.

    • St. Michael says:

      11:38am | 21/12/10

      Depends which State of Australia you’re in.  In some states the age of consent for females is 16, not 18.

      ...not that I’d know anything personally about that, of course.

    • AK says:

      12:19pm | 21/12/10

      Levi, you probably shouldn’t comment and try and correct people if you don’t know the facts – yes it is legal to have a sexual relationship once you turn 16, but only if the person is no more then two year older than you. This girl is 17 now, and 16 when the allegations were made in the first place, so unless the guy she slept with was 18 then it was in fact statutory rape.

    • Tim says:

      01:04pm | 21/12/10

      AK,
      maybe before you try to correct somebody about correcting somebody you should get your facts straight?
      There is no such charge as statutory rape in Australia. John’s response is correct.

    • Lucius says:

      10:59am | 21/12/10

      What people should be more outraged at is that the AFL has been lying about this whole debacle. They claim the players had nothing to do with the teenage girl and now she reveals she has a set of naked photos of them all? Its more than obvious the AFL players fooled around with the teenager then tossed her aside and now shes giving pay back. Ive seen the photos - the AFL players are posing in them, they knew they were being taken, and now they should suffer the consequences. Why people arent more outraged that football players are innapropriately involved with teenage girls is beyond me.

      Reply

    • GB says:

      11:25am | 21/12/10

      She has photos that were taken by a St Kilda player who she claimed to be involved with, they are not her photos.

      She also has a long history of making wild accusations towards both St Kilda and other club’s players, and has been known to the club and AFL for some time. She’s hardly the victim here.

    • Lucius says:

      11:37am | 21/12/10

      @ GB

      How exactly did a teenage girl get explicit sexual photos of St Kilda players from a St Kilda player when accordingly to the AFL and the club no player has ever met her? And why did a St Kilda player have naked photos of his teammates on his computer that was accessed by a teenage girl he nor any of his teammates have ever met? Seems like the AFL is trying desperately to make it appear this teenage girl is a stalker that has never met any of the players, yet miracously had access to explicit naked photos of AFL players from a computer that she couldnt possibly have access too because according to the AFL and St. Kilda the girl has never been involved with any of their players.

    • Two Mummies says:

      11:43am | 21/12/10

      No GB she IS THE VICTIM. They are grown men she is still a child. Obviously she has some pretty serious issues to deal with, even more reason for the AFL players she is involved with to help her get help. NOT take advantage of her.

    • Nafe says:

      11:46am | 21/12/10

      Why are we holding Footballers to a higher standard then the rest of society. Its only because their footballers that the media is interested in the photos.

    • TChong says:

      01:54pm | 21/12/10

      TwoMummies - trying hard to defend the indefensible.

    • AdamC says:

      02:35pm | 21/12/10

      Lucius, I don’t believe the club has denied that any players knew or met the girl. Riewolt (sp) said that he himself had never met her.

      True as that may be, your points are right about her accessing the photos. Clearly, she has been associating with some of the St Kilda players to have been able to get her hands on them. It seems unlikely to me that, as the club is trying to suggest, they were ‘stolen’.

      GB, there is no doubt that the young woman in question is acting, um, questionably.

      Two Mummies, I don’t believe you are correct. The leaker of the photos is ‘legal’, as it were, and I don’t believe it is fair to characterise her as a ‘victim’. That whole line about a woman scorned comes to mind, however.

    • mary says:

      04:19pm | 21/12/10

      Teenage girls, just barely able to have sex legally, are ALWAYS the victim, if guys older than her are lining up (figuratively speaking of course) to take their turn.

      What the ..  is wrong with guys who can’t approach some one their own age who understands where they’re coming from.

      Woman scorned? .. if only, the kid has barely outgrown her nappies.

    • mary says:

      04:22pm | 21/12/10

      ps we’re talking about a school-aged-kid and professional players .. yeah.

    • AdamC says:

      04:37pm | 21/12/10

      Mary, I don’t think we should be too wedded to antiquated stereotypes of naive young women being seduced out of their virtues by caddish men. Quite franly, the young woman here is not Tess of the D’Urbervilles.

    • Mallee says:

      06:30pm | 21/12/10

      The one thing you can be certain of is that the AFL will fudge the truth to stop itself and its players from looking bad.

