Brisbane Broncos Players Will Not Face Charges

Back in September, the clean cut world of rugby league was scandalised when a woman claimed she’d been sexually assaulted by three Broncos players at a nightclub. It’s not often we hear of sporting stars drinking excessively and treating women appallingly, so the nation was understandably shocked. Brisbane Broncos supporters can breathe easy once more – although the players involved in the nightclub incident brought the club into disrepute in the eyes of club officials, police will not be charging them.

The Brisbane Broncos have fined players Karmichael Hunt, Darius Boyd and Sam Thaiday for bringing the club into disrepute.

Police today cleared the three rugby league players over sexual assault and drug allegations.

And just how large was this fine? Big enough to deter other players from misbehaving?

But Broncos chief executive Bruno Cullen told reporters the club had fined the players $20,000 each for bringing the club into disrepute.

Hmmm. Maybe.

Mr Cullen said the three players would also miss out on third-party sponsorships. He said the players had been “stupid” for putting themselves in the position in the first place. The $20,000 fines will be spent on counselling programs, with any left over donated to charity, he said. He said the fines only related to the sexual assault allegations, not the drug use claims.

Wait, does that last bit mean officials believe the players involved did assault the woman in question, but they don’t think they did it while high? I’m confused.

MORE: Brisbane Broncos players cleared of sex assault