0/5

Johns down but not out of Nine game

Matthew Johns remains on Nine's payroll, with David Gyngell reportedly keen to see him eventually return to NRL commentary.

matthewjohnsMatthew Johns remains on Nine’s payroll until October and could return to commentary before the end of the NRL season, according to The Australian.

Johns was “stood down indefinitely” by Nine last week following his part in a now-infamous group sex incident in New Zealand in 2002.

Nine CEO David Gyngell reportedly made it clear in a meeting last week he did not want to sack Johns  (“there is no need to burn him at the stake”), wanting him to return to television when the furore over the Four Corners report had died down.

While his role on the NRL Footy Show is over, he could return for the semi-finals or the finals, sources indicate.

Johns is already attracting a strong support base including a Facebook pushing for his return.

Last year when Sam Newman was suspended from the AFL Footy Show he was back on air three weeks later.

Both Nine and Johns agreed the sexual innuendo associated with his comic character ‘Reg Reagan’ who drank beer, shagged women and fought a one-man war to “bring back the biff” could not be resurrected.

Nine also has 3 State of Origin matches coming, with the first in early June.

Meanwhile NRL chief David Gallop has sent personal letters of reassurance to CEOs and sponsorship executives late last week as the media storm over the Four Corners group sex expose consumed the league.

In part Gallop wrote, “The statement provides a background on the work undertaken by the NRL to educate our players on a range of issues including, importantly, attitudes to women.”

Aussie Home Loans’ John Symond said, “It depends on what happens, but if this sort of incident was to continue I will put money on it, they will not have one sponsor.”

“I don’t want to be a prima donna, but we have a brand to protect and rugby league has a real serious issue.”

Source: The Australian

11 Responses

  1. It amazes me how quick people are to crucify these days, especially when based on a story of questionable truth. I’m not saying what these guys did was right but it was not illegal it was 7 yrs ago and Johns was not in the employment of channel 9 at the time. I’d hate for someone to go digging into the miss spent youths of some of these journalists and then to publish it for all to be seen. Maybe we could all sit in judgment of them. Besides who says footballers are now our moral measuring stick They are footballers not God.
    journalists S%^&t me sometimes.

  2. James Grant – You and your mates not been in a situation where your watching each other with another girl, even swapping? Come On – This stuff happens every day, mates go out to a club, both pick up, get a cheap room and you are on! The ownership is as much on the girl involved as it is the man. She went up to a hotel room with more than one male with the purpose of having Sex with multiple people… Doesn’t that say enough about mindset and personality already? And now she speaks out? I don’t agree with what the NRL idiots did, but if she consented to sex and threw herself at a bunch of alcohol fueled men – did she expect tea and biscuits?

  3. I cant see him returning him to the footy show, but it will be great to see him commentate again. He is very knowledgeable on tactics and informative. I not sure when he will return though, want him back soon. I think he will grace our screens next year and hopefully this article will stop the media saying he has been sacked from Nine, he was only stood down.

  4. Just a small clarification David. Johns is still employed at Nine, and will certainly be brought back, most likely next year. But to my knowledge, he has been suspended without pay.

  5. Because of course, in any normal job, such behaviour would be acted upon with a statement on education programs to teach idiot men about how to behave towards women.

    Look, they’re brain-dead cavemen. If they screw up, crucify ’em. They’re not capable of being “educated” in any way. End of story.

  6. So typical of Nine – both Sam Newman and Matt Johns do not deserve to remain on contract – they should both be sacked yet Nine and its blokey mentality believes they cant afford to lose them – I had heard Johns had been suspended without pay but who knows – once the dust settlles he’ll be back which in my view is an absolute disgrace – apparently during his last segment on the Footy Show he was involved in some gay skit poking fun at his make believe gay brother named Elton Johns – again it was school yard humour based around homophobic attitudes – this coming from a footballer who seems to enjoy watching some of his mates having sex – please he and the footy show need to go!

Leave a Reply