Bombertalk

if its true, let him spend some time with Mark McVeigh to see how quickly a popular and respected player can go from hero to zero

If its true - the boy is an idiot

Yep.

But who would want to be a footballer, you can put absolutely everything you've got, put all the blood, sweat and tears you've got to get the absolute most out of yourself for your club, for 8,9, 10+ years and then if you make one stupid mistake you are suddenly a zero.

You are suddenly a zero on the same level as a repeat offender, who disgraced himself, his family, his football team and the code on one its biggest nights.

Yep us footy supporters are rational beings aren't we who never f*** up. I mean it is only footballers who get pissed and assault taxi drivers, it is only footballers who get pissed and make dicks of themselves, it is only footballers who get pissed and don't turn up to work the next day. The rest of us are perfect little angels who never f*** up.

McVeigh copped his right whack, just like Hurley will, hopefully he'll learn from it and get himself sorted out pretty damn quickly.

ealesy wrote:Yep.

But who would want to be a footballer, you can put absolutely everything you've got, put all the blood, sweat and tears you've got to get the absolute most out of yourself for your club, for 8,9, 10+ years and then if you make one stupid mistake you are suddenly a zero.

You are suddenly a zero on the same level as a repeat offender, who disgraced himself, his family, his football team and the code on one its biggest nights.

Yep us footy supporters are rational beings aren't we who never f*** up. I mean it is only footballers who get pissed and assault taxi drivers, it is only footballers who get pissed and make dicks of themselves, it is only footballers who get pissed and don't turn up to work the next day. The rest of us are perfect little angels who never f*** up.

McVeigh copped his right whack, just like Hurley will, hopefully he'll learn from it and get himself sorted out pretty damn quickly.

I have been pissed a million times and never whacked a taxi driver. Being a high profile footballer, who gets paid pretty well for a 19 yr old makes it even more important that guys like Hurley dont do this stuff. Absolutely n ot condemning him as he appears to be a fine young man but c'mon son, pull your silly head in

ealesy wrote:Yep.

But who would want to be a footballer, you can put absolutely everything you've got, put all the blood, sweat and tears you've got to get the absolute most out of yourself for your club, for 8,9, 10+ years and then if you make one stupid mistake you are suddenly a zero.

You are suddenly a zero on the same level as a repeat offender, who disgraced himself, his family, his football team and the code on one its biggest nights.

Yep us footy supporters are rational beings aren't we who never f*** up. I mean it is only footballers who get pissed and assault taxi drivers, it is only footballers who get pissed and make dicks of themselves, it is only footballers who get pissed and don't turn up to work the next day. The rest of us are perfect little angels who never f*** up.

McVeigh copped his right whack, just like Hurley will, hopefully he'll learn from it and get himself sorted out pretty damn quickly.

You're talking aboslute sh!t.

People who are in the public spotlight are always going to be held to a higher moral standard and increased scrutiny. Hurley presumably knew this prior to signing up at Essendon. If he wasn't prepared to accept this (and there's nothing to suggest that he isn't) he shouldn't have signed up. No one is suggesting people who aren't in the public spotlight don't make mistakes; it's just that when a person who is in the spotlight makes a mistake its deemed to be a newsworthy event, whereas when a regular bloke like, say, Filthy dabbles in some mild horse fiddling, no one is interested.

The public will make of it what they will. Most people will understand he's a young bloke who made a mistake and will be punished accordingly by the same institutions and legislation that bounds the rest of us. In any event, this will all be forgotten about tomorrow night. He'll learn from it and move on. Prima facie, the only victim here is the cabby.

I am sorry to say it but its like players need to have minders watching out for them.

I think it has something to do with them becoming so professional they are not used to drinking and so when they get a skin full (which makes up for all the abstinence in their mind) they absolutely cant handle it. I am surprised he wasnt under the wing of some older players at the Nine do.

I am sick of all this talk about booze education at clubs. Its obviously not working.

Young people will make mistakes with alcohol abuse but its not a good look to get involved in a physical altercation. I guess they will only learn when they are older and hangovers are too excruciating to handle. They can make a tee-totaller of you quick smart or at least a light drinker.

Hurley will need to make a public apology and probably need to be suspended during the home and away season by the club a la Steve Johnson.

