FTO AUSTRALIA

Under-fire rugby league personality Matthew Johns has been stood down by Channel Nine and the Melbourne Storm over his involvement in a group sex scandal in New Zealand in 2002.

LOOK i say........

ban football indefinitely. bunch of hormone ,pill popping @#$% sucking, *~delightful!~* @#$%ots, lets have a real game on TV like bash a footballer ? SHAME!

I dont want an argument, but the girl wanted it, and was the reason she went out that night. Dont blame the player, its the b!tches fault.

harry90 wrote:I dont want an argument, but the girl wanted it, and was the reason she went out that night. Dont blame the player, its the b!tches fault.

dude. im sure its not your intention, but that in print, sounds like its coming from a rapist....

Things I don't understand:

• 1. It was consensual.
  
  2. It was 7 years ago.

Why is it being dug up now, is someone out to defame him or has he pissed the wrong people off?

EURO wrote:

harry90 wrote:I dont want an argument, but the girl wanted it, and was the reason she went out that night. Dont blame the player, its the b!tches fault.

dude. im sure its not your intention, but that in print, sounds like its coming from a rapist....

lol....i meant it in a factual type way. Cos that was the actual circumstances from what i understand. The girl went out that night with the mindset that she was going to have sex with a football player. It could have been any football player.

I think the issue was, yes she consented to sex..... I am not sure she consented to 6 guys being involved in the sex and another six walking in the room and watching...
having said that who knows... at the time, she may have and just regrets it now.. or was to scared to try and get out of it... I think she was only 19 and probably wasted.

Thats true. But ignorance of the law is not an excuse. Just because your wasted, doesnt mean what you say is not real. So if she was wasted when she agreed to sex, doesnt matter, although her judgement is not accurate she still consented.

EDIT: I dont think Johns should have been stood down because there are people out there every day having group sex and not getting punished for it (not that they should if its consented). Just because he is a 'celebrity', shouldnt mean that he should be made an example of.

It happened 7 years ago so why has she only come out about it now? I mean she came out right out to the media which sort of sounds like she wants money for the story or something?

arctan wrote:It happened 7 years ago so why has she only come out about it now? I mean she came out right out to the media which sort of sounds like she wants money for the story or something?

+1 GOLDIGGERS!!

I cant believe this is seven yrs old BUT..............


FFS every weekend another football scandal, its getting beyond a joke.

Shut the NFL down, its crap sport anyway

NRL?

it happened 7years ago and was investigated by police and innocent of all charges, what is her motive bringin it up 7 years later, is she goin to bring it up in another 7 years and so on..., if it was concential then why complain about it after, i know a lot of mates in footy in both codes and this sort of things happens regulary. Im not suggesting its right or wrong but up to opinion, he shouldnt of been there in the first place, as he was married lol, but that also happens lol, what about the other players involved why is matt johns copping it all?? can i ask why was a 19 year old gettin involved with at first 3 or so players?? i feel for her but becareful of what u get urself into

I8A4RE wrote:Shut the NRL down, its crap sport anyway

+1 for that

NRL = National Rapist League

Oliver89 wrote:

I8A4RE wrote:Shut the NRL down, its crap sport anyway

+1 for that

NRL = National Rapist League

bahahah, now thats GOLD

An article from YAHOO7.COM

Former NRL player Matthew Johns has publicly apologised to the woman at the centre of a group sex scandal, however he maintains she was a willing participant.

On Monday night ABC1's Four Corners program revealed Mr Johns and five other Cronulla Sharks players had sex with a 19-year-old woman in a Christchurch hotel in 2002.

The woman said the experience left her feeling degraded and suicidal.

The players involved insisted the sex was consensual and New Zealand police did not lay any charges.

On Wednesday night Mr Johns told Channel Nine's A Current Affair program that while all parties were willing participants, he now understands the impact his actions have had.

"Any trauma, embarrassment that she's gone through as a result of this incident I'm extremely sorry for," he said.

"I'm extremely sorry to my wife and family as well."

But Mr Johns repeated his assertion the woman had consented to the group sex.

"I would say that on the night when she came back to the room she was a willing participant in everything that occurred," he said.

"I feel great sorrow for the pain and regret she's felt in the aftermath of that subsequent pain but, again, I've got to say she was a willing participant in what occurred.

"I did not commit an act of abuse to that woman," Mr Johns added.

"I am guilty of infidelity to my wife. I'm guilty of absolute stupidity."

Mr Johns says he had been honest about the incident from the beginning.

"I was completely honest with the police. I was completely honest with my wife. And even when the ABC reporter rang me up, I was completely honest with her," he said.

