Shocking article about an ex Demon Rookie

[Satan 2,879]

I won’t write about the  allegations.

The headline in a News Limited publication "Melbourne Demons rookie alleges senior AFL coach raped him" is a lie to say the least.

No AFL senior coach was involved and certainly not a Melbourne Football Club coach.

Sadly, a lot of people will read the story based on the headline (I am aware the headline is not written by the writer of the article).

The body of the story also makes no sense in relation to dates mentioned. He couldn’t have been a teenager in 2005 when he was on the rookie list in 2007.

Maybe Rupert needs to be sued again!

[IvanBartul13 2,564]

2015 is a typo, meant to be 2005 and implies it was during his time at the Eastern Ranges.

[bandicoot 1,395]

The guy is reporting tape by his coach. 
why are you trying to get people not to read the story? 

[dazzledavey36 55,312]

7 hours ago, Satan said:

I wont write about the  allegations.

 

The headline is lie  to say the least. No Afl senior coach was involved and certainly not a Melbourne coach . Sadly a lot of people will read the story based on the headline

(I am aware the headline is not written by the article writer . )

The body of the story also makes no sense in relation to dates mentioned. He couldnt be a teenager in 2015  when he was on  the rookie list in 2007

maybe rupert needs to be sued again !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm sorry, but this was where the original story started? What's actually wrong with this headline?

Former Melbourne Demons footballer Daniel Hayes serves Supreme Court writ on AFL and junior coach Mark Heaney

The article has nothing to do with the Melbourne FC. It's about his experience with the Eastern Rangers assistant coach.

The article mentions that he's suing the AFL. Again, nothing to do with the Melbourne Football Club.

[pitmaster 3,576]

It’s a legitimate and sad news story. It seems the kid could have been anything but his life in every sense, not just  football, was derailed allegedly due to abuse suffered before he was drafted.

[JTR 2,854]

1 hour ago, dazzledavey36 said:

I'm sorry, but this was where the original story started? What's actually wrong with this headline?

Former Melbourne Demons footballer Daniel Hayes serves Supreme Court writ on AFL and junior coach Mark Heaney

The article has nothing to do with the Melbourne FC. It's about his experience with the Eastern Rangers assistant coach.

The article mentions that he's suing the AFL. Again, nothing to do with the Melbourne Football Club.

 

This is the headline on news.com.au

Quote

 

Melbourne Demons rookie alleges senior AFL coach raped him

A former Melbourne Demons player has launched a bombshell lawsuit against the AFL after allegations a coach raped him.

https://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/melbourne-demons-rookie-alleges-senior-afl-coach-raped-him/news-story/ffec5b1c66a638ed2b0ff28a105d9a49

Nothing to do with the MFC, but those who don't get beyond the headline and sub heading wont know that.

[Nasher 33,617]

It’s a terrible headline but a legitimate issue that deserves some focus. I recommend reading the ABC article as linked above that goes in to the specifics.
 

I hope Daniel is able to get the help he needs.

[McQueen 17,867]

9 minutes ago, JTR said:

This is the headline on news.com.au

https://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/melbourne-demons-rookie-alleges-senior-afl-coach-raped-him/news-story/ffec5b1c66a638ed2b0ff28a105d9a49

Nothing to do with the MFC, but those who don't get beyond the headline and sub heading wont know that.

News.com gutter journalism  

Say no more. 
 

[Whispering_Jack 30,573]

On 15/05/2023 at 06:38, dazzledavey36 said:

I'm sorry, but this was where the original story started? What's actually wrong with this headline?

Former Melbourne Demons footballer Daniel Hayes serves Supreme Court writ on AFL and junior coach Mark Heaney

The article has nothing to do with the Melbourne FC. It's about his experience with the Eastern Rangers assistant coach.

The article mentions that he's suing the AFL. Again, nothing to do with the Melbourne Football Club.

Court documents reveal coach accused of raping former Melbourne player Daniel Hayes was a long-time AFL employee who coached Sydney Swans academy teams

Whilst the event that Daniel Hayes is referring to as the basis for the litigation has nothing to do with the MFC, I’m not so sure that the story itself is not about the club in a way.

The football world knew he was troubled when we drafted him. Clearly, we as a club “took risks” when we did so and there is mention in the article that “his early days with the Demons were characterised by disappearing acts and club-imposed suspensions”.

This raises the question whether we did enough to recognise why he had his issues and whether we could have done enough to help him. I’m not suggesting that the MFC should be blamed or included in this litigation but we shouldn’t shrink away from the fact that it was not so long ago that the football world wasn’t equipped to handle these issues in society - particularly insofar as it involved indigenous youth.

These days, AFL clubs have mentors and others working for them who might have been able to identify the issues Daniel Hayes harboured alone. 

I hope he finally gets justice and finds peace and enjoyment in the game that treated him so cruelly when he was a young kid.