Somewhat surprising, as he sounded like a good kid.
Still, suspend him then move on.

yeah its a shame, i bet he feels like shit. he'll learn from it and move on.

Heard on 9 news that Lloydy wouldnt mind Hurley wearing the #18 next year.....

Yeah it was a stupid thing to do. I've been pissed and never hit anyone. The missing link is why he hit him. Was the cabbie being offensive or provocative in his asking for his fare? We will never know. Sometimes these incidents can be very one sided if you know what I mean.

The kid will probably cop a fine and quite frankly that all he deserves.

bit dissapointed over this for his sake and Essendon's, this is exactly what we didn't need leading up to trade week, and all the other negative stuff with Lloyd and Knights even though not true. just hope deep down he is a good kid and enjoys himself responsibly from now on and yeah continues his path in an AFL career

This is a big f*** up. It's a very disappointing thing from a potential super star. He needs to be read the riot act by the club, and given every opportunity to make amends. Lets not dwell on this for too long eh. He will be well aware of his stupid antics, and any repeat could see his potential financial lucrative career go down the shitter.

So lets look at it rationally;

It's a very bad incident caused by excessive alcohol
Drinking isn't against the law, but his actions are
At least he had the sense to use a cab and not f***'n drive himself
He deserves another chance
Lets hope he comes out of this a better individual

Hmm, it's amazing. The perceptions of certain individuals. If we were asked, which young player at EFC would be invloved in a drunken assault of a cabbie, most of us would nominate Kyle Reimers. The last bloke people would think would be Hurley. Alcohol can turn anyone into a "Hyde".

BenDoolan wrote:This is a big f*** up. It's a very disappointing thing from a potential super star. He needs to be read the riot act by the club, and given every opportunity to make amends. Lets not dwell on this for too long eh. He will be well aware of his stupid antics, and any repeat could see his potential financial lucrative career go down the shitter.

So lets look at it rationally;

It's a very bad incident caused by excessive alcohol
Drinking isn't against the law, but his actions are
At least he had the sense to use a cab and not f***'n drive himself
He deserves another chance
Lets hope he comes out of this a better individual

Hmm, it's amazing. The perceptions of certain individuals. If we were asked, which young player at EFC would be invloved in a drunking assault of a cabbie, most of us would nominate Kyle Reimers. The last bloke people would think would be Hurley. Alcohol can turn anyone into a "Hyde".

Agree with everything you say, however, if he is guilty, he must cop a suspension to send a clear message to his teamates and other clubs that EFC will never condone this type of behaviour. In my mind, a 2-3 week suspension

Windy_Hill wrote:

BenDoolan wrote:This is a big f*** up. It's a very disappointing thing from a potential super star. He needs to be read the riot act by the club, and given every opportunity to make amends. Lets not dwell on this for too long eh. He will be well aware of his stupid antics, and any repeat could see his potential financial lucrative career go down the shitter.

So lets look at it rationally;

It's a very bad incident caused by excessive alcohol
Drinking isn't against the law, but his actions are
At least he had the sense to use a cab and not f***'n drive himself
He deserves another chance
Lets hope he comes out of this a better individual

Hmm, it's amazing. The perceptions of certain individuals. If we were asked, which young player at EFC would be invloved in a drunking assault of a cabbie, most of us would nominate Kyle Reimers. The last bloke people would think would be Hurley. Alcohol can turn anyone into a "Hyde".

Agree with everything you say, however, if he is guilty, he must cop a suspension to send a clear message to his teamates and other clubs that EFC will never condone this type of behaviour. In my mind, a 2-3 week suspension

It's a difficult one IMO. What is appropriate for this sort of indescretion? He may very well cop a hefty punishment by law itself. The club should consider a financial punishment as well. But should we really punish ourselves by suspending him from playing next year? I don't see why. We are in the business of winning football games and assembling the best side available to achieve this. Now I know there are certain team rules that when broken, can invoke a club imposed suspension, and we have seen evidence of this with regard to McVeigh, Lovett etc. These guys broke team rules during the season by drinking late at night and missing training / recovery sessions. Does an "off season" incident warrant club imposed suspensions? I don't think it should. Was Lovett suspended for assaulting his partner? The short answer is no.

BenDoolan wrote:

Windy_Hill wrote:

BenDoolan wrote:

It's a difficult one IMO. What is appropriate for this sort of indescretion? He may very well cop a hefty punishment by law itself.

