News: Police have closed Anthony Watmough's alleged assault case

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<h2 id="story">Police have closed Anthony Watmough's alleged assault case</h2><div id="storybody" /><p><strong>New South Wales police have announced that their investigation into the alleged assault by Manly's Anthony Watmough of a club sponsor has concluded with no further action to be taken.</strong></p><p>Police have spoken with the man alleged to have been assaulted during Manly's season launch last Friday night, who indicated he did not wish to pursue the matter.

The launch has been the subject of two police investigations this week, with Manly full-back Brett Stewart having already been charged with the sexual assault of a 17-year-old girl. </p>

<a href="http://www.silvertails.net/news/Sea-Eagles/watmough-case-closed.html">Read the full article</a>
 
Thank goodness this gentleman Paul (did I get his name right??) has acted thoughtfully and with a cool head after plenty of consideration of what the issues involved mean to his company's sponsorship, the club that he must obviously love, his football team's performance from this weekend on the field, and the MANY fans who equally love the Sea Eagles.

It was enlightening to hear about Paul's viewpoint of the facts of the matter (via the inconsistent, often biased and often inaccurate print media) of what actually happened in the Watmough confrontation/debacle on Friday. Hopefully Paul has received a proper apology from Anthony and from club officials, who based on media reports were too slow to resolve the issue.

During the last few days I have spoken to many Sea Eagle supporter friends and business owners in the Brookvale/Manly area here, and every person has been incensed and upset by Anthony Watmough's alleged actions towards this bloke and his daughter.

Most of the friends that I have spoken to happen to be women - and they equally are upset by the inadequate way that the AW issue was handled in the media by club officials who clumsily allowed it to run MANY days longer than it should have been with plenty of collateral damage to Sea Eagles players, club, supporters and overall image. And these friends (and myself) are feeling TERRIBLY dismayed and let down by the Brett Stewart 1000 beers/sexual assault allegation incident. Most are very understanding/sympathetic about the huge pressures etc on Brett, and many have met him in person and have been impressed by his character and attitude in the past.

The Anthony Watmough issue:
Q: So why the hell wasn't it tidied up neatly on Saturday with a meeting between all parties presided over by Grant Mayer or other people holding similar responsibility?? Did Grant Mayer simply take Anthony's word that "the problem's been sorted mate"?? His focus certainly could have been on other bigger things but's thats no excuse.

Anthony is a great player who we all admire for his strong gutsy inspirational play and hopefully will go on to greater representative acclaim, but off the field he could certainly take a few leaves out of Beaver's book!! ie eat the whole bloody thing haha!

Undoubtedly this shocker concerning Brett Stewart and Anthony Watmough will blow over before long and is a great way for News Ltd to sell loads of papers right now (I couldn't even buy a Daily Telegraph in Brookie at 4.30pm!), but is there any WORST way to prepare for the season opener?

What will it mean? It may cost the team important preparatory focus and may cost some games. It may also may cost Manly support from fans across the board dismayed by these events, poor management decisions, their idols shown to have feet of clay (like the rest of us haha), loss of overall credibility & moral position and loss of respect in the eyes of the rest of the League and the general public.

A week's a long time in politics AND rugby league, and we've gone from the highest position to the lowest position in record time! Its gotta get better from here...and today's Daily Telegraph IS tomorrow's fish and chip paper as Freddie Mercury used to say ;-)

The BS and AW affairs ARE undoubtedly very bad for the image of rugby league and only fuel the arguments of people who dislike League - or dislike Manly. But I have to say that I personally agree with David Gallop that once Brett was charged by the Police he had no other option but to suspend him if Manly didn't because Brett had then brought the game and its image into disrespect. It was then all about the moral issues, leadership in the public face, role models to kiddies and others, respect shown for women, etc etc. Once the charge was made Manly were on thin ice from a moral position and would have been better to adopt another PR strategy - and maybe right from the start re the PR rather than hiding behind the lawyer's cloak of "say nothing".

Because this game and its stars are SO much in the public eye, how issues like this LOOK in the public eye once trouble erupts is often everything, rather than just how the lawyers advise their clients' about the situation. Its about hearts minds and people's emotional support - and club PR, and always has been with such sport.

Along with others who have written on this site today I disagree with Gallop's reason as to WHY he was handing out the suspension of Brett Stewart. In my view David Gallop's arguments seem a watered down excuse - maybe worded due to legal advice who knows, but his words appear to be carefully avoiding the real reasons why he had no choice but to act.

Anyway we know the smoke will clear before too long, but WHAT will happen as a result of these issues and the way they have been mishandled by players club officials and Mr Gallop? We know it cannot be good for the Manly Sea Eagles for the short term but will blow over sooner or later. If Brett is found guilty then possibly he will be suspended for most if not all of the season. I wager that Brett will be incredibly shaken up and will tighten up his attitude towards grog and will hopefully be a much better person for it - and an even better player.

Hopefully Anthony do the same...but lets hope Brett is back playing soon and Manly are back to doing what they do best - winning footie matches!

Hey guys and gals, a mammoth first posting. Am looking forward to that first game at Brookie too - it can't come fast enough!

Cheers
 

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