I wasn't drunk, says Gower

[Queenslander]

AUSTRALIAN rugby league halfback Craig Gower has rejected a report he was "as full as Santa's toy sack on Christmas Eve" while at a charity golf event.

The Sunshine Coast Daily newspaper said today Gower competed in yesterday's first round at the two-day Jack Newton Celebrity Golf Classic at Peregian Waters "still feeling the effects of what must have been a heavy Sunday night".

The Penrith skipper arrived at the opening tee and according to the newspaper "put down his Crown Lager for long enough to drill his opening tee shot straight down the middle of the first".

A disappointed Gower today said he had done nothing wrong.

"I'm up here to have a good time and that's it. What, I can't go out and enjoy myself?," he said.

"At the end of the day I am a normal bloke. I'm no better than anybody else.

"As long as I respect others, that's the main thing.

"Just because you turn up with a beer in your hand, that means you're full?"

A Penrith spokesman said the National Rugby League club had not received any complaint.

"The fact that Craig Gower turned up (for the event) when he is on holiday speaks for itself," he said.
"If he had a few drinks the night before he is quite entitled to given he is on holiday and has just finished a very long and hard representative season."

The Golf Classic's publicity consultant Kristy Doyle also said there had been no complaints regarding Gower.

"Craig wasn't the only one with a beer in his hand playing golf yesterday," she said.

"They are all winding down from their heavy schedules. There is no trouble at all and there never has been at these tournaments."

Alcohol consumption in rugby league had come under the microscope after ex-Australian coach Wayne Bennett spoke about binge drinking's affect on the NRL last week.

"I'm sick of the drunks and I'm sick of our game being dragged through every media outlet in the country every time some guy behaves badly," Bennett said.

The Golf Classic ? which concluded today ? has attracted a host of celebrities including Wally Lewis, Wendell Sailor and Alicia Molik.

All money raised by the tournament is donated to Diabetes Australia and the Jack Newton Junior Golf Foundation.

http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0...-23214,00.html

[Super Cronk]

Tell you the truth it wouldnt surprise me with gower...but still if he is on holidays he can do what ever he pleases.

[DeeGan]

Slow news day for one "journalist" it seems.

DeeGan

[Moejoe]

To me Amature Golf is not amature golf without a few beers during the 18. But I do find it hard to believe that some one of Gowers Celebrity, Would be so silly as to "Go over boared with the drink" infront of a media presence.

[Queenslander]

Slow news day for one "journalist" it seems.

It seems that way doesnt it! What a big surprise a footy player that drinks

[Titanium_BD1103]

Geez.. it is Holiday season.. if I was on the golf course with a beer in my hand I wouldn't be pinged now would I.. or else I would be front page news.. I do it quite often if I am not driving there.. .. well on the golf courses where they allow you to do it.

But yeah.. agree with Queenslander and Deegan on this one.. must have been a slow day.. Gower was not intoxicated.. he didn't act like a fool.. so why should he be victimised in the media.. IMO.. the media needs to go on Christmas break already... no need to publish this sort of dribble..

[Dakink]

That journo should be strung up. What a poor piece of sensationalism and an absolute fabrication. I hope one of the players\clubs sues the pants of this type of journalism one day. Of course he can have a drinnk playing golf if he wants - he could be as sloshed as a nit if he wanted to. He is on holidays, it aint illegal and he didnt hurt anybody.

this journalist is a .... I wont finsih that.

[League Freak]

If I was a player these days I would have said "Yeah, I was drunk, now **** off". :emp:

[Super Cronk]

As reported on channel 10...they said that gower "groped" wayne pearce's daughter...and that wayne is, and i quote "fuming" over the incident. Gower is also accused of crashing a golf cart which he has agreed to pay for the damages and also reported saying that gower tried to pick a fight with wayne pearce's son mitchell.

[Queenslander]

As reported on channel 10...they said that gower "groped" wayne pearce's daughter...and that wayne is, and i quote "fuming" over the incident. Gower is also accused of crashing a golf cart which he has agreed to pay for the damages and also reported saying that gower tried to pick a fight with wayne pearce's son mitchell.

Channel 9 has also stated that he was walking around the golf course naked at night. The reason for his drinking was a bucks night/s for himself before he gets married.

[Super Cronk]

Channel 9 has also stated that he was walking around the golf course naked at night. The reason for his drinking was a bucks night/s for himself before he gets married.