    • Dave-o says:

      11:01am | 21/12/10

      Yawn, I think football scandals “jumped the shark” or is it “screwed the pooch” after the Monaghan incident.

      Reply

    • MarK says:

      11:04am | 21/12/10

      WTB a sports star that keeps his dick in his pants. Please.

      Why the need to fornicate dogs, teenagers, get your gear off for the lads is beyond me.

      Her twitter page is a riot btw.

      Reply

    • StefanR says:

      11:06am | 21/12/10

      It’s not that complicated. if you want to take photos of your genitals and not suffer any consequences, make sure there aren’t any features that can identify you. Like a face.

      Reply

    • BruceFromBalnarring says:

      11:14am | 21/12/10

      Three things missed by the article.

      1. Perhaps the victim (in this case Riewoldt) believed the photo had been deleted.

      2. Perhaps all those bastard blokey types have the decency not to post pictures of girls who have rejected them in some kind of juvenile retribution.

      3. Why are the most vocal moralisers in this whole thing (the media) the ones who profit most from the scandals? And that includes the author.

      Reply

    • Missy says:

      02:34pm | 21/12/10

      Riewoldt the victim!!! Get out of here. He is a man and should act like one. The victim is a girl (not a woman). Only the AFL in all it hypocrisy could have the pink days for supporting women and then say that the players here are victims.

    • Geoff - Brisbane says:

      03:06pm | 21/12/10

      Some femthoughts are seriously wack. Missy, how can a girl blackmailing and spreading embarrassing photos be the victim? Forget that its a girl for a second, say it was a teenage boy blackmailing them would your story stay the same?

    • Tim says:

      03:29pm | 21/12/10

      Missy,
      would you like to explain what this girl is a victim of? Or is it just the “vibe” of the thing?
      Go and read her Twitter account and then come back and try to say that she’s a victim.
      The stupidity of some people’s automatic assumption of “victim” status for certain groups is unbelievable.

    • Tim says:

      11:15am | 21/12/10

      so Brendan Fevola apparently takes a nude photo of Lara Bingle and releases it. The media hound him and act like he’s murdered someone. This girl does the same thing and no one says anything about her behaviour?
      Hmmmm.

      Reply

    • Kate says:

      11:45am | 21/12/10

      Exactly right Tim.

      How come when a girl has a naked photo taken it’s the man’s fault, but it’s also the man’s fault when it’s a naked pic of a guy?

      Riewoldt asked for the picture to be deleted, it wasn’t, and it was released. He had nothing to do with this girl and did nothing to provoke the situation. I feel quite sorry for him.

    • Tripper Smurf says:

      11:46am | 21/12/10

      Hahaha I was beginning to believe that no one else had seen this double standard

    • Carly says:

      01:56pm | 21/12/10

      While I don’t excuse this girls behaviour (because it’s not okay to try and ruin someone like that) there are differences between Brandan Fevola and this girl.
      1. Age- she’s younger, obviously not as mature, and hasn’t had the experience and life lessons of someone older.
      2. Power- IF (and it’s a big if) the AFL players really DID do something awful, she might feel like that was the only option. If Brendan Fevola is wronged, he’s famous, his sporting team will back him up, he can go to the newspapers and people won’t ignore him. This girl has no status, she’s young, and is likely to be hushed up by an AFL smear campaign. Who will believe her if something goes wrong? She may have thought it was the only way.

      I don’t know this girl, I don’t know what happened so all I say to you is just don’t assume it’s exactly the same, because it’s not! That said, no one should be doing this to someone else!

      Some other points:
      - This is not women v men but adult v teenager- if it was a grown woman and a young boy it still wouldn’t be okay.
      - What kind of adult an is hanging around a 16 year old? That’s just dodgy.
      - Someone commented she was “known” to the AFL for making claims. If this is actually true, it’s even dumber for them to not be wary of her!
      - Sports players are held to a high standard in society because they are role models and they get giant sponsorship paychecks to be a role model. It’s that simple- the very thing that gets them all their money means they have to be careful. And while I personally don’t care how many naked photos they have, their sponsors probably will!

