Everyone trying to draw conclusions about social media, alcohol, the NRL, young men or society from the demise of Joel Moneghan’s League career should give up.
There’s no great lessons for the rest of us - it’s no great illustration of a general societal ill. It’s just gross.
We’ve gotten so used to trying to explain what went wrong when a footballer does something ridiculous, dangerous or just plain illegal.
So far the story about the Canberra Raiders player, who quit this afternoon to save the club further embarrassment after he was caught in a sexual act with a dog, has been discussed in the context of animal cruelty, the perils of mixing footballers with alcohol and the biggie - commentary on how social media such as Facebook and Twitter has changed the rules.
Canberra Raiders chief executive Don Furner seems more appalled that the infamous photograph of Monaghan ended up online than the fact he took part in what Furner called a “prank”.
``The perils of the media and social media today are a great example of why you shouldn’t do it,’’ Furner said last week.
And today: “He’s had to pay a very high price for a party prank at somebody’s house.”
Others have described it as a final straw for the NRL, as if Monaghan was representative of a League-wide trend of bestiality.
And then there’s been the wise heads warning of the culture of alcohol abuse.
As Monaghan himself said this afternoon, it’s not nothing to do with any of those things. He did something disgusting, he’s aware of his humiliation, and he’s leaving.
He’s saved his club and the NRL a whole lot of pain by taking the decision on what action to take out of their hands.
We should stop trying to put it in a sociological pigeon hole and call it for what it was - the stupid and disgusting act of one man, who’s now so embarrassed he’s leaving the country.
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