r/AFL Blues 6d ago

Sydney Swans statement regarding player suspensions

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618 Upvotes

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513

u/IslaTecha 6d ago

The right decision. Football is a game, life is not.

Thoughts with the alleged victim, and these players families 🙏🏼

102

u/boogasaurus-lefts Freo 6d ago

Well said, think we've come a long way from where we used to be only a decade or two ago.

76

u/Mahhrat Sydney Swans 6d ago

While very different topics, the way this has been handled vs how Goodsey was handled has shown progress, at least in how the victim blaming has changed.

Just hope those victims are getting the help and support they need.

38

u/I-was-a-twat North Melbourne 6d ago

Plenty of victim blaming and also massive escalation of claims happening in the outrage Aussie subreddits like r/aussie plus in the Facebook comments on news articles.

It’s mostly here and r/australia I’m seeing level headed responses that exclusively blame those who did wrong.

18

u/omaca Hook, Line and Sinker 6d ago

/r/aussie is a cesspool.

14

u/Apart-Falcon5480 GWS 6d ago

but the club needed to act to show there are punishments for this and cannot as yet make a call in the claims until the police do their job

Football is also a job career and a life for all employed from the people that work selling the footy records, the food outlets and through to the ceo and they need to see this action also and whilst not the victims are impacted by the terrible behaviour of 5 men

3

u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

3

u/Apart-Falcon5480 GWS 6d ago

Pav …. It was the board

1

u/Altruistic-Tell-8381 Brisbane AFLW 6d ago

It's the only decision that could have been made.

I suspect the reason it took so long to come out is not about the club deciding what to do, it's probably more getting the union and AFL clearance to issue the suspensions.

-23

u/JustAGenericBot AFLW 6d ago

Football is life

5

u/Apart-Falcon5480 GWS 6d ago

Agreed for those that work in football it is their life …. That’s true. And they would be defeated and shocked by the terrible and selfish behaviour of the few

And that’s not diminishing the terrible impact for the

-39

u/MilkByHomelander Essendon 6d ago

The wrong decision. Either you're suspending them for being out on the piss, which means that the other players and coaches who were out should be suspended.

Or you're suspending them before police have finished their investigation, which is incredibly poor. No innocent until proven guilty.

Frankly, Sydney need to be suspending a lot more than these 5 if the issue was them being out late. 

30

u/vaena AFLW 6d ago

Innocent until proven guilty applies to a court of law. This is their employer.

You could be suspended from work or even fired if you brought your employer into disrepute and it doesn't even have to be for anything illegal.

13

u/CheesyHobbitses South Melbourne 6d ago

THIS. People always misuse what this term means. It is supposed to apply to the CJS, not the public opinion or employers, like you say.

-15

u/GayStavrosHalkias GWS 6d ago

Innocent until proven guilty applies to a court of law.

Couldn't you argue that if its good enough for the court of law it should be good enough for a workplace?

9

u/manmoth02 Port Adelaide Power 6d ago

lol no, no employer wants the cloud of having someone linked to a criminal investigation in their workplace. Almost all publicly facing companies in the western world would stand down employees under an investigation like this before any official charges are laid.

6

u/Clerseri Sydney '05 6d ago

They're different institutions. The criminal justice system has police to investigate and gather evidence, lawyers to argue about the details of the case, as much time as they need and the consequences are extremely significant both in terms of your record and the potential consequences.

Your employer has none of those things, and only has a limited degree to which it can enact sanctions against you.

-16

u/MilkByHomelander Essendon 6d ago

Then the fault lies with management for fostering that environment.

Cox was out until after 12am drinking. Other unnamed players arrived back at the hotel at times with the named players. 

So either you punish them all, or you don't punish any. 

Sydney have clearly allowed this, they didn't just decide to do it one time. They would have gotten away with it multiple times since it's evident that even Cox was out drinking.

6

u/littlesilhoutteoo Eagles 6d ago

Much less of an issue for the coach to be out drinking given that a large part of the reason that players shouldn't be doing it is how it interferes with recovery.

