Today's announcement by the Richmond football club, finally put a name and face to the player behind the "Richmond Topless Girl" scandal. Between consenting adults, there's a time and place for everything. But with the proliferation of digital devices, cloud computing and ease of use, what was considered private 30 years ago has little resemblance on privacy today.
To put it bluntly, Nathan Broad did an incredibly stupid thing, and he should be punished for it. Reprehensible behaviour must be stamped out, and this is a clear case of stupidity, especially give the circumstances. Having taken the photo of the topless woman without her permission in the first place, he refused to delete the photo when she requested he do so.
More so, he distributed it knowing full well it was against her wishes. Worse yet, in his media conference today, he blamed it on a "very bad drunken decision".
"I take full responsibility for what I have done. I sent a very private picture without this young woman's consent," Broad said.
"I am ashamed and I am embarrassed and I made a very bad drunken decision."
Richmond's actions in this case have been commendable, with Brendan Gale and Peggy O'Neal on the front-foot from the get go. Instead of quashing the rumour, serving injunctions, or acting with disturbing ineptitude, they owned the situation and kept the public updated with their progress.
Their actions are far removed from how other AFL clubs have dealt with internal and public scandals over the last 10 years, be it with with drugs, dwarves and fires, chickens, assault, robbery, sexual predation or worse. Arguably, their actions have been far better than the AFLs own actions in stamping out unsocial behaviour and abuse.
He's lucky in the end to have copped just three weeks suspension. His livelihood could well have been on the line, had his victim pursued police charges. Still, he's copped his licks and time will tell if he's learned his lesson, but it's one that no one really needs to learn in the first place.
I certainly don't get the personal attacks on the girl in the photo in the first place, when she didn't consent. Anyway, moving along.
If you haven't already seen it, the AFL released the 2018 Round 1 fixture last week. The Swans have the pleasure of breaking in Perth Oval, in the first official AFL match at the brand-spanking new stadium. It looks absolutely stunning from above, and the city skyline, so here's hoping the improvements are along the lines of Adelaide Oval's revamp.
Here's hoping The Swans Blog will represent when it comes Round 1! Stay tuned tomorrow when the AFL release their fixtures for next season, and The Swans blog interviews Sydney Swans Recruiting and List Manager Kinnear Beatson, as well as draft-hopeful Lloyd Meek, Mumford 2.0.
And finally, for the best news of the day, The Swans Blog is delighted to announce that they're a 2018 Sydney Swans Redback member! We have purchased a Double Redback Membership, in the name of The Swans Blog, and we're excited for season 2018!
What's that got to do with me, you might be wondering. While we're delighted to be members ourselves in such a prestigious, respected and loved club, we're extending the opportunity to you, followers and readers of The Swans Blog, to share in our experience and to become a membership with us.
Previously, we ran an expression of interest promotion, that didn't quite hit the straps like we hoped it would. So we just bought the membership anyway, because that's just how much we love the club, and we'd like to bring 24 of our followers and readers along with us for the journey!
Run your eyes over the terms and conditions of entry, but the highlights are that you'll have entry to at least 1 home and away match at the SCG or MCG in the reserved area (Platinum seats at the SCG), a chance to win finals and grand finals tickets if the Swans make it that far, as well as the members pack and other pre and post match functions.
Depending on how many come on board, you might be able to attend more than one game, or bring a guest along with you to a game. The opportunities are limitless. And for myself, I have my own paid up Victorian Premiership Club membership with the Swans.
Stay tuned for our podcast tomorrow. While we hoped to have Kinnear Beatson on, he's unfortunately unavailable, but we hope to have him on before the draft. We'll let you know as we get more news. But in the mean time, we'll have draft-hopeful Lloyd Meek on with us tomorrow!
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