Written by In my last article Where There’s Smoke? Or … Unwitting Target? I wrote about the sexual assault case currently being heard in Sydney Australia. NRL footballers Jack de Belin and Callan Sinclair await their fate as the jury continues to deliberate. The pair have pled not-guilty in a case that suddenly seems to have not been such an ‘open and closed’ affair after all. And although de Belin’s lawyer dubbed the accuser ‘inherently unreliable’, Crown prosecutor David Scully has deemed the accused’s story as having become ‘inherently implausible’ as it was becoming more and more interwoven with phrases and details designed “to turn the narrative into a false picture of a consensual sexual encounter”.
Accusations of police breaching legal privilege, lying in court, suppressing evidence, inconsistencies, and convoluted reports of another person present, added to confusion and the jury were unable to reach a unanimous verdict when the case was initially tried last November.
“Footy fans in the jury might feel sorry for the men, while other jurors may have heard some disgraceful things about football players in the past … but the jury’s decision should not be about sympathy, emotion or even whether the woman was lying” said barrister Sharyn Hall.
This is a massive issue for high-ranking sports stars, they live very publicly and will always be subject to assumptions and opinions, good and bad, as any famous person is. And this is all the more reason to equip them to handle this spotlight, but also to engender in them the concept that they are not above the law.
Two issues are highlighted in sporting culture in this case; that of respect for women, or anyone for that matter, but we have discussed that at length already, the other is humility. It’s an ambiguous philosophy with an equally ambiguous set of criterion, but humility can be defined as being aware of your abilities without believing yourself above everyone else. This entails believing in others’ talents, championing them, and supporting them in their efforts. Sporting clubs are the perfect organization for establishing healthy attitudes as they have the athletes from a young age and can establish good cultural and emotionally aware attitudes.
The New Zealand football team, the All Blacks pride themselves on their “mana” which is a Moari word encompassing authority, status, and personal power. In his book Legacy, James Kerr writes about how the team was radically transformed by the encouragement of a culture of questioning, leadership, and one which expressed the great importance of humility. This, he said, enabled a focus on the development and character of the players personally and professionally because “better people make better All Blacks”.
The adoption of humility as a core strength is important for anyone as it feeds respect, but perhaps it is even more vital for the high achiever to temper latent narcissism.