Don’t you just love social media. We’re all absolutely sick to death of hearing about Mitchell Pearce and his latest bender so don’t worry, I’m not going to bore you to death by adding my $0.02 to that mountain of copper coins. But something extremely unsavoury has come from this little incident, far more disgusting and damaging than any of Pearces drunken antics.
For anyone who has been living in Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart or anywhere that doesn’t give a fuck about Rugby League, you can read up on the whole incident here and here. For everyone else, I want to talk about the text messages and the vile witch hunt that has come of them. Whilst I personally do not believe Pearce should be copping the bullshit he is, I certainly do not think the person who sold the footage should be. But even more so, I absolutely condemn the fact that an innocent bloke with zero connection to the incident has been “named and shamed” as the person who sold out Pearce and has since had his life turned upside down.
Please note, unlike a couple of grubs in the press and social media, I have chosen not to publish the details of the innocent man and have edited all my screenshots and pictures.
Yesterday evening rugby League reporter Josh Massoud appeared live on Channel 7 news and revealed the details of a Sydney man who he claimed was the instigator of the whole thing, sharing text messages that were scathing of Pearce and showed intent to cash in. I don’t know what kind of due diligence Massoud took to verify his information but his results were 100% incorrect. I dare say they came from League Unlimited (Hi LU, thanks for the permaban!) a footy forum many lazy journos lurk in to get their scoops. Only problem is 90% of the forum members are unhinged lunatics with little grasp of reality. Yet despite this, he has gone live on air in prime time and hung an innocent man out to dry.
Since then, a number of ex NRL has-beens have jumped on social media and publicised this mans details along with a torrent of threats and abuse. Prominent Mensa member Bryce Gibbs has had his $0.02. This is a bloke known for being one of the dumbest to have ever played the game and is most famous for being absolutely steamrolled as a young bloke by respected legend Mark O’Meley. Liam Foran has also joined in. You may have heard of his brother Keiran Foran. Either Keiran hogged all the good genes and ended up with the lions share of the skill, intelligence and looks, or Liam is in fact adopted. Which may explain why he was charged with assaulting a relative. As for Chris Walker, he less said about his rugby league career, the better.
Cue the angry mob. Since these brain dead morons shared their enlightened views with the world, footy forums, facebook groups and social media has exploded. The cesspit is at boiling point with multiple keyboard warriors expressing their desire to see the innocent party receive swift and brutal justice, along with defaming him at every given opportunity.
Even The Australian has joined the party. What was once considered a respectable outlet has joined in the mud slinging. Poorly, I might add as the journalist for this piece starts getting the names wrong half way through. A hiccup for the otherwise reputable publication, one would hope
This is why I hate social media. These grubs have basically ruined a random persons life in the short term, with no regard for facts or decency. The dubious word of one reporter who has brushed with defamation and misinformation before has been taken as gospel. And nobody is being held accountable. Even if they do retract their statements, it will be buried on page 24 in the corner and will receive a tiny fraction of the airtime the initial allegations received. The damage has been done.
What if something bad happened thanks to their incitement of violence? I hope dearly that it doesn’t. But given the intelligence and the nature of those spreading the bile, it would not be surprising. These gronks would forever have blood on their hands. Yet still social media is being freely used as a tool to spread lies and slander with no consequence for those who do so.
I am calling for Josh Massoud & Channel 7 as well as the 3 stooges to come out and publicly retract their statements. And to do it properly and with the same gusto as when they led the personal attacks on an innocent man. Anything less and they are potentially guilty of inciting a crime and should be hung out to dry themselves. I’m not a fan of litigation culture we’ve long seen in the US but if I was the man in question I would be seriously weighing up their options. They have tried to ruin someones life with no remorse or consideration, and they need to be held accountable.
Your move, Massoud & co.
surely not. 
It’s ridiculous. No other sport in the world has anything like it. Constantly biting the hand that feeds them. I mean, News & Nine forked out one billion dollars for the TV rights yet they constantly bring the game into disrepute and drag it through the mud. Look at the AFL, if a player acts up the media closes ranks and you don’t hear about. In massive sports like the NFL, EPL, etc they’ll comment on something but then get straight back to discussing the game because they know it’s the product itself the fans are interested in more than anything. Sydney RL media types are nothing more than self serving, egotistical vultures. It’s a disgrace. Hopefully this is a huge wake up call. Some players and fans need to be pulled into line over this as well. Disgraceful mob mentality at its absolute worst.