Unlikely, from the reports it appears the cabbie only received minor injuries.

If you look at the punishments dished out by Victorian courts for far more serious assaults by the likes of Carey, Voss and Black and he will get a slap on the wrist and a fine. In his favour is his age, previous clean record, and good character (up until this point) if needed he will be up to parade character witness after character witness through the court.

$13? FFS. With a fare of $13 you'd give the cabbie a $20 and that would be that.

As I've been trying to point out, 19 year old, particularly 19 year olds full of piss, don't always make the most rational, understandable or correct decisions.

Gee what a precious mob we are!

Kid - 19 - gets drunk - has altercation with taxi driver!

Its not a good thing and yes it reflects on the club but please talk of suspensions and fines from the club and reading him the riot act - settle down!

The season is over - he is on holidays (I would presume) and he f***** up. I hope he does the right thing makes his apologies and moves on but people please remember he is a kid and they make mistakes.

Storm - teacup!

Reading this article, it would appear that the taxi driver hopes that contact is made from Hurley and EFC.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/b ... 5779718214

BTW - from what I know about Sikhs (with a middle name of Singh it is 99% likely), the alleged dislodgement of the turban in the incident would be a very major factor re the distress of the taxi driver.

Cheers - STI

sti dreams wrote:Reading this article, it would appear that the taxi driver hopes that contact is made from Hurley and EFC.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/b ... 5779718214

BTW - from what I know about Sikhs (with a middle name of Singh it is 99% likely), the alleged dislodgement of the turban in the incident would be a very major factor re the distress of the taxi driver.

Cheers - STI

From the Hun article:

Yesterday, Premier John Brumby called on Hurley to apologise for the incident but yesterday Mr Singh Bain said neither Hurley nor anyone from Essendon had contacted him.

``There has been no apology,'' he said.

Hurley's father Damian said ``it remains to be seen if he has anything to apologise about".

Speaking at his Rosanna home this morning,Mr Hurley his son would not be making any statement on legal advice.

I hope these people know what they're doing. If Hurls really farked up, then the best way to defuse the situation is to apologize, eat humble pie, offer the taxi driver some free footy tickets, wash his car, etc - then it will all be forgotten in no time.

It sounds though that Hurley's dad is trying to wriggle his son out of this by insinuating that there may be fault on both sides. Hmmm, a dangerous game to play unless you really can back up your claim. It could backfire badly and make Hurley look petulant (and people will say racist), even if there really was provocation from the taxi driver. At the moment the taxi driver is the little migrant underdog, and Hurls is the big drunk arrogant whitey. I guess they are trying to minimise damage in the legal courts, but the court of public opinion is very fickle, not always fair and can have greater consequences.

[quote="juff From the Hun article:

Yesterday, Premier John Brumby called on Hurley to apologise for the incident but yesterday Mr Singh Bain said neither Hurley nor anyone from Essendon had contacted him.

``There has been no apology,'' he said.

Hurley's father Damian said ``it remains to be seen if he has anything to apologise about".

Speaking at his Rosanna home this morning,Mr Hurley his son would not be making any statement on legal advice.

I hope these people know what they're doing. If Hurls really farked up, then the best way to defuse the situation is to apologize, eat humble pie, offer the taxi driver some free footy tickets, wash his car, etc - then it will all be forgotten in no time.

It sounds though that Hurley's dad is trying to wriggle his son out of this by insinuating that there may be fault on both sides. Hmmm, a dangerous game to play unless you really can back up your claim. It could backfire badly and make Hurley look petulant (and people will say racist), even if there really was provocation from the taxi driver. At the moment the taxi driver is the little migrant underdog, and Hurls is the big drunk arrogant whitey. I guess they are trying to minimise damage in the legal courts, but the court of public opinion is very fickle, not always fair and can have greater consequences.[/quote]


I agree - especially given the hothouse of the indian student situation (see the Times of India for verification of this http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news ... 058517.cms). Rudd and Brumby have weighed in on this incident.

But regardless of the "physical injuries", physically dislodging a Sikh's turban is akin to taking a crucifix off a Catholic or a knocking yarmulke from the head of a practicing Jew. This needs to be dealt with. As for the driver - he doesn't seem to have sought the media splash that some other recent incidents appear to have. IMO - engagement is warranted.

Cheers - STI