Poll added - Sea Eagles Everyone in League jersey

[HK_Eagle]

You got one. You just didn't like it. They have every right to not wear it. We shouldn't have forced it. No other club did it five weeks before the finals. Blaming the wrong people here

There is an official statement from the 7 that you’ve heard? Cool, where can I find it?

 

[chuckee]

There is an official statement from the 7 that you’ve heard? Cool, where can I find it?

HK you need to stop being such a SK.
Get over it champ, the boys have different beliefs. Most people in society are backing them up.
Now let them live their lives and get back to playing footy for this magnificent club.

You obviously didn’t take a leaf out of DCE’s book and listen to him that the team is already INCLUSIVE AND DIVERSE.

 

[Brisbane Tragic]

You got one. You just didn't like it. They have every right to not wear it. We shouldn't have forced it. No other club did it five weeks before the finals. Blaming the wrong people here

Funny how Robinson has come our clearly and said he has absolutely no problems with it and he would expect all his players to wear it. They have every right to have their beliefs and follow those. The problem I think the majority of the rest of us have is the hypocrisy...the acceptance of gambling and alcohol sponsorship when their culture and religions clearly forbid such.... the claims now that they will play next year if they are consulted and wear an inclusive jersey... and the fact that they demand that we all accept their views/religion/culture but they refuse to accept the lifestyle of other law abiding citizens... hypocrisy of the highest magnitude.

 

[AndWeDon'tCare]

A hypothetical scenario:

If the 7 players decide to leave en masse or are released by the Club (for whatever reason) and given the commentary surrounding this issue and the subsequent coverage of the Club and its handling of the matter, where do these players go to find another Club?

If they were to leave for maintaining their stance on this issue, which NRL club will "risk" employing them should another pride round be played next year?

On the flip side, if a club does employee them and player X is consulted and decides to play for that club, is that a big "Fk You" to our Club?

OR will that NRL club ensure, via their player contract [that] their new employee that they must play in whatever strip they decide the team must play in.

It has been alleged by a reporter that they have NOT agreed to wear a similar jersey next year, so haven't they further damaged their chance with another NRL club?

The longer this goes on, I believe many a door will close for them elsewhere UNLESS other NRL clubs are "all talk" and will do whatever it takes to win and that wouldn't surprise me.

 

[ManlyTragic]

You make a lot of assumptions in your post and that is the point… what is their position? They failed to turn up for a game which is extraordinary. We deserve an explanation.

They were told to stay away for security reasons.

 

[Dee Why Eagle]

There is an official statement from the 7 that you’ve heard? Cool, where can I find it?

Given how Penn's statements have been twisted, maybe they're playing it smart by only discussing this with their employers and not with the media

 

[KaZa]

Funny how Robinson has come our clearly and said he has absolutely no problems with it and he would expect all his players to wear it. They have every right to have their beliefs and follow those. The problem I think the majority of the rest of us have is the hypocrisy...the acceptance of gambling and alcohol sponsorship when their culture and religions clearly forbid such.... the claims now that they will play next year if they are consulted and wear an inclusive jersey... and the fact that they demand that we all accept their views/religion/culture but they refuse to accept the lifestyle of other law abiding citizens... hypocrisy of the highest magnitude.

Wiedler has reported that the 7 are angry with the claims that they will back flip. Again just BS from the Penn's.

 

[KaZa]

So it doesn't bother you that these young men have just about closed the door on our finals aspirations? So for you to say let them do what they do well & play football.....they didn't seem to give a $hit about playing football on Thursday night did they? What will happen next year when the Pride round is played again?

No. It did bother me they weren't playing. But why put them in a situation to choose between their God and a footy game. There was always going to be one out come. For a religious person it's more than just a footy game. It may not be for others.. but you have to respect their decisions. Just like you have to accept someone being gay even if you didn't agree with it. But nothing should be forced upon anyone. Our club got this really wrong. Clearly we shouldn't do the rainbow jersey again. If Penn's persist with it. Do it in a trial because you will get the same result. Doing it so close to the finals. I don't know how more people aren't blaming the owners. They ruined our season to make a bit of extra coin. This is the 7th jersey of the season....

