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Nine stands down Matty Johns

Developing story: Nine stands down Matthew Johns with David Gyngell describing the incident as 'unacceptable' while Melbourne Storm also drops him from a coaching position.

nrlfUPDATED: Matthew Johns was stood down indefinitely by the Nine Network today. Johns and his manager John Fordham had a two hour meeting with the head of Channel Nine, David Gyngell. He is will front on A Current Affair tonight. Tracy Grimshaw is flying from her Melbourne home to Nine’s Sydney studios.

Nine CEO David Gyngell has now said: “The fact is, whatever the arguments about the details of the New Zealand incident involving Cronulla players in 2002, the conduct and its aftermath was simply unacceptable, fullstop.

“”I have always had great regard for Matt, but he knows better than anyone that this incident has
placed him in an untenable position. To his credit he has recognised that and acted upon it.”

Melbourne Storm has also responded with CEO Brian Waldron saying, “Following discussions between Melbourne Storm and Matthew Johns management earlier today, it was mutually agreed that Matthew would stand down from his part-time role with the club, indefinitely.”

Reports today claim TV personality and former footballer Matthew Johns is set to be stood down indefinitely by Channel Nine over his involvement in a group sex act.

The ABC’s Four Corners program on Monday night claimed a teenage woman had been left feeling suicidal after participating in group sex with Johns and other Sharks players in a Christchurch hotel seven years ago. Her emotional claims were devastating television.

The woman claimed up to 12 players and staff had entered the room over a two-hour period, with six of them having sex with her. Four New Zealand police travelled to Sydney to investigate the incident, but no charges were laid.

Last week on the NRL Footy Show, Johns commented on the incident as a pre-emptive strike before the ABC show could air, claiming it had caused a lot of embarrassment to his family. There was no apology to the girl involved -he even got a pat on the back from Paul Vautin.

Four Corners claims Johns told them he knew the story would catch up with him one day.

NRL chief executive David Gallop yesterday declared everyone involved in rugby league must accept the need to change attitudes towards women or “get out of the game”.

Asked about Johns, Gallop said: “He has got a massive question mark over his future.

“I’m aware that he will be talking to his employer in the next short period.

Nine would not comment yesterday on the future of Johns but news.com.au claims he has been stood down from all on-air roles indefinitely.

Media continue to blast the NRL and Matty Johns over the incident but Johns’ manager John Fordham said his client would not make a public apology to the girl involved.

But Gallop said the incidents highlighted by Four Corners were “fundamentally indefensible”. He apologised to the women who appeared in the program.

“Violence against women is abhorrent and sexual assault and the degradation of women is just that,” Gallop said.

“This is not a time for clubs and players to complain about the media or the fact that victims have spoken out.”

The loss of Johns to the NRL Footy Show comes at a time when the show is struggling to gain viewers in its key markets. In Sydney last week it was beaten by the ABC’s Q&A, yet it managed to win a Logie as the “Most Popular Sports Show.” At the time Paul Vautin thanked CEO David Gyngell for helping to keep the show on air, a line he declined to elaborate on to media after the show.

At the start of its season this year Vautin opened the show with a serious monologue about standards of decency amongst players, and the need for NRL to improve its code of conduct for the sake of a great game.

It’s time to stand up and be counted.

Source: news.com.au, smh.com.au, The Australian

71 Responses

  1. How dear anyone say he shoud be stood down wat is it 2u if he has grop sex thats his life why are u aloud 2 tel him how and when he can have a sex its hes personal life get real it not like thay did it in public then u can have a cry and say how he is not a good rolemodol just becaus it not ur cup of tea u think it rong if thats how he like it it is not a crime the judges dident think so rolemodol yes he is and he did nothing rong! meida scum

  2. what’s the real sickening thing here is how Mathew could sit through recent alligations on footy players and know what he had done, he always has this smarmy grin on his face and now I know why. Trouble is a certain amount of footy players get away with a heck of a lot and those idiots who constantly do idiotic things and distastful acts make good players and decent men in league look bad.

    They are a buch of cashed up, boozed up, uncaring scum bags who think they are above laws and everyday people. Both Johns boys are twits.

  3. I don’t think anyone is disputing it was consensual sex. New Zealand police officers travelled to Sydney but couldn’t find anything to lay charges against. Case closed as far as the law goes.

    The point of taking Matthew Johns off air is that he is held up by his code as a role model, a sport that banks heavily on support from working class families taking their little boys out to play for the local under 8’s every weekend. If you want to celebrate a guy who had sex with a woman that resulted in her becoming suicidal then those under 8’s will learn from his behaviour. Having said that, it probably won’t stop the same thing from happening again this weekend somewhere in Sydney. Attitudes like this are so entrenched they’ll never change.

  4. @Joanne did you watch Four Corners? It wasn’t really that simple as “rape” or “not rape”. She was 19 and vulnerable in many ways. So the best case scenario is that a bunch of men had sex with a teenager who didn’t know how to say no. Nice blokes all I’m sure.

