The Rugby League Players’ Association (RLPA) has made the following statement to clarify the highly inaccurate article “How rugby league players wasted $500,000 to try stop NRL ‘stand down’ policy” published by The Australian today (24/03/21).
There are several flagrant inaccuracies throughout the article, which could have been clarified had the journalist made any attempt to contact the RLPA prior to publishing, subject to the confidentiality obligations of the arbitration.
The defamatory claims made regarding the RLPA’s “attitude to women” are particularly abhorrent and completely misguided. They are offensive to our entire organisation and what the RLPA stands for.
The RLPA was at pains to make clear at the outset and throughout the dispute resolution process that the basis of the CBA Dispute was the primacy of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and the protection of the consultation and agreement rights for players contained within it – not the NRL’s ‘no fault’ stand-down policy.
Finally, the financial figures highlighted both in the headline and throughout the column are wildly inaccurate and clearly based on pure speculation.
The entire tenor of the article is irresponsible and we find reporting of this nature completely unacceptable.
