A woman who alleges unnamed Rabbitohs players exposed themselves to her on a video chat has turned to the media after feeling let down by the club’s response.
The woman, 23, who remained anonymous, said she was a big rugby league fan and wasn’t trying to destroy anyone’s careers, but did want the club to address the behaviour of some players.
She contacted the Rabbitohs Rugby League Club on several occasions and according to an email chain sent to The Daily Telegraph, she only received one response.
A woman who alleges that some Rabbitohs football players exposed themselves to her has revealed an email thread that shows she contacted the club repeatedly for action to be taken
The first email was sent on May 27 of this year where she informs the club of the incident.
‘It started off as a funny FaceTime with the group of boys and because I am a huge NRL fan I was on quite a high,’ she wrote.
‘However after the 5th 6th and 7th call coming from one of the players by himself in his room, I began to feel violated and disgusted as a result of it.’
She expressly writes in the email she doesn’t wish to ‘make a big deal out of it’, instead suggesting some behavioural coaching of players.
The unnamed woman made contact a few days later, on May 31, after not hearing anything back from the club.
In that email she said she was still feeling ‘very violated’ and wanted to know if her claims were being taken seriously.
‘They are making me realise how degrading it is to women and how these men think they can get away with absolutely anything just because of their social status,’ she wrote.
‘It’s actually disgusting and I am more annoyed by the situation now than I was before.’
The South Sydney Rabbitohs are investigating allegations made by a young woman that two players exposed their private parts to her during a FaceTime chat earlier this year
The football club finally got back to her the following day, June 1, via Football operations and Player Wellbeing Manager Brock Schaefer who asked the woman if she could meet officials to detail the incident further.
After replying to Mr Schaefer with contact details, as she was in Japan for business, she never heard from the club again.
She decided to send one more email suggesting her claims had not been taken seriously and outlined more details of the encounter including that she had already hung up on one of the players seven times.
After the scandal broke the club announced an investigation into the allegations.
The players have not been named but are understood to be several of the club’s biggest names.
Rabbitohs coach Anthony Seibold (pictured) was also asked to comment on the incident but he instead referred to the Rabbitohs semi final game against the Dragons on Saturday
The woman allegedly took screenshots of the videochat, where one player pulled his pants down to expose his genitals while another bared his backside.
The Rabbitohs released a statement on Friday saying they were attempting to make contact with the woman.
‘Since receiving contact details [on Thursday] night for the female involved, Rabbitohs officials have attempted to make contact via phone and email,’ the statement read.
‘The Rabbitohs take any allegations of player misbehaviour very seriously and will not be making any further comment until the completion of the investigation.’
Rabbitohs coach Anthony Seibold was also asked to comment on the incident but he instead referred to the Rabbitohs semi final game against the Dragons on Saturday.
Rabbitohs chief executive Blake Solly (pictured) said the club would contact the woman on Friday and speak to the players allegedly involved
‘I would rather be talking about tomorrow night,I appreciate the interest from the wider community around this,’ he said.
‘With regards to the accusations, our club treat the accusations seriously, as do the NRL Integrity Unit.’
Rabbitohs chief executive Blake Solly weighed in on the scandal and told The Daily Telegraph the club would contact the woman on Friday and speak to the players allegedly involved.
‘We are proud of our position on the Code of Conduct and if someone has breached that we want to investigate it,’ he said.
The allegations are an unwanted disruption as the Rabbitohs prepare for Saturday’s night do-or-die semi final against St George Illawarra Dragons at ANZ Stadium.
It comes a week after the NRL handed down one of its harshest ever sanctions on the Canterbury Bulldogs.
The club was fined a record $250,000 for its drunken Mad Monday celebrations which saw two players charged by police with obscene exposure.