    @Dick you’re right, the blokes often get the raw deal. But the most shocking part of the Four Corners story for me was when a group of young footballers (current under 20’s) were shown two videos. In one a girl got drunk and woke up with a footballer who’d had sex with her which she had no recollection of – all the footballers thought she’d pretty much asked for it. The second video showed the same scenario except it was a bloke who’d been the subject of the unwanted advances of a male footballer – no one thought he’d “asked for it” even though he was drunk. This demonstrates pretty clearly that there’s an attitude that if a woman is drunk and says no (or says nothing because she’s comatose) she doesn’t mean it (or would really want it if she were awake). That’s pretty damned pathetic and goes a long way to explaining why the blokes get a raw deal.

  5. On your bike Matty! I’m as hetro as you can get, but girls (even the ‘loosest’ of them) don’t deserve that sort of treatment. If you’d advised her beforehand that there was a possibility of doing five or six or, even right up to the whole team, do you really think she would have consented to that? She may have consented with you and maybe even another, but don’t you think the Goal Posts were moved when it turned ugly? Consentual then???…my big fat A***!! I think a half reasonable lawyer could make a case here and the girl should sue for all they are worth.
    Looks like it runs in the family, too. Andrew I once called ‘Joey” – when I had respect for him and even though he was a Blue, I recognised him for his talent. Didn’t know then that he took drugs. Got to agree with another (Bogues)comment on this page: “His brother Andrew admited on the Footy Show two years ago that he regularly took Ecstasy (which is a crime), and he has been able to continue on with his channel nine commitments.” I wonder how this is possible and so far the only way I can justify watching Nine when he is on is to hit the mute button. Yes Andrew, you should pack your bags too!! I really believe both of them are sorry – unfortunately it is only sorry that they were caught!
    Hope these and other comments are picked up and acted upon by Nine. Or am I dreaming?

  6. I don’t understand why are people comparing Andrew’s case to Matthew’s case!!

    Matthew –> He should be stood down , simply because committing such horendous acts that to being a role-model for young kids is punishable crime! Horendous acts that affects/affected another “person”!!!! And his apology .. oh come on.. when you are public figure, you dont kill a person and tell on TV “i am really sorry for my wife and my kids..” that just means that person actualy thinks killing the victim was “justified” but he is sorry for his own family ……

    Andrew: he admitted taking drygs!.. he was not guilty of peddling drugs .. he was destroying himself from within and he was not destroying others!!!! and he made a public apology accepting his problem.

  7. It wasn’t rape was it? It was purely consensual. The girst could have just easily fled the room when she noticed that there are more guys joining them, for all we know she encouraged it at that time and just felt sorry now looking back at it 7 years after and just decided to create a controversy out fo nothing.

  8. While what Matthew did was wrong – very wrong – it is 1) seven years ago, 2) not a criminal offence and 3) he has apologized for it.

    I will be be very disappointed if they stand him down. His brother Andrew admited on the Footy Show two years ago that he regularly took Ecstasy (which is a crime), and he has been able to continue on with his channel nine commitments.

    Double standards, or just the media looking for blodd?

    @Kuttsywood: The AFL footy show is shown in RL states on the Nine HD channel at 8:30pm (and on delay on Nine SD).

  9. It was consensual, so I don’t see what this girl has to complain about. If she didn’t want to have group sex with a bunch of footy players, she should have refrained from having group sex with a bunch of footy players. And if she was under the influence of alcohol, well that’s really her own fault anyway.

  10. The Footy Show is about as relevant on Australian TV as Hey Hey it’s Saturday – and look where that is – axed!!

    As for Matty Johns – his performance and that of Vautin slapping him on the back was just so typical – why should we be feeling so sorry for Johns – this was a disgraceful act despite it being consensual and he is supposedly one of the NRL’s pin up boys.

    He and that Sam Newman are paid enormous amounts of money and quite honestly seem to delight in denegrating women – these supposedly proud hetrosexual men seem to love getting dressed up in women’s clothes, see nothing wrong in watching each other having sex and claim it is all some sort of male bonding thing. I have a lot of male friends and we’ve never seen any need to bond like that.

    Let’s just see how Nine deals with this one – if he and the Foot y Show are still on air in six months time Nine deserves to be fifth in the ratings – a reflection I hope of how viewers really feel about Nine and it’s on air talent!

  11. I don’t really care what happens either way, but considering both Seven and Ten consistently beat The Footy Show (the NRL version and I’m sure the AFL one also) in the ratings, it was surprising it came back this year at a 9.30 pm slot when it should be moved to a 10.30 pm, or moved to a daytime Saturday or Sunday timeslot.

  12. Vautin needs to go as well……all but high fiving Johns after his so called apology – what a disgrace.
    It seems like the only thing Johns is sorry about is being caught out in this.

    Channel 9 are going to a new low if nothing is done.

  13. I know it’s not a very popular point of view but whenever something like this happens, the media’s sympathy always automatically swings toward the female, and the males are crucified. In the case of a sexual assault, where there has been proven violence and/or rape towards a woman, then it’s black & white…..the male deserves all he gets.