Yeah but apprently this happened over a number of days...plus there is no reason or excuse to grope a women(if he infact did it...im not saying he did but thats what he is accused of)...so i hope he doesnt use that as an excuse.

And lets not forget this isnt the first time gower has done something similar to this( http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/stories/s22608.htm) ....i myself have even witnessed some not so nice incidents involving gower(which i WONT go into).

[Queenslander]

Yeah but apprently this happened over a number of days...plus there is no reason or excuse to grope a women...so i hope he doesnt use that as an excuse.

And lets not forget this isnt the first time gower has done something similar to this( http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/stories/s22608.htm) ....i myself have even witnessed some not so nice incidents involving gower(which i WONT go into).

Yeah he shouldnt have any excuse for this type of behaviour. I was beginning to think this was a media beat-up but its amazing how the facts are suddenly coming out.

[Dakink]

If he has in fact involved himself in that type of behaviour then he should have the book thrown at him - the sooner the NRL starts ripping up contracts for a year or two (similar to what the NFL does) then the quicker the players will get the message. I mean how dumb is to try and grope Wayne Pierce's daughter FFS!

[DeeGan]

This story is gathering some momentum...

Again, I will choose not to comment as the man in question Craig Gower is still innocent until proven guilty and we have yet to hear his response to these fresh allegations.

DeeGan

[Queenslander]

The momentum builds......

PENRITH halfback Craig Gower is at the centre of another alcohol-fuelled incident in rugby league, with allegations the international footballer groped the daughter of a prominent former player after a charity golf event.

Gower was at the presentation dinner for the Jack Newton Celebrity Golf Classic at Peregian Waters in the Sunshine Coast when the alleged incident occurred.

Channel 9 reported the 27-year-old had groped the woman and later became involved in separate heated altercations with both the former player and his son.

It was further alleged that Gower ? who was thrown out of the Australian rugby league team for exposing himself to a tourist in 1999 and fined $3000 for breaking a New South Wales rugby league curfew last year ? was kicked out of the official function, had walked around the resort naked and crashed a golf cart.

Gower did not return calls today but yesterday strenuously denied any wrongdoing.

"I'm up here to have a good time and that's it. What, I can't go out and enjoy myself?" he said.

"At the end of the day I am a normal bloke. I'm no better than anybody else.

"As long as I respect others, that's the main thing."

Today his stance had altered somewhat, admitting in a statement he had pushed the boundaries on Monday night.

In the same statement tournament host Jack Newton said "unfortunately Craig Gower probably crossed the line on one occasion" but described the allegations as unsubstantiated.
Alcohol consumption in rugby league had come under the microscope after ex-Australian coach Wayne Bennett spoke about binge drinking's affect on the NRL last week.

"I'm sick of the drunks and I'm sick of our game being dragged through every media outlet in the country every time some guy behaves badly," Bennett said.


Footage on Nine recorded event emcee Billy J Smith asking Gower about alcohol on the recent Kangaroo tour to Great Britain and France.

"What about this drinking they reckon has been happening over there?" Smith asked.

Gower's first words were beeped out and he continued: "I'm just trying to get into it now."

Penrith football manager Mick Leary said the club would conduct a full investigation into the alleged incidents and would have a finding by year's end.

"Put it this way ? my holidays are gone," Leary said.

"I will put recommendations to the Panthers board for their final decision."

Leary would not confirm if Gower would be sacked if some or all of the allegations proved correct but he made it clear that even if the player was supposedly on a break he was still representing the club.

"Players sign a contract that starts on the first of November and finishes on the thirtieth of October," Leary said.

"They have an NRL contract and I believe they are then representing their club and the NRL for that period of time."

"It's like with any business. When is your down time, when is your free time? I suppose you've got plenty of it as long as you don't go and run out and do something stupid with it."

The NRL tonight backed Penrith's investigation with a spokesperson saying the body would wait until the club passed down its findings before commenting specifically.

Gower's manager Greg Willett tonight described Gower as a "great role model".

"He just denies it. He said that's not how it was. I can only vouch for his character," Willett said.

"It was his bucks night. Everyone was buying him beers and that, he had two days of a bucks party and things like that."

Bennett, who stood down as Australian coach earlier this month, had blasted the drinking culture in rugby league saying it was destroying the game and was the source of an upsurge in player misbehaviour.

"Our game has never been in more disrepute in the last three years because of player behaviour," he said.

"And if coaches and journalists and officials think that we can continue to have a culture in our game of drinking to excess than they live in fairy world."

http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0...-23214,00.html