 

[Brisbane Tragic]

Just something about this fiasco that could have easily explained their position and we could all have moved on and can move on now .... when they became aware or even right now they could have come out with a statement saying that "the consultation from the club on this issue was very poor and this issue should have been discussed with us before becoming a reality. According to our beliefs and religion we do not believe in same sex relationships and therefore we wont support the rainbow hoops on the jersey. BUT we accept that other people have different views and as law abiding citizens LGBTQ people have the right to live their lives how they see fit. While we do not support that lifestyle or the rainbow hoops we will however play in this game and in future games given our commitment to Manly, our fans and our sponsors. We would hope that in future the club discusses sensitive issues like this in a more open and timely manner. We hope that the League community and Manly fans accept and understand that these are our firmly held beliefs and principles." Then the club should come out with a statement saying the consultation was poor, they didn't understand the deep ingrained beliefs of our players in this respect and we will work hard to embrace and champion exclusivity while absolutely respecting the rights and views of our playing group. Issue over - put to bed albeit as I have said there will be deep seated divisions across our playing group for some time to come.

 

[Woodsie]

You make a lot of assumptions in your post and that is the point… what is their position? They failed to turn up for a game which is extraordinary. We deserve an explanation.

Mate ... they never never never never said they wouldn't play ... they said they wouldn't wear a rainbow Pride jersey ... I am 100% certain had the NRL allowed them to wear their normal strip they would have all played ... in fact I am also almost certain they would have played in skins if allowed to ....

So save your indignation and for the numbnut power brokers who engineered this fiasco ... and even at the 11th hour didn't allow the 7 to be ... wait for it .... included ...

Now the enlightened ones from Mount Condescension have "educated" the "poor simple backward Islanders" and ... No NO NO you dear things .. the Rainbow Jersey is not a Gay pride Symbol anymore ... we have reinvented it as a symbol of inclusion ... you don't mind inclusion do you?

NO cried the grateful Islanders ... WE love Inclusion .... all sweet for next year Bro!

And in the wrap up of an eventful week ... it appears the only casualties are the numbnuts that can't seem to understand that some people value their family and religious principles and values above a football game .... SADLY for these people there is no pill or set of exercises that than get rid of this mentally debilitating condition .... however an expert has recommended that just the act of shutting up seems to give some relief ..

 

[Scorpio]

I think the NRL was also sleep-walking into a situation like this for a long time as well.

They are happy to be proactive and have a league-wide round (with jerseys) for causes and sections of the community like Women in League, ANZAC Day round, Community round, Indigenous round, Beanies for Brain Cancer round, Crazy Socks round for Men in League...

But, for anything vaguely associated with LGBT+ issues, apart from a bit of corporate lip service this week from the NRL head office... not much doing... largely out of sight and out of mind. And when a club actually did something like that (albeit very ham-fistedly), the NRL seemed happy to just sit back and let it play out this week.

For the record (given that Manly had 7 jerseys this year) I think each team should have a home/away/alternate jersey and that's it... that way we don't have to pick and choose which causes are important enough to have a dedicated jersey, and which ones are not.

 

[madmax]

No. It did bother me they weren't playing. But why put them in a situation to choose between their God and a footy game. There was always going to be one out come. For a religious person it's more than just a footy game. It may not be for others.. but you have to respect their decisions. Just like you have to accept someone being gay even if you didn't agree with it. But nothing should be forced upon anyone. Our club got this really wrong. Clearly we shouldn't do the rainbow jersey again. If Penn's persist with it. Do it in a trial because you will get the same result. Doing it so close to the finals. I don't know how more people aren't blaming the owners. They ruined our season to make a bit of extra coin. This is the 7th jersey of the season....

KaZa……I blame the club tenfold more than the players. Everyone involved in this fiasco should be wiped! The idiot marketing team & the idiots who didn’t involve the players. My annoyance is that none of the players have come out & expressed their views. It’s the silence from the players that’s pi$$ing me off. Not a word of explanation or remorse or encouragement that things will get better. I dunno I’m just so fu<king mad!

