Michell Moses 2 week sspension for "homophobic slur".

[C-Whiz]

OK, this topic has been around in the community for a long time, and has been raised across all sports for discussion, but most recently and most publicly has been raised again after the U/20's SOO match where Mitchell Moses called an opponent an "F***ing gay C***".

Personally, my opinion is that terms like "racist" and "homophobic" get thrown around way to casually these days, but the question I am asking is, "Is the penalty fair"?

2 weeks suspension, denies a young player his NRL debut.

Let's be clear about what has happened here: he has been penalised for using the word "gay". Not for calling someone an "f'ing c***", which is probably pretty standard out on the footy field at almost every level from high school on, but for using the word "gay". Also, let's be clear, the person he was making this statement to is not "gay", and Mitchell was not really making any statement about the recipients actual sexuality.

So, is it an over reaction from the NRL, is it a step in the right direction, or is everyone being just a little bit precious about the word gay?


Wests Tigers and NSW playmaker Mitchell Moses has apologised to Queensland Under-20s lock Josh Bateman and NRL officials for the homophobic slur that has cost him a two match suspension.

Moses, who called Bateman a ‘‘f---ing gay c---’’ as the teams packed a 69th minute scrum during Saturday night’s Under-20s State of Origin, attended Rugby League Central to apologise to officials in person and also spoke to the promising Canberra forward about the offensive remark, which was heard by television viewers.

NRL head of football Todd Greenberg said the comments were not acceptable under any circumstances and that Moses had become the first player suspended for breaching the game’s anti-vilification policy. The Tigers playmaker, who steered NSW to a 30-8 win, was also ordered to undergo an anti-vilification education and awareness program.
Spiteful: The Under-20s Origin clash on Saturday night featured a string of flare-ups.

‘‘The NRL has consistently made it clear that there is no place for any form of discrimination in our game and we will take firm action if it occurs,’’ Greenberg said. ‘‘The player has accepted responsibility and apologised for his comments, which was taken into consideration in determining the penalty. After careful assessment, we have decided to issue the player with a two-match suspension.

‘‘We will also require him to participate in a program to improve his awareness and understanding of the importance of eliminating discrimination, particularly homophobia, in the game.’’

The incident occurred less than a month after the NRL, Australian Rugby Union, Football Federation Australia, the AFL and Cricket Australia, held a joint press conference to announce they were committed to ensuring homophobic slurs were not part of their sports.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/wests-tigers-mitchell-moses-banned-for-two-games-over-gay-slur-in-under20s-origin-match-20140505-zr50w.html#ixzz310GGMBk5
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/wests-tigers-mitchell-moses-banned-for-two-games-over-gay-slur-in-under20s-origin-match-20140505-zr50w.html

[C-Whiz]

My opinion on this is it is a massive over reaction from the NRL. It was needless, pointless, and dilutes the whole point of having an actual anti-vilification code if any time someone uses the word "gay", regardless of it's intention, is slapped with a 2 week ban.

[DIEHARD]

If he wants to be a professional he needs to act like it. 2 weeks for being a bone head and disgracing us on TV seems fair.

[TITAN PETE]

Way over reaction but thats thanks to technology its something the players have to put up with, go to any pub or park in Australia & u will probably here the same words being used by mates about each other...

way over the top

[C-Whiz]

If he wants to be a professional he needs to act like it. 2 weeks for being a bone head and disgracing us on TV seems fair.haha, being a bone head, this is part of what I find funny about the whole "issue". The way name calling is almost an Aussie pastime, yet say the "g" word and all bets are off. Bonehead is a timeless classic though.

Not having a go at you Brad, and I value your input immensely, but would you say that his biggest mistake was his choice of words, well just the "g" word, or the fact they got picked up and broadcast? Clearly if he never said the "g" word it would never have been an issue, regardless of the "f" and "c", but if it never got broadcast, would he still have got 2 weeks? Definitely not. Probably not even a reprimand. No one would have even heard about it.

As an aside, does anyone else wonder if it was allowed to go to air just for the controversy? With slight delays even when live, to allow broadcasters to filter out "rude" words, why was this allowed to get past the censor? Selective editing? Even better is the fact the fight has been almost entirely overlooked by the media, even after the massive crackdown after the SOO debacle. It would seem saying the "g" word is worse than punching the crap out of your opponent.

[Mexican titan]

haha, being a bone head, this is part of what I find funny about the whole "issue". The way name calling is almost an Aussie pastime, yet say the "g" word and all bets are off. Bonehead is a timeless classic though.

