I don’t claim to know what really happened on Saturday night. I wasn’t there and I’m far too cynical to believe the media reports are true representations of what happened, or even witness accounts to police for that matter. What I do know is that I’m an empathetic soul and can take off my Bulldogs glasses for a few minutes to react to the situation.
I wouldn’t call myself a fan of Benji Marshall. I enjoy watching him play. When he’s having a good game he’s so talented it’s almost stupid. As long as he’s not having a good game against my Dogs, Benji Marshall is fine by me.
I proudly call myself an NRL fan. To completely lack eloquence here: the NRL kicks some serious arse. I love the game and want to see it flourish. When stories like the recent Benji incident kick off and the fall out begins, I, again for a lack of eloquence, get the shits.
It’s the same old story here: Footy player allegedly does something dumb in public, the media gets a tip off and scandal ensues. It’s alleged Marshall was out in the city during the early hours of Sunday morning when some hero decided to mouth off in his direction and copped a fist in the face for his efforts.
Disclaimer time: I don’t condone violence. Marshall’s reaction was a bad move. He should’ve walked away, safe in the knowledge that unlike the mouthy git in front of him, he gets to drive around in a fancy car and go home to roll around naked in an immense amount of cash with a hot girl*. Unfortunately for Benji and those of us who are well and truly over NRL scandals, he chose to react to this moron.
I’m pretty certain in thinking that Benji and other high profile players have to deal with this kind of crap on a regular basis. Some oxygen thief decides to be a big man in front of his mates and try to take on a big tough footy player with the confidence that the player can’t do anything about it without getting into serious shit. I’d like to think that Benji is smart enough to be aware of his status in the game and the consequences of his actions. I’d therefore like to think it’d take a lot for Benji to be provoked in this way.
When something like this happens there are generally two types of people who take the opportunity to voice their ill informed and often illiterate opinions on the matter: those opposition supporters whose butt hurt over not having Benji play for their own team is thinly veiled by outrage, and those who want SOMEBODY TO THINK OF THE CHILDREN.
I get that Benji Marshall is a role model for kiddies and aspiring footy players. He’s a very talented player - it makes sense that kids wanna be just like him. What really pisses me off is that all a footy player of Benji’s calibre has to do is fart in public for the tabloids and talkback radio to whip up a frenzy and tarnish these idols in their fans’ eyes.
You know what? I’m thinking the children were safely tucked up in bed when all of this went down, and if it weren’t for the tabloids’ need to fap over minor indiscretions, our impressionable young kidlets would have no idea their idol is omgwtf fallible.
It seems some parents are seriously concerned that Benji Marshall punching on with some dickwad will result in their precious little brat turning into some violent thug. I’m sorry, are people completely devoid of parenting skills? What Benji did shouldn’t have happened but you know what? It did. So why not take this opportunity to teach kids that even superstars like Benji Marshall make bad decisions, that it’s best to be the bigger person and walk away, that it’s a big bad world out there and not everything is black and white, that provoking someone is not a particularly amazing idea?
I was relieved to hear that both the Tigpies and the NRL chose not to suspend Marshall over such a minor incident. Some hero tries to be a big man and take Benji on, cops a split lip and goes crying assault to the police. If we lived in a perfect world where everything went my way, the cops would’ve said to this moron “well if you’re pressing assault charges against Marshall, we’re pressing public nuisance charges against you”.
You can’t compare this situation to the recent Todd Carney scandal. Marshall wasn’t endangering any lives except that of the hero who provoked him into that action. If he had succeeded in causing some real damage, well hey, Darwin was onto something.
Because of our hero, police time and resources have been wasted. There are real crimes going on out there and real victims who need attending to. I doubt this guy would’ve pressed charges if it weren’t a high profile player who had punched him. If this gets to court I’ll be well pissed my tax dollars have been spent on dealing with this garbage.
I’m beyond over the papers and radio stations providing a forum for famewhores and general idjits alike to give “scandals” like these the light of day. I’m not saying bad behaviour should be covered up simply because someone is talented. If a player commits and is found guilty of a serious crime, by all means hang him out to dry. The problem is that the attention and outrage given to scandals like these only results in more scandals occurring because people are intent on bringing these guys down for their 15 minutes or adulation among their pissed mates.
Players like Benji Marshall are role models because they’re great players - why not talk about them being great players? I don’t care what any of these guys do in their time off the field. Why is it relevant to the kid who wants to flick pass like Benji?
Footy fans and media types are forever bleating that these guys are bringing the game into disrepute, robbing the NRL and clubs of much needed sponsorship money. I would argue that it is the media - the main offender ironically owned by the same organisation that has half ownership of the NRL - who is tarnishing our game. Benji Marshall gave some drunken knob a lovetap on the lip at 3am on Sunday morning. So what? This is front page news? Benji has done far more good for our game than harm. The story should have been “Benji Marshall attended a function on Saturday night and did a spectacular job of raising money and awareness for charity.”
Why are we destroying our game instead of promoting the good that occurs within it? There's some amazing talent on display on the field and plenty of heart-warming charitable deeds happening off of it. If we spent more time reporting on and talking about the things we have to be proud of in our game we'd have a much brighter future ahead of us.
Besides, Benji Marshall was set up. This idiot in the street should’ve been the one giving himself an uppercut.
*May not be an accurate assumption of how Benji Marshall spends his spare time.
Written by - Anna.B.
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