    • Tim says:

      03:01pm | 21/12/10

      Carly,
      actually you’re right. There is a massive difference between this and the Brendan Fevola incident. Whereas Fevola claims that he didn’t leak the Bingle photo and that someone stole his phone, This girl is being completely vindictive in her attitude. She is purposely trying to cause harm to these players and their reputation.There has also been no suggestion even by the girl that the St Kilda players have done anything illegal.
      Yet not a word from the media about her poor behaviour.
      And as for your argument about power and age, that’s just bulls#it. Bad behaviour should be pulled up wherever it’s found and not excused. This girl is no victim.

    • BK says:

      04:21pm | 21/12/10

      Tim is spot on, Carly is desperately clinging to paternalistic notions of female victimhood.

      If the next scandal involved 16 yo players from a development squad, they will get no sympathy.

      This girl has the right to play the victim card to a largely sympathetic press. Men don’t get to play the victim.

    • Pete says:

      11:18am | 21/12/10

      I think you like dramatic story titles, i have read the explanation offered by the football, the only pity is that he thought he could trust a friend to do the right thing, a lesson hard learned. As for the vindictive child who posted it, she should be ashamed of herself, a thoroughly nasty piece of work who doesnt care who she damages, even innocent bystanders.

      Reply

    • Steve Doocey says:

      11:29am | 21/12/10

      Fantastic point about subcultures normalising “unusual behaviour” and excellent article.

      No relevance to this though, particularly in assigning responsibility to the player involved. I have seen the photo there is no evidence to indicate that the players story is wrong. Its hardly uncommon to sleep naked.

      Reply

    • Reid Wright says:

      11:32am | 21/12/10

      People have cameras in phones now. When there is a bunch of lads on a camp in a foreign country, nakedness happens. Who really cares if Saint Nick has his tackle out in private.  I did some stupid s**t when i was a kid but I don’t go looking to shift the blame, or bring other people down with me for that matter.

      Reply

    • Anto says:

      11:36am | 21/12/10

      I distinctly recall an image of a naked and clearly distressed Lara Bingle being widely distributed by AFL players. Karma is a glorious beast.

      Reply

    • Tripper Smurf says:

      01:12pm | 21/12/10

      How is it Karma when the players being affected have only the fact that they play AFL in common with the player that was involved in the Bingle photo scandal?  This is of course unless you just group all AFL players together and say they are all the same regardless of their actual actions.

    • Macca says:

      11:44am | 21/12/10

      Idiotic Football behaviour is a response to young men with poor educations being handed large amounts of money and no responsibility.

      Modern footballers, of all codes, are manchildren. They are babysat by player agents who ensure they have enough pocket money for the rent / Mortgage and the car, with some put away and the rest for play time.

      They live in a bubble where the only thing they can do wrong is not running far enough and kicking a ball incorrectly. They have minimal life skills and spend their lives preparing for a few hours on a park on a saturday or sunday afternoon.

      I remember Alex Ferguson talking about modern footballers recently. A decade back, players had balls and understood responsibility. Now, they need to be cuddled and encouraged. Discipline of a team only had to exist inside the locker room because if you toed the line incorrectly you were going to be forced to run laps in the reserves for weeks, have Roy Keane scream at you in front of your peers or have your manager throw a boot at you. For a good example of the old school, see Harry Redknapp lose it in this interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22xixmWOOlE Absolutely Gold viewing

      Reply

    • loxy says:

      12:05pm | 21/12/10

      Macca I completely agree, however I would simplify it a little more by saying that they promote the bogan culture and are a complete embarrassment to themselves and our country.

    • AdamC says:

      12:11pm | 21/12/10

      I have two points.

      First, it isn’t as if what these photos depict is illegal. It’s weird, sure, but as Tory says subcultures develop their own rules and rituals that are outlandish to those outside. It is no secret that, in the case of footy teams, those rituals often include shared experiences of sex and humiliation (and both). In other words, what I am saying is the players haven’t necessarily done anything wrong.

      My second point, not to contradict the first, is that these guys must be absolute morons. You can have sympathy for footy players the first time something like this happens, maybe even the second, but players are now completely on notice about whom they associate with and what they get up to in front of recording devices. It looks like these guys failed on both fronts.

      Reply

    • Elphaba says:

      12:42pm | 21/12/10

      Exactly.  At some point, you need to realise that your privacy is not your own, and as unfair as that might be, the idea of making sure you control yourself in potentially compromising positions always has to be at the forefront of your mind.