Not having a go at you Brad, and I value your input immensely, but would you say that his biggest mistake was his choice of words, well just the "g" word, or the fact they got picked up and broadcast? Clearly if he never said the "g" word it would never have been an issue, regardless of the "f" and "c", but if it never got broadcast, would he still have got 2 weeks? Definitely not. Probably not even a reprimand. No one would have even heard about it.

As an aside, does anyone else wonder if it was allowed to go to air just for the controversy? With slight delays even when live, to allow broadcasters to filter out "rude" words, why was this allowed to get past the censor? Selective editing? Even better is the fact the fight has been almost entirely overlooked by the media, even after the massive crackdown after the SOO debacle. It would seem saying the "g" word is worse than punching the crap out of your opponent.

I don't know how to post the link but an article in todays Tele by Miranda Devine is a good read. Along the lines of what you have written.
As for the words being broadcast, I think Fox in particular could lift their game in this regard. In a game recently (can't remember who but Perenara was the ref) the F bomb came through loud and clear when a player was questioning his decision. I use the word all the time but it's not a great look when it comes booming over the tv and not a great example for younger kids. A slight audio delay would allow it to be cut.

[GCT_89]

Calling someone a bonehead isn't offensive to bones....
Calling someone a d1ckhead isn't offensive to d1cks.... (yet) mind you if you call someone a vag1na head you could be deemed sexist and offensive to women...lol


It is the DEROGATORY use of the word that is the issue....


Maybe the fact that the recipient wasn't gay that makes it worse, meaning calling someone gay was purely meant to offend the other guy...

[DIEHARD]

Just seems like sloppy, disrespectful behaviour that belongs on some dark corner of facebook to me. And it does make being gay a put down.

How many players are out? How many statistically do you think are gay? Why would they want to come out in that type of climate?

Same thing happened in NFL recently didn't it? Some player came out and he copped a backlash, even from fans?

[C-Whiz]

Calling someone a d1ckhead isn't offensive to d1cks.... (yet) mind you if you call someone a vag1na head you could be deemed sexist and offensive to women...lolThis is part of my previous point, that calling someone a "c" is perfectly acceptable, but
It is the DEROGATORY use of the word that is the issue.... use the "g" word and that's crossing the line. I agree, it is not a good look, but 2 weeks suspension seems OTT.


Maybe the fact that the recipient wasn't gay that makes it worse, meaning calling someone gay was purely meant to offend the other guy...It will be a very sad and sorry day when the NRL brings in interpretation rules for words spoken on the footy field. We've seen how well it has worked for the obstruction rule...

[C-Whiz]

How many players are out? How many statistically do you think are gay?Why does it need to be such a big issue? We get it, there are homosexual people out there. I work with them, they are my neighbours, they are my friends. I don't see any reason they need to "come out" and make it known to the world and possibly neither do they.

2 weeks for using the word gay is ridiculous.

[Toads]

Well said, Whiz. To me a Gay or Lesbian coming out these days are about as significant a Heterosexual coming out and admitting it their sexual preference. It's well overdue that we should move on, and accept other people's choices in life.

Just don't try and stick your **** in my **** and all will be fine.. :fist: /jokes

[DIEHARD]

But why should someone hide who they are. It goes beyond what they do in the bedroom, its a lifestyle and they have to create a false life to cover up their true life. Alot of people hide this in sport and politics because they fear a backlash.

[C-Whiz]

I just think banning a player for using the word "gay", said between the two strongest swear words (which rate no mention), in the context that he was playing for his state, in the middle of an all in brawl, and says it to someone who isn't actually gay, seems like an excessive over-reaction from the NRL.

[GCT_89]

Now this isn't directed at you whiz, as I'm sure we're all just discussing a topic...
(And Diehard, although it may be true, i think the whole 'coming out' issue is irrelevant at the moment)

First of all if a person doesn't accept gay people in the community, then this is never going to change their opinion....
I also believe that people ignore what is implied by the word gay, or what it carries in day to day usage by many australians(and people around the world)...

Swear words are one thing, but calling someone gay with the sole purpose to knock them down a peg is much different to saying "hi, this is my mate, he's gay....

What's the difference between:
You Effing GAY Cee
You Effing BLACK Cee

What if you had a son that was gay? and every second person you meet refers to some horrible bad situation in their life as being 'gay'.... Wouldn't that get on your nerve?

I'm not saying I'm perfect, but similar points were raised to me a couple years back and since then i try to refrain from using words like ***got (except i had lunch the other day in the city, 'braised ***gots' was on the menu, turns out its basically just rissoles, but moving on).
Lets say you were standing next to someone who is gay, your best mate came over and bumps your beer out of your hand, and you yell at your mate "good on ya ***got!" Would you not feel uncomfortable?

