Susie O’Brien says weak punishment a green light for abusersSusie O’Brien,
Herald Sun
30 October 2017SHAME on you, Richmond Football Club.
A three-match ban is an inadequate punishment for disgraced Tigers player Nathan Broad.
The premiership player abused a Melbourne woman by sending photos of her naked and topless to his team mates on social media.
He should be booted out of the club and the AFL for good.
A three-match ban is not a penalty, it’s a green light for other abusers, who now know they will get off lightly.
Many women will see it as more of the same: a man who abuses a woman gets off scot-free and is even allowed to save face with a grovelling apology at a highly-staged press conference.
I’d have liked to have seen Richmond CEO Brendan Gale, a Male Champion of Change, sitting next to Broad and president Peggy O’Neal at the press conference.
Gale is overseas but the fact that he wasn’t sitting next to Broad and club president Peggy O’Neal was a bad look.
Instead, it was only Broad and O’Neal up on the stage, which had a completely bare backdrop. A lack of corporate logos and team signage is a rare thing these days, and was a sign Richmond was further trying to protect its own image.
They should all have been seated in front of Richmond signage, and the press conference should have been open to questions.
The fact that Broad didn’t take any questions makes me think he is not as sorry as he says he is.
Sorry he’s been named, perhaps, but not sorry enough to be fully accountable to the media, Tigers fans and footy followers — not to mention to the woman and her family.
A three-match ban is a sanction usually handed down for high tackles, not deliberate and wilful law-breaking.
Even men within the AFL conducting damaging, but consensual, relationships lost their jobs, so why hasn’t this happened here?
It’s not an adequate punishment in this instance and it’s certainly not a deterrent likely to stop others from behaving the same way.
There is not even a financial penalty such as a donation to a Safe Steps, a charity that helps women escape family violence.
It’s being reported that Broad is “taking full responsibility” for the incident. This, too, doesn’t seem to be the case.
Broad only came forward five weeks afterwards. By this time his identity became the worst-kept secret in the footy and media circles.
While the woman was hiding back in Melbourne and trying to cope with the fallout, Broad was living it up overseas.
Even worse, he was all over social media, where we saw Broad among a contingent of Richmond players who jetted into Hong Kong and headed off straight to the Happy Valley Races.
In comparison, a statement from the woman released today said the incident had a “devastating impact on the young woman’s wellbeing”.
“She is desperate to maintain her anonymity as she tries to get on with her life as best she can,” the Maurice Blackburn statement said.
Broad’s admissions today were too little, too late.
“I’m ashamed and embarrassed and I made a very bad drunken decision,” he said in the prepared statement to the media at 11am.
“I let down a young woman who I cared about, a young woman who I spent time with before the Grand Final, a young woman who I like and respect.
“It was never my intention to hurt her or her family.
“I lied to her and I broke her trust. I’m the one who deserves to be punished”
And yet he isn’t being punished in any meaningful way.
Broad urged anyone who had the photo to delete it immediately and not share it.
It was a classic display of a club doing the absolute minimum to make something go away, without doing enough to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Ms O’Neal said her club was “committed to gender equity and respect; we find these actions to be completely unacceptable”.
“We are incredibly sorry for the distress that has been caused to the young woman who deserves better.”
Yes, the woman does deserve better — from the Richmond Football Club as well as Broad and everyone else.
The woman has decided not to pursue the police investigation and has confirmed she has not received any money or compensation.
Her motivation for going to police was to get help in getting the image deleted rather than pursuing a criminal investigation.
While Broad is free to play again by the fourth round next year, this woman will no doubt carry lifelong scars arising from his abuse of her.
As well as the original act, she has been blamed by many for posing for the photo in the first place. Her actions, more so than Broad’s, have come under harsh scrutiny.
Richmond is continuing the abuse of this innocent woman by failing to punish Broad.
The AFL Integrity Unit has launched its own investigation but I’ll bet it doesn’t go any further than Richmond.
The AFL has power to sanction players and officials under its misconduct rules, with the possibility of suspensions or fines for anyone found to have circulated the image that surfaced after the Grand Final a month ago.
Let’s hope they have the guts to stand up and get rid of Broad altogether. AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan is also a Male Champion of Change, so let’s see him change the way things are done in the AFL.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/susie-obrien/susie-obrien-nathan-broads-ban-a-green-light-for-other-abusers/news-story/797994ef1a5a48c63cbbce94795f755f