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Not strictly true. You mention the NFL here. I believe that the Aussie media are playing the NFL PR game very well. Look at Tom Brady and deflategate, look at Peyton Manning and the timing of the HGH investigation. The NFL loves scandal as it allows them to stay in the news ALL THE TIME. They may only play for a few months a year but they have managed to make it a year round PR machine. That’s the same thing at play here. They know the game is not going to suffer because it’s too popular. That being the case, you can afford to hang people out to dry with little to no detrimental effect.
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You are right. I suppose living in Sydney it’s magnified because it dominates the major papers and everyone you know is talking about. I’m a massive NFL fan and follow a tonne of blogs and pages, watch or listen to Dan Le Batard, Colin Herd, Mike n Mike, etc daily. But other than that and a few mates who also follow the NFL I’m not hearing about things anywhere else. Obviously over in the US it would be the like Sydney and the NRL, if not worse.
Even today, I saw on Bleacher Report that they’re bringing the Peyton Manning sexual up again. No doubt the NFL didn’t want the NBA All Star Weekend to have ALL the attention.
The point I was making was what I believe is the difference between the NRL scandals and other sports. In my opinion, NFL has scandals that are genuinely newsworthy a lot of the time. Think Peterson, Lewis, Vick, Hernandez, OJ and Manziel (the assault, not the partying). They don’t really need to blow stuff up as much.
There is also a different mentality over there. If Cam Newton was an NRL player and was dabbing in opponents faces, stealing flags and jerseys off fans, etc he would be ripped to shreds! In the states those who question his behaviour are ridiculed and called out as haters. They value their champions and superstars. Over here it’s all about the Tall Poppy Syndrome.
The NRL has had scandals that are genuinely bad for the games image such as Bird, Lui, Coffs Harbour, etc. Things like the Melbourne Storm cap rort and Cronulla Sharks doping were good for the game but again, they were genuine scandals.
In between all that the media is constantly looking to make something out of nothing like with Pearce getting loose, Carney doing pretty much anything, Dugan drinking Breezers on the roof, Timmins riding a street sweeper and so on. These are total non issues. It’s not just league media that break these stories either. Those outside the game certainly see these as opportunities to cash in and they have no interest in keeping league in the spotlight. They just want themselves in the spotlight. Never mind how many careers get ruined or innocent parties are caught in the crossfire.
Compare that to the Melbourne media and the AFL. They do the exact opposite and are always looking to cover up incidents. They’re very protective of the game and it seems they have confidence in the product selling itself and would much rather publish a good news story about a players heroism or good deeds off the field, than the latest late night scandal.
There seems to be a lot more pettiness and faux hysteria in the NRL, but there are no doubt endless other bubbles just as bad all around the world.
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So you have proof that this Jack fella isn’t involved at all?
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Last time I checked you needed to prove guilt, not innocence! It’s all going to come out now anyway. Channel 7 have apologised and retracted their statement. dailytelegraph.com.au smh.com.au and dailymail.co.uk are now all reporting this side. Regarding who actually did it, I’m sure that will be coming out soon enough as well.
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Fair enough, if Jack is indeed innocent then these so called jounalists need to do more than apologize. Unfortunately the Sydney RL media only want to show the bad side of the game and will do anything to get a negative story to print.
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You aim your bile at people in hindsight.
Massoud outed him, and his name was plastered all over channel 7, get angry at them.
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You are absolutely correct. As people always say, hindsight is a beautiful thing. People always wish for the benefit of hindsight so I’m taking advantage of it here.
Totally agree with your second point as well. I am angry at Channel 7. They most definitely should have done their due diligence before allowing the claims to be aired. But the “scoop” was claimed by Massoud. He drove the story. It all starts with him in my opinion.
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Surelynot, delusions of grandeur?
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I don’t think grandeur is the right word….
On another note, I was a bit excited about this notification until I saw your email address. Let down!
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