      With everyone a potential reporter thanks to camera/internet phones, those in the public eye have to start taking some precautions.  Yes, it’s unfair - but you can always leave said spotlight career and pursue something more anonymous.

    • john says:

      12:24pm | 21/12/10

      I think,
      One restriction is anal sex in Queensland the minimum age is 18 for everyone.

      {in guardianship conditions its 18 in for all states/territories}

      Except for SA, TAS both (17) All the other states/territories are 16

       

      The issue is whether Nick Riewoldt denies knowing teenager who has published naked pictures of him on Facebook is true or not.

      The teenager has stated she wants revenge, one wonders what did he do to deserve it?

      I don’t buy AFL’s cry that privacy has been infringed, if a camera is taking pictures and you are aware of it you have lost your privacy.

      IMHO you haven’t taken reasonable steps to protect it, or has he?.... i think this is where the argument lies. Given there are at least 21 pictures one would think for at least some of them he was looking straight into the camera!!

      SMILE smile

      Reply

    • Steven says:

      01:18pm | 21/12/10

      Of the 21 pictures, only three of them are said to involve St Kilda players.

    • john says:

      02:03pm | 21/12/10

      @steven,

      aww that just poured cold water over a hot story. :(

      Well that’s 3 pics Jan,Feb,March 2011 calendar, what do we have for the rest of the 9 months?. Harry Potter, cheesy loves scenes from deathly hallows?

    • stephen says:

      06:02pm | 21/12/10

      No mate. Of the 21 pictures, three are said to be footballers.
      The rest are St. Kilda players.

    • biff says:

      12:39pm | 21/12/10

      Does this lastest fiasco featuring our footballers mark the official start of the 2011 footy season? What scandal will the NRL boys get up to trump their AFL colleagues?

      Reply

    • Andrew Credit says:

      12:45pm | 21/12/10

      Two Mummies ... you need to go back to school and get some education. A sixteen year old girl who has sex with adults definately is not a victim and knows clearly what she is doing in this case. It’s not the first time she has had sex with adult men.

      Reply

    • rotgob says:

      10:04am | 22/12/10

      Interesting that you think adult men in positions of trust are quite justified in having sex with 16 year old girls they meet in school sport promotions.
      That comment Andrew, says it all about the culture of AFL and the attitude to women generally accepted as OK by Clubs, players and supporters.
      I think we should all talk to our local school principles and make sure no more AFL clubs are allowed in schools.

    • Betty Burns says:

      01:10pm | 21/12/10

      interesting article. i agree that it’s very true about closed communities being more susceptible to normalising anti-social activities, but i’m not so sure that it only relates to ‘armies past’ ...

      Reply

    • Brett says:

      01:24pm | 21/12/10

      Well written article - footballers are accountable for their actions, both on and off the field. Nick would have been better to cop it on the chin rather than inflame the argument even more by blaming his mate for not deleting the photo….yes dumb.

      A simple statement like “We were being stupid and I shouldn’t have allowed myself to be in a motel room, with my mate and a packet condoms” would have been suffice. The main stream media, who love this stuff, would have then only had the choice to confirm what we already knew.

      Instead he appointed blame ... stated that he had just woke up. Which is quite possibly true, but why didn’t he put a pair of jocks on to answer the door. I assume he would have had to so his 2 mates could have entered the room!!

      Just tell it like it is - we all know it isn’t pretty - but it is the truth!!

      Actually I kind of like this defence - ‘Can I take a photo of you Nick?.....pause…No, you must have misheard - I said NICK’

      Reply

    • Fred Biblic says:

      05:57pm | 21/12/10

      From the look of the photo it was Zac Dawson that was about to “cop it on the chin”.

    • Richard says:

      02:43pm | 21/12/10

      The AFL is a disgrace, both teams that played in the lame grand final this year are apparently full to the brim with alleged rapists and child/teenage molesters. We need to disband the entire AFL permanently, at least that way we go back to having proper cricket pitches at the MCG again.

      Reply

    • Proud Parent says:

      03:11pm | 21/12/10

      This girl claims to have photo’s of players from 5 other teams in similar positions. She also claims these photo’s have been taken by her personally, not stolen. She is currently known to be associating with Collingwood premiership players. She is doing this to get revenge so they know what it feels like to have their reputation ruined. I’m pretty sure that her reputation as a warm up bike for AFL players is as credible now as it was previously.

