CLUB STRIPPED BARE

Since the scandal broke about yet more footballers allegedly being involved in a gang rape on Phillip Island the football heavies have hit the airwaves and gone into print to express their abhorrence and highlight all the programs in place to teach footballers how to behave with women. How to treat them with respect and dignity. How gang rape is not part of the footy curriculum.

AFL chief Andrew Demetriou has trumpeted the  ‘Respect and Responsibility’ program which has been going for nearly five years and obviously isn’t working that well. He says they’ll do whatever is necessary to ensure that ‘any young man who comes into our game at whatever level fully understands the principles of respect and responsibility towards women.’

Today in The Age AFL executive Peter Schwab and Victorian Health chief Todd Harper write about their program called ‘Fair Game- Respect Matters’.

It’s aimed at community football clubs and targets players, coaches and supporters to ‘improve their attitude and behaviour towards women’.

‘Fair game’ seems a strange choice of words for such a program. Too many  footballers, especially when lots of booze is involved and when they’re partying in a pack, think young women are  fair game.

And I wonder if that program gained much traction at the Montmorency Football Club where some under-19 players have been charged over an alleged pack rape at an end-of-season party. And others are under investigation.

Club officials have stressed that the party attended by up to thirty players and supporters was not an official club function.

Club president Gary Green has posted a message on the club’s website  saying the club ‘takes these allegations very seriously’  and that the party on October 10 ‘was  not a club organized or sanctioned event’.  Fair enough.

But I’d like some answers about another event planned for players and supporters at Montmorency. And this is not aimed at the men who have been charged.

Question:  Who attempted to hire an x-rated stripper for a ‘no limits’ end-of-year party last month?

The stripper was told her services would be required for one hour. The venue: the Montmorency Football Club rooms. Although those services were described as ‘no limits’ the footballer booking the act was told the stripper’s anus was ‘off-limits’ and that condoms must be used.

The stripper told us her show included ‘the kind of stuff that you wouldn’t want to bring a camera with you’.

The stripper’s company advertises that they specialize in ‘private parties, sportsmen’s nights and extra pleasant Sunday mornings.’

The Montmerency booking fell through when they balked at the price.  And maybe also didn’t know the stripper they were hiring was a trans-sexual.

© Copyright Derryn Hinch 2009