List of off-field incidents involving rugby league players  

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Over the history of rugby league football a number of players have been involved in various off-field incidents that have attracted media attention. The following is an ‘incomplete’ list of some of these off-field incidents. 

 [ edit] 1953 

• Australian international player Bob Lulham was in the headlines at the centre of a court case for attempted murder. It was alleged his mother-in-law tried to poison him with thalium ^[1]. At the time he was living with his wife's parents. In the end, the verdict was not guilty. Lulham didn't play football again.  

[ edit] 1967 

• Australian lock forward Johnny Raper allegedly walked naked through the streets of Leeds wearing nothing but a bowler hat. Raper made this his trademark, though the offender was actually Dennis Manteit. ^[2]  

[ edit] 1968 

• Balmain Tigers and Penrith Panthers forward George Piper died from head injuries after an altercation with Phil Franks outside a Balmain nightclub. ^[3]  

[ edit] 1975 

• Balmain Tigers winger Kevin Yow Yeh died in police custody from a suspected heart attack. ^[4]  

[ edit] 1978 

• Newtown Jets player Paul Hayward was sentenced to 30 years (served 10) in jail in Thailand for attempting to export 8.5 kilograms of heroin to Australia. ^[5]  

[ edit] 1989 

• Brisbane Broncos player Joe Kilroy was sent to jail for three years for trafficking marijuana. ^[6]  

[ edit] 1995 

• Brisbane Broncos player Julian O'Neill urinated under a blackjack table at Conrad Jupiters casino. ^[7]  

[ edit] 1997 

• Three Canterbury Bulldogs players (along with other unnamed players) were allegedly involved in misogynist behaviour during a film shoot:  
• • A make-up woman on the film set was shocked and distressed when a player was reported to have urinated on her legs as she was applying make-up to him. Up to six players are said to have then exposed themselves to her.  
  • A wardrobe woman apparently had to be rescued from her hotel room at 3.30am, when three players, yelling indecent propositions, tried to break down her door.  
  • six players had allegedly been driven around Wollongong in a hired bus one night while having sex with two prostitutes.  

The film producer said players had openly talked about initiation rites at the Bulldogs club which involved targeting an unsuspecting woman at a nightclub and then "marking" her with urine on her feet or legs. Senior rugby league officials quietly "fixed up" the complaint of abusive behaviour, and no charges were laid.^{[8] [9]}  

• The Canberra Raiders player, Noa Nadruku struck and injured two women in a Canberra bar. Nadruku was acquitted in the ACT Magistrates' Court on the basis that he was so drunk that he did not intend to commit the assaults – he didn't know what he was doing. ^[10]  

[ edit] 1998 

• Robbie O'Davis, Wayne Richards and Adam MacDougall tested positive for anabolic steroids. Richards was suspended for 22 weeks as a result, but McDougall was later exonerated when it was revealed the drug was used as treatment for a life threatening illness.  

[ edit] 1999 

• Julian O'Neill defecated in a teammate's shoe and vomited over the walls of his motel room in Dubbo. ^[18]  
• Craig Gower exposed himself to a female Irish tourist in a bar, blaming his behaviour on alcohol intoxication. He was dumped from the Kangaroos squad and fined $2,500 by the NRL. He was fined a further $500 after pleading guilty to indecent exposure. ^[19]  
• Brad Fittler was found unconscious in a gutter outside a Sydney police station. Police described him as "the drunkest human being ever". ^{[20] [21]}  

 

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