    But in a situation like this, it’s not as clear-cut. There are 2 sides to every story. Johns claims the situation was consensual. No charges have been laid. The girl has not made any claims of violence towards her, yet Gallop is including “Violence against women….” in his statements? Why is she going to the media about this 7 years later, at a time when Johns is now an established TV personality?

    Truth is, we’ll probably never know what which version is true. But in this situation, it seems the media has made our minds up for us.

  14. I am not condoning what these RL players do – full stop! But some of these women have to take some responsibility. Especially those that go trawling for these footballers. Its the man’s fault, ‘someone spiked my drink’, ‘NRLs fault’ – why can’t someone just take responsibility for their own actions. As I said, I do not excuse their behaviour, but it would be hard to treat women well when you are constantly surrounded by bimbos hunting down footballers..

  15. How could this controversy possible hurt the Footy Show any more? Any controversy can only lift ratings. The show has been dead for the last ten years so any reason for people to watch will be most welcomed by David and co. If they do suspend him, then they will build up his return!! Some things in TV never change.

  16. It is unfair that Matthew Johns is the only one to be held accountable…they should all now be named and shamed. Johns denies none of the girls story, and seems to think that with the initial act being consentual he has little to answer for. Nine burly rugby guys (7 uninvited) towering over a 19 year old country girl, surely no one is stupid enough to think that she was in a position of power. Sure the girl was stupid and naive, but these men have gone way beyond the bounds of common decency and who can blame her for wanting to destroy their lives in return.

  17. “At the time Paul Vautin thanked CEO David Gyngell for helping to keep the show on air, a line he declined to elaborate on to media after the show”

    He actually said “thanks for keeping the show on air – just” He said the word just under his breath – makes you wonder how they got Most Popular Award? I think the NRL Footy Show production office probably had writers’s cramp after voting had finished!

  18. Johns should go – but whether he does or doesn’t his reputation is gone. But if he does go – he should be just the first in many. My nomination is Fairfax and Nine Network “journalist” Danny Weidler.

    He is a serial Sports-mans apologist. This is part of the “lowdown” that he wrote in his column on the Sun-Herald on the weekend, “When other players entered the room and began to watch was happening Johns backed out. The woman requested that Johns have sex with her again. Her request was made in the crudest terms. When another player said he would, the woman requested Johns. He declined”. So when the woman requested the man who she had consented to have sex with stay with her, he declined. Why should he? She was ‘crude’.

    She also somehow managed to consent to other players coming in to watch, which we can only assume from Weidler’s article, John’s didn’t know about and hadn’t consented to. Very rigorous journalism there Mr Weidler. This is yet another horrendous article defending in the indefensible by an alleged journalist who is so embedded in the NRL culture he has no credibility. If the sport is going to change, so has to its coverage by all media outlets.

    Then to top it off Weidler boasts – “I spoke to Johns about this matter seven years ago. Because he had not been charged and his marriage was on the rocks I did not expose him”. Very honourable Mister Weidler. Now its time to go.

  19. For once, I am saying, put Sam Newman to air in the RL states at a decent time… Even a dry run, when the State of Origin happens in Melbourne in a couple of weeks time wouldn’t hurt.

    Send the NRL version to where it belongs, Nine’s SD. Sometimes, having no footage can be fun you know, and the AFL boys are the masters of having no footage.

  20. Hmm mixed feelings about this. Compare Matthew Johns with his brother Andrew. Matthew has consensual group sex and is about to be sacked??? If he had group sex with this lady but with a few non-NRL playing friends there would be no issue here. If Nine want to sack him I understand their position, It’s just about saving face for rugby league who are desperate to have a clean image. But it still doesn’t explain how Andrew gets to keep his job…

  21. And so he should be stood down. Not only for the original act but for the cowardly ‘pre emptive strike’ he made in which all the talk was about how the raising of this story has affected him and his family and not a jot of care for how his own actions affected the woman concerned. Vautin’s ‘well said mate’ was equally appalling and both men demonstrated that the attitude towards women in the football culture hasn’t changed nearly as much as it needs to.

  22. I’m sick of hearing about this and I still don’t really know the full story, wasn’t this all leaked back in 2001/2002? Why is it being bought up again? And is there honestly any need to stand the man down?

  23. I’m sorry but yeah he did something wrong in his early 20’s like an idiot! But what about the other 5 people having sex with this woman and other 6 watching? Because she didn’t know who they were they get off scott free?

    It’s pretty easy go back to the year of the incident and think of who made up the Sharks team and you have the rest of the people involved.

    I still can’t get over this woman and women like Charmaine who willingly follow these footballers around and then because they get treated like the slut they are they regret it later.

    Ok so it shouldn’t have happened but has she actually said they raped her?

    Here’s a hot tip girls, don’t invite footy players you barely know back to your place or hotel room.

  24. David Gyngell needs to stand up and be counted and take the NRL Footy Show off the air. Its well past its used by date, smells like a rotting dead rat in the roof on a 45 degree day.

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