NRL BOSS David Smith says the governing body has learnt its lesson from its inaction over former Newcastle player Ryan Stig’s anti-gay rant and will come down harshly on any future vilification.
Stig became embroiled in controversy last October after making homophobic comments on social media disparaging gay marriage.
‘‘WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN STRONGER ABOUT OUR CONDEMNATION OF THOSE REMARKS.’’
- – DAVID SMITH
The former halfback uploaded a letter on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter that compared homosexuality to alcoholism and talked of a ‘‘politically correct charade’’ that was ‘‘demonic’’ and equal to a ‘‘spiritual disease’’.
The Knights released a statement at the time distancing themselves from the issue, saying the comments were solely Stig’s opinion and not reflective of the club.
The NRL didn’t make any statement nor did it deem Stig’s comments a breach of the anti-vilification policy within its code of conduct.
Smith, who joined the heads of Australia’s four football codes on Wednesday in speaking out against homophobia in sport, admitted the NRL should have acted.
‘‘We still have moments where I’m not proud of something which happens in our game, like when one of our players made the most disparaging remarks about homosexuality last year,’’ he said.
‘‘We should have been stronger about our condemnation of those remarks.
‘‘We’ve learnt from that experience and we’ll take a harder line against anyone in our game making such appalling comments today.
‘‘That’s why the NRL wants to be part of this campaign about homophobia.’’
Stig, who played 13 NRL games in 2011, hasn’t played for the past two seasons because of an eye injury.
In November the Knights decided not to offer him a contract for this campaign.
Though Stig went unpunished for his homophobic slurs, Smith says the NRL will take strong action on any similar incident in future.
He says there will be a range of punishments including match-bans and fines in response to any type of discrimination.
‘‘Our code of conduct allows a range of responses, but what’s important is that everything is proportional,’’ he said.
‘‘But where there is any type of vilification that is outside our code of conduct, you will see us respond much more strongly.’’ AAP
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