Rugby League: League hit again by scandal

It just goes from bad to worse for Australian rugby league chiefs.

On Wednesday night they launched a $A1 million ($NZ1.16 million) campaign to change their players' attitudes towards women, only to find themselves answering claims a senior player sent a woman an obscene phone message.

St George Illawarra player Mark Gasnier yesterday admitted to the National Rugby League (NRL) that he sent the voice message to a woman from a fellow player's mobile phone.

Gasnier, a former Australian representative, was on a night out with fellow members of the New South Wales State of Origin team preparing for Wednesday's match against Queensland when he sent the message.

He was immediately expelled from the NSW team yesterday afternoon and sent back to his club.

It couldn't have come at a worse time for the NRL. Besieged by bad publicity after a pack rape complaint against some Canterbury Bulldogs - which police investigated and decided not to prosecute - league chiefs have been working to improve players' attitudes to women.

On Wednesday night they hosted a forum, with female representatives from all 15 NRL clubs attending, aimed at involving and encouraging women to continue to be part of rugby league.

The effort was rewarded with publicity yesterday, but it was overshadowed by headlines over the phone call incident.

A woman complained to the Sydney Roosters and the Daily Telegraph newspaper of receiving a message from a player's phone at 3.41am.

The message was, in part: "(Woman's name), where the f... are you? There's four toey humans in the cab...and you're in bed. F... me - fire up."

It was established early yesterday the message was sent from the mobile phone of Anthony Minichiello, a Roosters player in the NSW State of Origin squad.

Minichiello was quick to deny that he had sent the message. He said his phone had been had been lost or stolen on Tuesday night while he was at Star Casino and he had not realised it was missing until later yesterday.

Minichiello's explanation was accepted and NSW Rugby League chairman Geoff Carr told a press conference: "It's a massive beat-up."

But Carr changed his tune later yesterday, revealing to a second press conference that Gasnier, nephew of league legend Reg Gasnier, had been identified as the message sender.

Gasnier confessed after being approached, said Carr.

"We are in the position where we rely on the players to show some commonsense and on this occasion it didn't happen," Carr told the press conference.

"Look, in hindsight, I don't know if we can let them out of their rooms any more."

The incident not only damages the code's efforts to encourage women to become involved in the game, but once again brings into question the wisdom of holding boozy team bonding sessions.

Players have been regularly reminded both before and after the Bulldogs incident in late February of their obligations to behave in public, but the message is frequently ignored.

NSW coach Phil Gould had floated the idea of an having an alcohol-free camp in the lead-up to the Origin game, but apparently backed down after talking to the players and they headed to Star City Casino on Tuesday night.

There were reports of three players being involved in an incident on a bus in the early hours of Wednesday night, but NSW management said last night there was no behaviour problems.

Carr said the furore created by the players' conduct was a reminder that they were under the microscope.

"They now know if they blink they're on the back page," Carr said.

"They were on notice from the start of the camp that they would be under scrutiny.

"They will learn a lesson from this."

The woman who received Gasnier's phone message told the Daily Telegraph: "They wouldn't like it if someone rang their mothers or their sisters at that hour and said that sort of stuff to them.

"These guys are representing our country. There's a code of conduct for these guys and they're not abiding by it."

- NZPA