Australian Rugby League Commission boss Peter V’landys has slammed the Dragons for not inviting a single female journalist to interview Jack de Belin.
The club selected four journalists for the interview, and all of them were men. A decision that V’landys has criticised.
The private interview marked the first time de Belin had done a media interview since he was charged with sexual assault. The charges against the football player have been dropped after two hung juries. He has returned to play for St George and has maintained his innocence.
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that in response, V’landys said: “I won’t go into the subject of it, but they should just have a standard policy to invite all journalists to media conferences and, in particular, they should encourage and support female journalists.
“Anything to the contrary would be completely stupid.”
Vlandys admitted he contacted the club to find out why this happened and that he was “surprised” that the interview wasn’t done in public and added, “I hope the St George club have learnt from this.”
Here at B&T, we do too!
