I’m sick of this outpouring of support for poor little Matthew Johns.

The proliferation of groups and pages on Facebook and Yahoo and other various forums, bleating about how hard done by this lowlife is, has utterly astounded me.

I’m also disappointed in the fact that he is the only one that has been outed publicly for the group sex controversy and there are at least eleven other participants who have not had the spotlight pointed at them as well.

At the end of the day, the simple fact is that Johns both instigated (to a degree) and certainly participated in this incident, where a group of professional sportsmen used their notoriety and collective intimidation to take advantage of a drunk 19 year old woman.

The only defence they have been able to raise was to question the credibility of the woman, saying that she didn’t protest and was going along with jokes all her colleagues were making afterwards. Does the fact that she was willing to go upstairs with one man mean she must have been willing to do all of them? Should every woman who beds a football player then be at fault for anything the rest of the team choose to do with her afterwards? They, the poor wee innocents, couldn't be expected to understand the difference, could they? After all, they are only men and football players. Isn’t anyone else upset that this is the standards we expect in men, who, whether they like it or not, have become role models for thousands? Didn’t blaming the victim go out at the same time as saying it was ok for a man to beat his wife in the privacy of his own home?

Speaking of marriage, Johns is a married man, and was when this occurred. Have we become so blasé about the sins of high profile people that infidelity is now acceptable?

I’m all for the sanctions placed upon Johns by his employers and I hope that the others involved in this sordid event are also sanctioned in the future. If the attention that has been created via the Four Corners report (which also highlighted other incidents, not just Cronulla’s visit to Wellington in 2002) has a positive effect on the future behaviour of professional sportsmen public then it will be worthwhile.

If athletes are taught to act like human beings then it can only be a benefit for the future of male team sports in this country.

It is just a shame that so many people have leapt to the defence of Johns when it seems to me that he has crossed a line and acted in what I consider to be an utterly repulsive manner.

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