[dazzledavey36 55,312]

41 minutes ago, JTR said:

This is the headline on news.com.au

https://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/melbourne-demons-rookie-alleges-senior-afl-coach-raped-him/news-story/ffec5b1c66a638ed2b0ff28a105d9a49

Nothing to do with the MFC, but those who don't get beyond the headline and sub heading wont know that.

My mistake, I haven't even seen that as of yet. I thought he was talking about the initial ABC article.

But yes, @Satan is correct thats horrible headline. My apologies mate.

[Guest]

On 15/05/2023 at 08:47, Whispering_Jack said:

Court documents reveal coach accused of raping former Melbourne player Daniel Hayes was a long-time AFL employee who coached Sydney Swans academy teams

Whilst the event that Daniel Hayes is referring to as the basis for the litigation has nothing to do with the MFC, I’m not so sure that the story itself is not about the club in a way.

The football world knew he was troubled when we drafted him. Clearly, we as a club “took risks” when we did so and there is mention in the article that “his early days with the Demons were characterised by disappearing acts and club-imposed suspensions”.

This raises the question whether we did enough to recognise why he had his issues and whether we could have done enough to help him. I’m not suggesting that the MFC should be blamed or included in this litigation but we shouldn’t shrink away from the fact that it was not so long ago that the football world wasn’t equipped to handle these issues in society - particularly insofar as it involved indigenous youth.

These days, AFL clubs have mentors and others working for them who might have been able to identify the issues Daniel Hayes harboured alone. 

I hope he finally gets justice and finds peace and enjoyment in the game that treated him so cruelly when he was a young kid.

Beautifully said, WJ.

To say this has “nothing to do with the MFC” is incorrect. He was once on our list. It’s by no means the fault of the MFC, but I like to think that our Club is open to helping this young man as he was once one of us. The Club has the wherewithal to do this. We boast having a great culture (which we certainly have) so I can’t see us “washing our hands of him” should he reach out to us.

The headline is shameless clickbait. (Who’s gonna read an article titled, “Eastern Ranges player alleges senior coach raped him” ??!??) And it’s worked, clearly. 

[Rodney (Balls) Grinter 10,870]

1 hour ago, Nasher said:

It’s a terrible headline but a legitimate issue that deserves some focus. I recommend reading the ABC article as linked above that goes in to the specifics.
 

I hope Daniel is able to get the help he needs.

Agree 100%

The headline might be skewed towards clickbait, but as far as I'm concerned that's ok in the context of the issue.

If Daniel has been courageous enough to both live through his trauma and then subsequently go public with it, then I'd say it's a story he wants to be heard and if it takes a bit of clickbate to acheived that, then so what.  I'm only partially guessing, but my assumption is that when people want these things to be heard, it's about a) some self respect in being believed and b) encouraging others to help them come forward in the hope that the problems are better managed going forward, which I think is very noble.

I think there is some very useful discussion which the article raises and I certainly found it insightful as well as saddening.

It also contains some important lessons on how the media and the general public need to tread lightly, with care and compassion around individuals and collective social and personal matters.

Read the article, it explains things far better than any of us can in this thread.

All the best to Daniel in his life moving forward and I hope he is able to reach some inner peace regarding his past trauma.

Edited May 14, 2023 by Rodney (Balls) Grinter

[Satan 2,879]

7 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

My mistake, I haven't even seen that as of yet. I thought he was talking about the initial ABC article.

But yes, @Satan is correct thats horrible headline. My apologies mate.

It would seem that my original thread title got edited taking out the news.com.au reference, which is why I included it in thread title. (There are only 18 AFL Senior coaches).

[Satan 2,879]

8 hours ago, IvanBartul13 said:

2015 is a typo, meant to be 2005 and implies it was during his time at the Eastern Ranges.

terrible proof reading when dates do matter in context of article

[dazzledavey36 55,312]

1 hour ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Whilst the event that Daniel Hayes is referring to as the basis for the litigation has nothing to do with the MFC, I’m not so sure that the story itself is not about the club in a way.

The football world knew he was troubled when we drafted him. Clearly, we as a club “took risks” when we did so and there is mention in the article that “his early days with the Demons were characterised by disappearing acts and club-imposed suspensions”.

This raises the question whether we did enough to recognise why he had his issues and whether we could have done enough to help him. I’m not suggesting that the MFC should be blamed or included in this litigation but we shouldn’t shrink away from the fact that it was not so long ago that the football world wasn’t equipped to handle these issues in society - particularly insofar as it involved indigenous youth.

These days, AFL clubs have mentors and others working for them who might have been able to identify the issues Daniel Hayes harboured alone. 

I hope he finally gets justice and finds peace and enjoyment in the game that treated him so cruelly when he was a young kid.

It could go either way WJ.

Maybe the club did all they could to help and support him? Was the club fully aware of what had happened previously at the ER and did Daniel speak up to the club about his experience? I presume perhaps not and the poor kid was simply too scared to speak up. 