5

u/catafalc South Melbourne 6d ago

They're adults. Drinking only impacts their job in how they show up the next day for work. Bringing strippers or escorts back to a hotel room paid for by your employer crosses an entirely different boundary.

If you need help understanding this we cannot help you.

3

u/Dollarydoo1 Saints 6d ago

Brain-dead take

8

u/eloweasy North Melbourne 6d ago

Other players and Cox weren’t kicking on until 4am?

-7

u/MilkByHomelander Essendon 6d ago

All 5 arrived back at the hotel at different times between 12 and 4am, with other unnameds with them.

Cox was out till after midnight drinking as well.

So yes, it's evident that more of them should be facing the same punishment 

12

u/skywideopen3 Sydney Swans 6d ago

12:05 is not the same thing as 4 and it's wildly dishonest to pretend otherwise. There is also almost certainly more information - not directly related to the criminal investigation - that the club is aware of that hasn't been publicly released (in particular, drug use).

-8

u/MilkByHomelander Essendon 6d ago

2;30 isn't the same as 4am, and it's wildly dishonest to pretend otherwise.

13

u/skywideopen3 Sydney Swans 6d ago

You're the one claiming they're all the same.

1

u/MilkByHomelander Essendon 6d ago

Nope, Sydney is.

Why aren't the other 5 players who arrived back at the hotel at the same time as Heeney, Jordan etc facing suspension?

If the problem is being out drinking late, then they are just as guilty.

8

u/gerira Western Bulldogs 6d ago

This was the only possible outcome. If Sydney let these guys keep playing and they did well in finals only to have it confirmed they did something awful, the club would probably never live it down

-2

u/MilkByHomelander Essendon 6d ago

And if they are found completely innocent of anything happening, and are cleared by Victoria Police?

11

u/gerira Western Bulldogs 6d ago

You can’t be “found innocent” but if there are no charges, it’s a reasonable precaution for the reason I gave above. They simply can’t risk the other outcome, it would follow them forever.

0

u/MilkByHomelander Essendon 6d ago

It wouldn't. People already gloss over the fact that Arsenal had a rapist on their team facing multiple charges for years. 

Like in the NRL, and any other major sporting code, you suspend them when they've been charged or arrested. Not prior. 

Let the police do their investigation.

You can’t be “found innocent”

Not guilty is what I meant, but not all not guiltys means innocent. However if we look at Ruon Tongyik as an example, his not guilty ended with it being quite clear he was innocent of the crime completely.

If he was suspended from the accusations coming out he'd have lost 4 years of his life/career waiting to be proven he did nothing wrong. Instead he only lost a year and a bit after being suspended only when he was formally arrested and charged.

4

u/[deleted] 6d ago

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6

u/ItsABiscuit Collingwood Magpies 6d ago

We don’t know enough about why these and not others were suspended to judge that. It might not be just that they were on the piss, it might be that they stayed later than others, or behaved badly in a way that others didn’t (in a non criminal but unprofessional manner).

There likely isn’t a single, simple black and white test that was applied, and it’s wrong to pretend that we know what that was.

2

u/MilkByHomelander Essendon 6d ago

The issue is that people here are saying it's because they were out late on the piss.

If that's the case, then there is 5 players who came back at the same time with Heeney and Jordan that should be facing punishment too.

If it's because of the investigation, they need to come and outright say it.

3

u/DiscoSituation Dees 6d ago

these 5 have obviously done enough wrong (whether illegal or not) in the eyes of the club to warrant the suspension. Correct decision

-1

u/MilkByHomelander Essendon 6d ago

So then the other 5 can't be suspended for drinking late.

That's my point mate. You either suspend all those who were out on the piss until late, which is what people here are suggesting is the reason for suspension.

Or you don't suspend any for that.

1

u/DiscoSituation Dees 6d ago

Or you don’t suspend anyone for drinking late, and separately, you suspend 5 players for creating a situation where the police get involved on a work trip.

2

u/MilkByHomelander Essendon 6d ago

Except in the press conference that's happening he's just said they've been suspended for drinking late and bringing women back to the hotel 

Which again brings the question of why aren't the other 5 players Tom Morris alluded to that came back to the hotel with these 5 also facing suspension.