DIGGING FOR THE TRUTH - By Rebecca Wilson.
The PIC is now having a look at the so called CH scandal. No fewer than 5 senior policemen will be investigated as a result of the whole sorry saga that enveloped the Canterbury club last year.
The PIC's terms of reference are narrow and very little new information may come to light as a result of it. But five policemen are on leave pending the results of the investigation (two return to work on Monday) making them in one small way victims of one of leagues darkest times.
What we still don't know, is exactly what happened in CH last year. League has had its fair share of scandals and drame but nothing quite like the magnitude of Coffs, Super League changed the course of the game politically.
Coffs Harbour changed the game because it made us really look at, and question the integrity of our heroes off the field. A loss of innocence from league supporters particularly females occured because of it.The fact that no player was found to have a case to answer still left many perplexed as to why nobody ever told us what happened. If there was no case well why not come clean on the facts surrounding the case.
I will say here that I will never ever attend a Bulldogs' home game again because of the CH scandal. Back in the days of Chris Anderson and Peter Moore I was a regular at Canterbury games. The Bulldogs still have many good men and women just like Moore and Anderson still on their board, in their player ranks and in the fan club. But Coggs has cast a huge shadown on them all. The good people at Belmore deserve better.
Let's face it, the scuttlebutt and the rumours have never gone away. Neither has the smell around the club. No matter what anyone told us at the time, we all wondered, and still do, just what happened in the coastal city during that couple of days back in the beginning of 2004.
Malcolm Noad's now infamous statment "Let's pretend Coff's never happened" went down like a lead balloon and still does. Hundreds of women walked out on the presentation of the NRL trophy at the end of last season. They couldn't bring themselves to watch it because of the innuendo that still surrounded the team six months after the scandal.
Most of my female friends, all of them mothers, refused to tip them in the office tipping competion and they all agree they won't go to Canterburry games again.
The police announced there was no case to answer. Not one person ever told us what actually happened that night, or on the nights leading up to the alleged assault. The victimmade her allegations to the police but the public didn't hear her side of the story.
We didn't hear from any of the players either because not one single one ever admitted he was one of those accused. The police declared case closed. The club claimed everyone had been hard done by and nothing untoward occured."Just look at the evidence" they said, "Everyone has been cleared" The fact that a chief executive, a football manager and a board member are no longer at the clubshould surely tell us something did happen that wasn't necessarily right.
The players turned up at police headquarters wearing shorts and looking anything but concerned following the airing of of the gang rape allegations. They were fined for their casual attire and apparent lack of respect for the situation.
Now the issue has resurfaced.What we do know is that Jim Hall and Malcolm Noad have made a complaint that has resulted in the case ending up the subject of another investigation. Whether they end up regretting waking sleeping dogs remains to be seen.
The PIC is unlikely to throw up any more facts than the scant ones we already have.What it just might do though, is trigger action from the club or the alleged victim. The police are withinh their powers to tell us why no chargers were laid, or if something did really happen ( as one police officer did say in a media conference last year )
If Coffs Harbour is just a figment of our imaginations tell us for gods sake. This famous old club and its supporters deserve to know. The Canterburry club won't be able to genuinely move on and claim falsely lost its credibility untill we know the whole true story.
The PIC is now having a look at the so called CH scandal. No fewer than 5 senior policemen will be investigated as a result of the whole sorry saga that enveloped the Canterbury club last year.
The PIC's terms of reference are narrow and very little new information may come to light as a result of it. But five policemen are on leave pending the results of the investigation (two return to work on Monday) making them in one small way victims of one of leagues darkest times.
What we still don't know, is exactly what happened in CH last year. League has had its fair share of scandals and drame but nothing quite like the magnitude of Coffs, Super League changed the course of the game politically.
Coffs Harbour changed the game because it made us really look at, and question the integrity of our heroes off the field. A loss of innocence from league supporters particularly females occured because of it.The fact that no player was found to have a case to answer still left many perplexed as to why nobody ever told us what happened. If there was no case well why not come clean on the facts surrounding the case.
I will say here that I will never ever attend a Bulldogs' home game again because of the CH scandal. Back in the days of Chris Anderson and Peter Moore I was a regular at Canterbury games. The Bulldogs still have many good men and women just like Moore and Anderson still on their board, in their player ranks and in the fan club. But Coggs has cast a huge shadown on them all. The good people at Belmore deserve better.
Let's face it, the scuttlebutt and the rumours have never gone away. Neither has the smell around the club. No matter what anyone told us at the time, we all wondered, and still do, just what happened in the coastal city during that couple of days back in the beginning of 2004.
Malcolm Noad's now infamous statment "Let's pretend Coff's never happened" went down like a lead balloon and still does. Hundreds of women walked out on the presentation of the NRL trophy at the end of last season. They couldn't bring themselves to watch it because of the innuendo that still surrounded the team six months after the scandal.
Most of my female friends, all of them mothers, refused to tip them in the office tipping competion and they all agree they won't go to Canterburry games again.
The police announced there was no case to answer. Not one person ever told us what actually happened that night, or on the nights leading up to the alleged assault. The victimmade her allegations to the police but the public didn't hear her side of the story.
We didn't hear from any of the players either because not one single one ever admitted he was one of those accused. The police declared case closed. The club claimed everyone had been hard done by and nothing untoward occured."Just look at the evidence" they said, "Everyone has been cleared" The fact that a chief executive, a football manager and a board member are no longer at the clubshould surely tell us something did happen that wasn't necessarily right.
The players turned up at police headquarters wearing shorts and looking anything but concerned following the airing of of the gang rape allegations. They were fined for their casual attire and apparent lack of respect for the situation.
Now the issue has resurfaced.What we do know is that Jim Hall and Malcolm Noad have made a complaint that has resulted in the case ending up the subject of another investigation. Whether they end up regretting waking sleeping dogs remains to be seen.
The PIC is unlikely to throw up any more facts than the scant ones we already have.What it just might do though, is trigger action from the club or the alleged victim. The police are withinh their powers to tell us why no chargers were laid, or if something did really happen ( as one police officer did say in a media conference last year )
If Coffs Harbour is just a figment of our imaginations tell us for gods sake. This famous old club and its supporters deserve to know. The Canterburry club won't be able to genuinely move on and claim falsely lost its credibility untill we know the whole true story.
I Have never seen so many at Bulldogs games like this year!!! 