Thinking back at the time I mean we had some pretty strong indigenous influences at the club like Matty Whelan, Byron Pickett and Aaron Davey. Did he raise this with them, because I would like to think these guys would have been a significant support for him at the club and a voice for him. 

Either way it's incredibly sad and as I found myself reading the ABC article on the weekend I was waiting for the happy ending story in the end. But there's not.

The only positve is good on him wanting to help others and spread the awareness. There far too many incidents like these that simply don't get spoken about at all.

[Nasher 33,617]

1 hour ago, Whispering_Jack said:

Whilst the event that Daniel Hayes is referring to as the basis for the litigation has nothing to do with the MFC, I’m not so sure that the story itself is not about the club in a way.

The football world knew he was troubled when we drafted him. Clearly, we as a club “took risks” when we did so and there is mention in the article that “his early days with the Demons were characterised by disappearing acts and club-imposed suspensions”.

This raises the question whether we did enough to recognise why he had his issues and whether we could have done enough to help him. I’m not suggesting that the MFC should be blamed or included in this litigation but we shouldn’t shrink away from the fact that it was not so long ago that the football world wasn’t equipped to handle these issues in society - particularly insofar as it involved indigenous youth.

These days, AFL clubs have mentors and others working for them who might have been able to identify the issues Daniel Hayes harboured alone. 

I hope he finally gets justice and finds peace and enjoyment in the game that treated him so cruelly when he was a young kid.

Well put WJ. While the club obviously isn’t responsible for what happened to Daniel prior to his coming to the club, there is definitely a question of if we did enough while he was here and, while acknowledging it was a long time ago, what can we do better to support our players that might have this type of issue in the future?

[layzie 33,989]

1 hour ago, JTR said:

This is the headline on news.com.au

https://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/melbourne-demons-rookie-alleges-senior-afl-coach-raped-him/news-story/ffec5b1c66a638ed2b0ff28a105d9a49

Nothing to do with the MFC, but those who don't get beyond the headline and sub heading wont know that.

Newscorp... Sigh.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Nasher said:

It’s a terrible headline but a legitimate issue that deserves some focus. I recommend reading the ABC article as linked above that goes in to the specifics.
 

I hope Daniel is able to get the help he needs.

Surely that headline is something our club might have issue with.

[Demonland 73,109]

6 hours ago, Satan said:

It would seem that my original thread title got edited taking out the news.com.au reference, which is why I included it in thread title. (There are only 18 AFL Senior coaches).

We've corrected the thread title and your comments for clarification. Cheers.

[drysdale demon 4,837]

5 hours ago, Stretch Johnson said:

Surely that headline is something our club might have issue with.

Yep, a lot of people only look at the headlines and would be assuming it happened at the MFC.

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,906]

The headline is an example of why the three letters "AFL" can cause confusion. In this instance, the media outlet is using "AFL" to mean "Australian rules football". It is not using it to mean the coach is part of the professional AFL competition. I am in no doubt, however, that the headline writer would have known full well that the use of "AFL", while technically correct would have attracted readers to the story assuming it meant the professional competition.

While I may be accused of cynicism in holding this view, I would argue that I am not being anywhere near as cynical as the media outlet.

[therealhayesy 36]

I just wanna say thank yous all for the msg my name is Daniel Hayes this story is about me please be careful what yous write please I really don't know where to start but I'm 35 5 kids live in East Gippsland MARK HEANEY RAPE ME on 5 on September at he's house when I was playing for EASTERN RANGES footy when I played bottom age in the TAC football everyone keeps saying did I speak to anybody [censored] I WISH I DID plays in my head everyday I was Scared and emotional and embarrassed to say something And not being with my mum and my family they live 4 hours away 😥 all I wanted is to play AFL that was my dream and when my dream came true when I got drafted to Melbourne in 07 rookie best moment of my life you would think 🤔 has anybody reach out ????? To answer your question is NO NOT EVEN A MSG OR PHONE CALL OR EMAIL FROM MELBOURNE FOOTY CLUB OR AFL makes me think y am I doing this my mental health is at its worst atm

[rpfc 28,729]

Um, I ain’t no big city lawyer but…

[Whispering_Jack 30,573]

G’day Daniel, the fact that you have spoken up now is not only courageous but also, an important act for other young people who don’t have a voice and who might be spared your experience in the future. If I can speak on their behalf, all I can say is “thank you” and though I can’t speak for the AFL, I can say “sorry” from the bottom of my heart for what you went through. 
 

[therealhayesy 36]

Thanks whispering_jack 

1. Justice

2 .he needs to be in jail for the rest of he's life 

3. Be a Voice for everyone I don't want anybody to go thro what I did yeah  I know I'm going to STOP it from happening but somehow help in anyway so when it does happen again to some1 else the AFL CAN ACT FAST 

 

Edited September 16, 2023 by therealhayesy