Professional Rugby Player banned for 26 weeks for tweeting about homosexual ref

apple to oranges

If he said nudists, or vegans, or hunters, fishermen etc, then that is on the same plain as homosexuals

 

I've had mothers come out of the stands onto the wrestling mat
I made one call that blew the roof off that gym (right call, the kid wasn't wearing a legal singlet) where I heard my name, the f- word... great stuff.


The name I'm most often called is "that good looking ref" by all the wrestling mom's.... lol



beyond that....

I'm torn on this issue.... as a private organization, like the NFL, the NBA, whatever this league is.... they can set the rules any way they want. If they want to be the gay estapo.... and refuse to let it's players be allowed to tweet about gays as a rule... it's a rule they agree to when they sign a contract... then so be it.

unpopular speech is still protected speech.



The only other question I have about this incident.... did the player get suspended for talking about a gay guy? or talking about a ref? Every league has rules about calling out, talking bad, ect, about refs on public forums and social media.

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so people have quit speeding then, huh?

 

THIS THIS THIS.... at this point in time during social media.... PROVE I TWEETED IT.


a player's defense from any sort of crap like this from here on out is..... "I set my phone down and someone hacked me" Just because it came from my phone does not mean I did it.

It's what AJ McCarron's mother should have said after her Jameis Winston comment "is that even English"


Hell, it's what I did in 2011, when I posted to fb "OMG, someone shoot me, I'm so bored" during planning (no time restrictions against posting to facebook during school for teachers, we just obviously can't post pics of students, etc) When they threatened firing over it... I said, "I set my phone down and someone picked it up and posted that. No I don't know who"


now it was on them to prove I did it.


so if I ever end up on the news for tweeting my opinion about gays, or whatever... and the current school tries to use it because the gay mafia is pressuring them... I will simply say "I set my phone down, apparently someone hacked it"

 

Good point. I'm not too familiar with rugby, but refs have to take a lot of crap in any other sport I know. It would make sense for the league to be protective of them.

Anyway, I assume both played a role. I think the punishment is too severe, especially because it seems like it wasn't even the guy's fault.

 

I posted this in the (less busy) law subforum here, and even on other forums, because I can't find anything in google about it....


how do we know this rugby player was the one that tweeted it and not, say his wife, who shares the account with him? We have a player suspended in the NFL over a tweet against gays right now. Can the players that have been suspended, simply said "my wife and I share a twitter feed, I did not post it"


can a NFL player be suspended if his wife, on a shared account, posts "God hates F----"

could the suspended player simply said something like "I set my phone down to jump in the pool and the post was made at somepoint during that time I didn't have my phone. Apparently , someone thought it would be a funny joke"

how much does the NFL or any league have to prove.


I know twitter has a "verified" feature for stars to confirm if it's really them... but facebook doesn't.


I had a teacher friend who's crazy mother in law created a fake account and started bashing all class kids, calling them retards, etc" and my friend was all but fired, when her father, who was luckily an investigator for the local PD. He was the one that verified the IP came from 6 hours away. But what if MIL lived in town?


What are the legalities of this.

 

What a sorry state of affairs. The radical left seems to just about killed free speech most everywhere.

 

Well it was a double whammy. When you sign a contract in the National Rugby League you sign on for an extensive code of conduct. In Goodwin's case the gay slur was bad enough, but he also attacked the referees

“Gay refs shouldn’t be allowed to ref because they r so s##t’’

 

I'm not concerned about "who" made the "tweet"

If there is no stipulation in his contract about discussing people's sex lives then he should be left alone. We're talking about how one chooses to have sex.

About the Twitter account, as with everything , there is a level of personal accountability. I would not put a breakable object on the edge of a table because I would have contributed to the reason that it broke. If you are going to use Twitter on your phone, then lock your phone.

So, less focus needs to be paid about proving who sent the message and more focus needs to be paid to if his contract has a stipulation on conduct limiting his speech and if discussing gay sex is part of those limits.

 

The refs have been under a bit pf pressure recently. The co-ordinating body for these guys has been forced to admit over the last month or so that 4 games have had the final result affected directly by poor decisions made by the refs. That is not good in any professional sport.

 

yeah, but still, a player can't tweet about a ref

 

I agree with that too. Spell it out if I'm not allowed to tweet about gays, blacks, etc.


But I'm willing to bet there is some "catch-all" left to the discretion of the league, kinda rule that allows, legally speaking, to suspend a Dolphin for tweeting about Michael Sam, or here.



I think in the rugby league though, the fact that he also tweeted about a ref is really the big issue.

 

It's also incredibly stupid to insult a ref. Sooner or later the both of you will be in the same game.
Which gives Goodwin some credibility when he says it was a friend of his.

 

One wonders what might happen if a sports player actually physically assaults someone rather than hurts someone's feelings.