 

[Budgie]

Interesting Twitter convo between Deb Spillane and Michelle Tapau. Whatever happens with Marty, I hope he and his wife put his business degree and her nouse into getting involved in League admin.
(Sorry for the messy cut and paste)

https://twitter.com/DebSpillane
@DebSpillane


Question I keep coming back to re ‘consultation with the players’ re the rainbow jersey is do marketing people check with players if they are cool with wearing a special indigenous round jersey? Would it be seen as the marketing department’s fault is a player refused to wear one?




Michelle Taupau
@MichelleTaupau


For years the NRL facilitated sessions with every club in the lead up to Indigenous Round The messaging internally & externally was clear & all staff & players, Indigenous & non Indigenous had a chance to share & learn The NRL used to have working groups for themed rounds



A member from licensing, marketing, community, media & other departments would ensure all stakeholders were on track with purpose & messaging. It’s clear to me how this went wrong. It’s not hard to bring people on the journey - it just takes a little time and care for all



This jersey & it’s beautiful & important message deserved better. The staff, players, community all deserved better. Releasing it in women in League round makes no sense, esp with no comms around it! It was a total fail by administrators that caused unnecessary tension & pain


Deb Spillane

Thanks for your replies Michelle. I’ve given bit of thought to your perspective and you’ve made very fit points. I shouldn’t have given it the “in my day” treatment. I’ve always hated that response!Of course NRL has changed and I should’ve factored that in. 1/2

My perspective I from a wider, non-rugby league setting where I see Christian fundamentalists promoting division and trying to fight against more progressive tolerant attitudes in our society. It’s that overall pattern that disturbs me and I hate seeing it in the NRL. 2/2

 

[KaZa]

KaZa……I blame the club tenfold more than the players. Everyone involved in this fiasco should be wiped! The idiot marketing team & the idiots who didn’t involve the players. My annoyance is that none of the players have come out & expressed their views. It’s the silence from the players that’s pi$$ing me off. Not a word of explanation or remorse or encouragement that things will get better. I dunno I’m just so fu<king mad!

Ok we agree there then. I just don't see what the benefit is them coming out and saying anything. I'm sure one or two may front the media early next week. Most likely Aloiai. We know why they didn't play.. nrl could have fixed it by allowing them to play in the normal kit. There's blame everywhere. Even the 7... But I don't think they should cop the brunt of it. Not to the extent where our own fans don't want them around. They should never have been put in this scenario to begin with. So for mine.. it comes down to who came up with this idea at this time without consulting the players. We don't have a CEO (why is another reason.....) So the blame comes to Penn.

 

[Spartan Eagle]

I tend to agree with Fitler here..

The 'bigger' uniform problem NRL must address

'The league need to come down on this'

wwos.nine.com.au

 

[Brisbane Tragic]

I tend to agree with Fitler here..

The 'bigger' uniform problem NRL must address

'The league need to come down on this'

wwos.nine.com.au

I happen to agree totally. Except I would even go back to just home and away jersies - nothing else.

 

[Budgie]

I tend to agree with Fitler here..

The 'bigger' uniform problem NRL must address

'The league need to come down on this'

wwos.nine.com.au

Yep.
And he forgot to mention poor parents with kids wanting some of the variations each year.
And then there's the outrageous price of them .
And finally my old bug bear ... cotton! Make them in something you feel comfy in wearing around the place - not recycled bloody plastic bottles. Recycle them somewhere else ffs!!!!

 

[Budgie]

I happen to agree totally. Except I would even go back to just home and away jersies - nothing else.

Yep. The special rounds can be done with ground signage and a heap of promotional work.

 

[Spartan Eagle]

Yep.
And he forgot to mention poor parents with kids wanting some of the variations each year.
And then there's the outrageous price of them .
And finally my old bug bear ... cotton! Make them in something you feel comfy in wearing around the place - not recycled bloody plastic bottles. Recycle them somewhere else ffs!!!!

They should be made from organic hemp

 

[HK_Eagle]

Yep. The special rounds can be done with ground signage and a heap of promotional work.

As somebody mentioned in an article this morning, introduce the cause in the club in a meaningful way. Perhaps starting with dialogue or relevant guests invited to share their real experiences. And build however appropriately from there to make it part of the club culture and not just some short cut marketing campaign.