[C-Whiz]

What's the difference between:
You Effing GAY Cee
You Effing BLACK CeeContext. That is the only real difference.

It raises an interesting point though, which is where is the line drawn for people to take offense with particular words.

Let's put the f & c around the following words, and tell me which one "sounds" offensive.

f'Aussie'c. f'English'c. f'NZ'c. So far so good?
f'American'c. f'Scottish'c. f'Irish'c. Any probs? Any outrage yet? Probably not.
f'African'c. Whoah! RACIST!

Why? because people want to assume there is a racist tone to it, but it's no different than any of the other options, except the "relevance" people give to it. It may well be used in a racist way, but just because the word is said does not immediately mean it was said to be racist.

The word "gay" was a pretty happy, everyday term about a generation ago. It was a fairly popular girls name for a time too, probably another generation before that. Then relatively recently, homosexuals decided they liked the sound of it, made it "their" word, and have been a bit precious about it ever since. But as HS alluded to, the fact it is now synonymous with being weak, lame, dumb, stupid etc, whether because of it's association with homosexuality or just because the next generation decided to re-define it, one group does not have ownership of a word or get to determine the context in which it can be used.

If anyone has any real right to be offended by the word "gay" to describe homosexual people, it should be all those people whose name is actually Gay.

[C-Whiz]

I'll throw another consideration into this debate.

It started off as just being homosexual, then it was being gay. Now there are about a dozen different options, including one I saw on internet news sites, called "pansexual".

Seriously, give it a rest "intersex" people out there. Just be what ever you want to be and stop putting names and labels all over it, and then being "outraged" when we yawn and say we don't really give a crap about what your sexual preference/body definition/favourite term is about your particular fancy.

What about the term "queer"? It used to mean "strange" or "different".
Their is actually a term "QUILTBAG" (no, I am not making this stuff up!) for
QUILTBAG is an acronym. It stands for Queer/Questioning, Undecided, Intersex, Lesbian, Transgender/Transsexual, Bisexual, Allied/Asexual, Gay/Genderqueer.
Where did I find the quote? The http://queerdictionary.tumblr.com/ Queer Dictionary! yep, it's a thing!

OK, so what is my point? How far away is queer from freak? I would say not really much of a stretch. So, if the term freak becomes tomorrows term for yesterdays "queer", then must we all stop referring to our favourite players as footy freaks for fear of offending a bunch of QUILTBAG's?

- - - Updated - - -

Back on topic, I still think 2 weeks for saying 'gay" is an over reaction from the NRL who just wanted to be seen to be doing something. If they didn't bring it up to make a point, no one would have probably even noticed.

[Chaserz]

It started off as just being homosexual, then it was being gay. Now there are about a dozen different options, including one I saw on internet news sites, called "pansexual".


Reminds me of a sitcom: "I don't want to know what you are doing with my pans" /joke

Anyway, in my opinion it is a bit of an over reaction. Like C-Whiz said in his previous post, it is a bit of a double standard. It truly bothers me why some words are considered to be offensive, while that particular word inherently might not be insulting. Naturally, it obviously depends on the context and how you take it. I recall in some countries the perception of slightly joking a persons sexual preference/race/nationality/appearance/whatever is OK, and in some other countries definitely a sin. And if someone calls me gay, I really don't care, while someone else might be annoyed with it. And it is not just the word gay, any word would just do it right.

And wasn't one of the lines in the intro song of the Flintstones "have a gay old time" ?

[Toads]

Going on with jist of the topic that's been mentioned by others in the this thread. Maybe if Mitchell Moses replaced the word/s "Gay" with "Pillow Biting" instead. Nothing may have come of it..

[C-Whiz]

Going on with jist of the topic that's been mentioned by others in the this thread. Maybe if Mitchell Moses replaced the word/s "Gay" with "Pillow Biting" instead. Nothing may have come of it..

Maybe my original point was lost in there somewhere.
IMO, I don't think there was any intention of having a reference to homosexuality in any way. I think it was just a throwaway line while in the act of throwing punches.



Reminds me of a sitcom: "I don't want to know what you are doing with my pans" /joke
Reminds me of the old joke, "I'm not gay, but a lot of the guys I have sex with are".

[DIEHARD]

When the acronym LGBTI came out there was hardcore war within the communities about which order they should be in.

[C-Whiz]

When the acronym LGBTI came out there was hardcore war within the communities about which order they should be in.Ohh, so many things I want to say...
How did they settle it? Handbags at 10 paces?

Sorry mate, had to say it... :helpme:

[DIEHARD]

I knew that'd press a button haha. But it's sadly true.