Oh guess we'll find out....

What punishment should the AFL/ Giants lay down for this? Life time ban?

 

True. But do you post with the account of your friend(s).

 

My brother has my password.... so does my wife.

 

That is what I meant--they get up and leave their computer unattended and I would post something obnoxious as their status--sometimes something sexual like "I passed out after the club last night and now my butt feels oily," and sometimes something to get people really mad at them like "Feeling much better since stomping to death that kitten that kept jumping on the hood of my car"

 

EXACTLY......


people have been getting "hacked" on social media since social media was created.... only now, are people getting fined for it.



While I have no doubt that the Dolphin tweeted what he did about michael sam, nor do I doubt the rugby player tweeted what he did.... to suspend a player, who could have legitamately been "hacked".... is asinine.

 

Do you mean like the old stipulation "other duties assigned by mgmt" which was on almost all job descriptions? Well, those don't hold up in court.

It can't be nebulous because that leaves it open to interpretation. They would have needed to state that he can't voice his opinion publicly about gay sex. The case of the LA Clippers owner would be overturned in court if he chooses to go that route because it was a private conversation, taped without his knowledge or approval.

We are way too quick these days to over-react if someone discusses gay sex but don't give a darn if an Ambassador and 3 other Americans are killed during an attack on our sovereign soil. Something is definitely wrong with our moral compass

 

I'm with you.... but you're dealing with 24 y.o. kids who may have money, but don't understand their legal recourses.... or don't want to fight it



problem was, he just admitted he did it and accepted the punishment. I am of the thought process.... prove it was me.


nowhere in his contract does it say he is legally responsible for what's posted on his phone.... or that his wife can't have the password and post something stupid.


I had a friend that got a job in administration at a local school... her hubby posted a "congrats to my wife on the job" type post. The problem was, it wasn't officially announced yet, and she got hauled into HR and reprimanded for something her hubby posted on fb.


While I can see the argument, it wasn't official til monday, and if he couldn't keep his mouth shut, she shouldn't have told him... but will she get reprimanded for her hubby posting "God hates f----"?

 

http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...ports-leagues-social-media-policies-offenders


here is the NFL's and NHL's policy about tweeting and other people using the account for you....

National Football League

Policy: Players, coaches and operations staff cannot use social media less than 90 minutes before kickoff. Social media use can resume after traditional media interviews conclude. Updates to player accounts (by the player or anyone else) are prohibited, thwarting Chad Ochocinco's initial plan to signal Twitter updates to a fan in the stands.


National Hockey League

Policy: The most recent sports body to adopt a social media policy, the NHL has a policy similar to the NBA's and NFL's stance. Players cannot use social media from two hours before faceoff until media interviews are completed. The policy also makes clear that players are as responsible for statements made in social media as in traditional media.



what this addresses is joint accounts or spouses posting during black out times....



but, it still doesn't address a tweet from a stolen phone..... or the traditional "hacking" friends do in social media

 

yes- because of course hunters and fishermen are so regularly discriminated against in Australia......lol

Here is what he tweeted....

'Gay refs shouldn’t be allowed to ref because they r so s***'

So what if he had tweeted:

"Black refs shouldn't be allowed to ref because they r so s****?

or

"Jew refs shouldn't be allowed to ref because they r so s****'?

or since this is Australia- how about inserting "Greek" or "Chinese" or Abo?

Bigotry is bigotry.

But in my experience- the bigots cannot see their own bigotry- such as this rugby player and Donald Sterling.

 

Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from criticism- or consequences.

You have the right to say what you want- doesn't mean that your boss can't fire you for it.

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Nowhere did the Rugby player ever discuss anyone's sex life in his tweet.

That is purely your imagination at work.

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And if either of them abuse your account- you will be held responsible.

My wife knows my password to many of my accounts also- she won't abuse it- but if she did- it would be my responsibility for giving her access.

 

after I posted this statement here, I found, and I posted on another thread a link to prosport rules that agree with your statement. I'm responsible for my account. but that doesn't account for theft of your phone, or someone "hacking" it, and posting it as a joke or deliberate attempt to get you in trouble.


what about if I set my phone down at a party, and someone posts something and I was unaware of who did it?


Can an NFL player be fined for forgetting his phone in a bathroom of a house he's attending a party at, only to find out that during inbetween leaving it and retrieving it, the next stall occupant decided to post "I hate fa--" on his twitter feed from a phone that still hadn't locked, yet? Those are my concerns

 

No, and that rule about commenting on refs has existed since at least 1976

 

It is spelled out in the payer code of conduct NRL revised edition 2012:

demonstrate the greatest levels of respect,protecting
the rights, dignity and worth of every person regardless of
their gender, ability / disability, sexual orientation, cultural
background or religion;