OTOKONOKO

Well who was in that room? You? It all comes down to whom you believe is lying doesn’t it.

As for Claire’s work mates. I read that scenario differently. Because the first stage after a traumatic or shocking event is a kind of denial or a distancing from the horror of the event. A calmness of mind as the mind goes into the first stage of grief which is a denial of the full extent of the event. Like in the event of the death of a spouse. The mind shuts down to an extent.
Everyone says how well the bereaved is taking it. It can sometimes take weeks or months even a year for the whole grief process to play out.

I think Claire told her work mates this in a calm state of mind and it was they who were shocked and put their own slant on it because she wasn’t reacting like they thought crying hysterically or something.

Houellebecq

<The whole interview was staged for him to turn public opinion by the same network that employed him.>

If that was the case, it was pretty badly worded.

He says, “ I apologise to Claire for all the other players in the room.”

Apologise for what? Is the question that comes immediately to mind.

The public was baying for an apology, the outrage industry was in full swing, and the NRL was under pressure as was Channel 9 for employing him. So it was handed down, in a way that would maximise ratings. The subject of the affair was thus changed from the girl to Mathew's remorse and the bad little boy did his penance to the Matronly Tracy, so as he could then get on with the show. I was waiting for him to cry, wife by his side to show she's forgiven him, it's time we all did.

The truth of the case is irrelevant to the theatre and the sating of public thirst for blood and the TV ratings and the PR damage control.

It is amazing how naive some people are , demonstrates how sad and inadequate our education system is , reading through the posts one gets to consider that many young people think the "Gang Bang" is an AFL , modern , invention !
William Wordsworth 1700? refers to difficulty reaching the door because the cobble stones were so slippery and how easy it was to find the Venue just follow the slippery trail running down the Street .

A then there is Larry Flint publisher of Hustler Magazine who used to run competitions to establish records , Sick you say , I agree , but I am certain that if young girls were somewhat acquainted with this history they would better understand out of control carnality and wised up avoid such encounters .

Been watching this train-wreck of a story for a while. I think if you took those newsworthy three letters 'AFL' out of the story then it would boil down to not very bright young man who has shown himself to not be completely reliable in the ethics department (eg taking those photos) meeting somewhat troubled and demanding young woman who also shown herself to be not totally reliable in the ethics department. Her age is the mitigating factor in this case but even tben, the lying about the pregnancy and stillbirth which had to be really upsetting for the male and his family crossed a very big line in behaviour.

So we have a couple of people pretty much deserved each other. Combinations of the two and also involving not young people but middle aged and even old people are played out all the time with equally bad behaviour happening. The difference is that it's not newsworthy unless it really blows out into the bizarre and ends in court. When it's uni students or staff, or politicans or their staffers, lawyers, doctors, hairdressers or any other profession, commentators don't raise a sweat about say 'doctor culture' for example the way they do about 'AFL culture'. Yes of course a blokey culture is out there but it extends past the AFL and all AFL players shouldn't be automatically regarded to want to be involved in that culture or associated with that image.

This wasn't a case of a young woman being used for a one night stand. She had a relationship with the male which ended badly but if he hadn't dumped her, she might have been the one doing the dumping a few months down the track without the media explosion unless she decided to kiss and tell. Normally it's considered healthy for people to have few relationships before finding Mr or Ms Right. Of course though you treat the people you are moving on from well and maybe that didn't happen in this case, hence the young woman's outrage.

Totally agree, Dan S de Merengue.

>>The media (ideally, of course) is supposed to be about reporting the truth. Yet they're in bed with the football code, as it is the biggest vehicle for selling newspapers in the state.<<

That's it in a nutshell. If it weren't for the newsworthiness of the footballing fraternity - whose fame is entirely a construct of the media themselves - there wouldn't be a story.

We have reached a position that is self-perpetuating. Where their every drink, every barroom slurred slur, every speeding ticket, every blurry mobile-phone picture, every unauthorized micturition, as well as every root, gets front page attention and weeks of analysis.

Which ultimately says more about us, than it does about them.