      Reply

    • Reid Wright says:

      03:29pm | 21/12/10

      If i was a developed 17 yr old male (186cm david swallow type) and I hung out with the female basketball players when they were in town and we had some fun. Keep in mind most the players are 20-24, and then i decided that i would post photo’s of them doing naughty things. Who would be seen as the bad person, the women who are naked taking advantage of a boy or me ?

      Reply

    • Bill says:

      04:10pm | 21/12/10

      Clearly I am missing something.

      I am normally quite happy to call footy players of all codes to account for asinine or antisocial or predatory behaviour or simply assuming that they need not account for their actions.  But in this case, why does Nick Riewoldt have to defend himself at all?  What has he actually done wrong?

      If there has been a sexual assault, then that is a scandal and it should be dealt with through the normal processes.  But I’ve heard no suggestion that Nick has been implicated in any assault.  Getting photographed naked is his entire part in the whole affair?  That’s not a matter of fault.

      It is reasonable enough for people to say that footballers should be accountable for their actions as much as the rest of us.  If it were anyone else being photographed with their kit off, the response would be to say “it’s none of your damn business.”  That would be a perfectly acceptble response from Nick as far as I’m concerned.

      If you want to pile abuse on footy players, there are better things to base it on that being photographed naked.

      Reply

    • BK says:

      04:29pm | 21/12/10

      If I was a professional footballer, I would have hidden CCTV installed in my house to record every sexual act that could possibly lead to a false allegation. If they didn’t have these pictures, she might be making these types of allegations. Of course these blokes like to get a camera out.

      Reply

    • Melrusk says:

      04:37pm | 21/12/10

      What exactly is it that people believe these players were doing in a room naked together that required the taking of a trophy image ?  wink

      Clearly this girl is angry for a reason.

      I don’t defend the use of images on the net, but I really don’t believe any person would choose to submit themselves to the moral scrutiny she will face out of much less than last resort desperation.

      @ Proud Parent, if this girl is as you say:

      ” I’m pretty sure that her reputation as a warm up bike for AFL players is as credible now as it was previously.”

      Does this not beg the question HOW DAFT are these players who choose to associate with such a reputation & what do you think they were expecting by being with her ? or does the God like status of a sport celebrity negate the requirement for an adult to take responsibility for their choices .

      Reply

    • Tom says:

      09:08am | 22/12/10

      @Melrusk, think about what you just said. “Clearly this girl is angry for a reason”. So as long as you are angry about something, you are allowed to do anything to anyone? ... glassing someone is OK then just as long as you are are angry?

      Dingbats like you have a lot to answer for sending messages like this to young females (or males).

    • Melrusk says:

      06:54pm | 22/12/10

      @ Tom really what is it you think that these well paid, professional adult athletes were doing that required them to display their members to each other and take trophy photos with a person who according to the AFL was well known to them? Therefore it is safe to assume her age was no illusion to these men.
      Perhaps you would be more comfortable with the culture of processing young people for sports stars pleasure remaining uninterrupted not to be discussed as this would tarnish the illusion of infallible hero.
      Please note I use the term people as it is not only females who are being treated with disrespect here or had that not occurred to you yet.

    • guy lee hanlon says:

      04:46pm | 21/12/10

      is football just scandal ball or foot ball?
      is off field more important than on field?

      Reply

    • Barb says:

      01:25pm | 23/12/10

      You go girl! its common knowledge what footballers get up to….naked pic’s if she didn’t take the pic’s, then a guy did a footballer, why in the hell is he taking nude pic’s of his mate…..very strange seems on the verge of gay. She has no one, she’s there by herself on TV.  Just think for a moment if she is telling the truth, how frustrating would it be for any woman to try and get justice.  Its hard enough for rape victims in a law of court.  She’s a woman scorned and as far as I’m concerned you go girl.  There are alot of people on your side and I also have had a gutful of footballers crap!  people say she’s wrecking people lives….what about her’s she fell pregnant and loss the baby at 17 yrs old who supported her.  I feel for this girl she’s very angry and I don’t blame her.

      Reply
 
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