The high-profile personality was stood down indefinitely from Channel Nine and his coaching position with the Melbourne Storm this afternoon.

"As far as my career at Channel Nine is concerned, it's the furthest thing from my mind," Mr Johns said.

"I've never blamed anyone else in the situation, except myself. I take full responsibility for the predicament I find myself in.

"I have to go away and make it up to my wife and make it up to my family. That is where my priorities lay."<h3>'Out of character'</h3>

Mr Johns's wife Trish joined her husband during the interview and described her shock when first told of the incident seven years ago.

"It was completely out of character for Matt. I was horrified and disgusted and just shocked that he would even be involved in such a thing," she said.

"Knowing all the information that I do, his greatest crime is actually being unfaithful to me as his wife."

Mrs Johns described the current media attention about the incident as a living hell.

"I feel that it is only for me to judge him on that," she said.

"Whether that is someone in football ... a businessman or someone working for Channel Nine, anyone committing adultery to their wife, that is between a man and his wife."<h3>Career in tatters</h3>

Earlier, Channel Nine chief executive David Gyngell said the decision to stand down Mr Johns was by mutual agreement and "in the best interests of the Nine network, the game and its supporters, Matthew Johns and his family".

"The fact is whatever the argument about the details of the New Zealand incident involving Cronulla players in 2002, the conduct and its aftermath were simply unacceptable. Full stop," Mr Gyngell said in a statement following the two-hour meeting with Mr Johns and his manager, John Fordham.

Meanwhile, Melbourne Storm chief executive Brian Waldron said after watching the Four Corners program, he thought it was best that Mr Johns moved on.

"It's an awful thing for it to be put on television in the way it was, but at the end of the day we need to get some good out of this," he said.

"This decision that we've made in conjunction with Matthew is a good decision."<h3>Not enough</h3>

One person who is certain Channel Nine did the right thing is Karen Willis from the Rape Crisis Centre.

She says Mr Johns failed to show he realised the full significance of his actions.

"He had an opportunity to make a leadership statement for the league and for young men coming up into the game and admirers of the game against violence against women," she said.

"And he didn't even come close to making those statements.

"He also had to be prompted by the interviewer to even make the apology. He was constantly sorry for himself and his family - and that's fine, I get that.

"But he actually had to be prompted to make an apology to the young woman involved, and when asked, 'If you had your time again, what would you do,' his only comment was that he would not walk in the room.

"I would have thought that by now at his stage and his age and those sorts of things, it would have been, 'I actually would have been an ethical bystander and tried to stop it.'

-*The Four Corners program can be seen in full on the ABC's iView website. Extended interviews can be seen on the Four Corners website.*

EURO wrote:I think the issue was, yes she consented to sex..... I am not sure she consented to 6 guys being involved in the sex and another six walking in the room and watching...
having said that who knows... at the time, she may have and just regrets it now.. or was to scared to try and get out of it... I think she was only 19 and probably wasted.

+1 hit the nail right on the head as to how i view the incident.

i know a lot of girls who go out to night spots where they know there will be footballers n will try anything to get in the sack with them, one or two but i think they draw the line in their head when theres 3 or more... i dont beleive they approached her without her permiscuisity

You know what , she has no life this girl....

Honestly,
How pathetic !!!! Matty Johns makes a mistake 7 years ago, which was dealt with by the police at the time and found to have no case to answer, and now 7 years later the dumb trollop has the audacity to come forward and whinge about it. Get yourself some therapy and a life, and accept the responsibil ...

The girl is pathetic to use this kind of method to get compensason and ruin somebody's life and career even after 7years! Somemore she goes crying on TV....makes me sick in the stomach. This happens so many times as celebrtites are such easy targets.

Oliver89 wrote: She says Mr Johns failed to show he realised the full significance of his actions.

"He had an opportunity to make a leadership statement for the league and for young men coming up into the game and admirers of the game against violence against women," she said.

"And he didn't even come close to making those statements.

WTF!!! when did violence agaist women come into this?! no relevance at all...

harry90 wrote:Thats true. But ignorance of the law is not an excuse. Just because your wasted, doesnt mean what you say is not real. So if she was wasted when she agreed to sex, doesnt matter, although her judgement is not accurate she still consented.

This is absolutely true, as I've studied a bit of law, an intoxicated person is still capable of making their own decisions according to the law so yes, she consented.

What I find objectional is the fact that it went from 1 person to group sex without her consent. In other words, people she didnt agree to have sex with, decided to join in.

Not saying that alll league players are like this, because a few bad apples shouldnt ruin the bunch.