The day David Gallop stormed out on the Bulldogs: Hughes JAMIE PANDARAM
August 11, 2010
.DAVID GALLOP has rejected claims in a new book that he stormed out of a meeting with the Bulldogs in 2004 after then coach Steve Folkes labelled the NRL ''weak as piss'' over their reaction to the Bulldogs' rape allegation crisis.
The pair disagreed over an article written by reporter Danny Weidler for The Sun-Herald which quoted an unnamed player saying the players enjoyed ''a good bun'', referring to group sex, and Bulldogs life member Graeme Hughes says in his new publication Dogs At War, Triumph, Treachery and the Truth that Gallop walked out and refused to return.
The meeting with Gallop and the Bulldogs occurred a few days after news broke of a young woman reporting an alleged rape by up to six players in the pool area of the Coffs Harbour Resort during the 2004 pre-season, which concluded when investigators found insufficient evidence.
Hughes writes: ''Gallop raised Sun-Herald reporter Danny Weidler's 'a good bun' item and castigated the players for talking to the reporter. The players claimed to have no knowledge of Weidler's source.
''Then Gallop changed tack and became defensive. He said, 'Well, you blokes have got to understand what I'm going through, journalists waking me up at 1 and 2 in the morning … You've got to understand what I'm going through'.
''A player broke in, 'What you're going through? Isn't that what you're paid the big bucks for?'
''Gallop became visibly upset. Then Steve Folkes jumped to his feet and said, 'That's weak as piss'. Gallop mistakenly thought Folkesy was targeting him personally and his emotional response to the player's words, but he wasn't, he was referring to the NRL's abandoning Bulldogs players who had yet to be found guilty of anything and who had professed their innocence.
''Gallop left the meeting. [Football manager] Garry [Hughes] and [NRL media manager] Polly [McCardell] chased after him. Polly was in tears. The intensity was unbelievable. Garry tried to talk Gallop into returning but he would not.''
But last night Gallop said he never walked out, and Folkes could not clearly remember the incident. ''I left the meeting when the meeting was over,'' Gallop said.
''I do recall that Folkesy and I were at odds, his view was that Danny Weidler had made the comments up, and to this day I do not believe Danny Weidler made those comments up.''
Folkes said: ''It was a long time ago, I can't remember. We weren't happy, we felt that we weren't given the support we were due, and it was later proven that there was no scandal.''
In the book, Hughes is also particularly scathing of former chief executive Steve Mortimer and former Bulldogs chairman George Peponis, who were responsible for the firing of his brother Garry Hughes, who was sacked as football manager in the wake of the scandal. He has since received out of court settlements from the club for unfair dismissal and defamation claims.
Hughes expresses his opinion that Mortimer was not qualified to be chief executive of the club, and believes that he had an agenda against Garry Hughes from the outset.
League HQ
August 11, 2010
.DAVID GALLOP has rejected claims in a new book that he stormed out of a meeting with the Bulldogs in 2004 after then coach Steve Folkes labelled the NRL ''weak as piss'' over their reaction to the Bulldogs' rape allegation crisis.
The pair disagreed over an article written by reporter Danny Weidler for The Sun-Herald which quoted an unnamed player saying the players enjoyed ''a good bun'', referring to group sex, and Bulldogs life member Graeme Hughes says in his new publication Dogs At War, Triumph, Treachery and the Truth that Gallop walked out and refused to return.
The meeting with Gallop and the Bulldogs occurred a few days after news broke of a young woman reporting an alleged rape by up to six players in the pool area of the Coffs Harbour Resort during the 2004 pre-season, which concluded when investigators found insufficient evidence.
Hughes writes: ''Gallop raised Sun-Herald reporter Danny Weidler's 'a good bun' item and castigated the players for talking to the reporter. The players claimed to have no knowledge of Weidler's source.
''Then Gallop changed tack and became defensive. He said, 'Well, you blokes have got to understand what I'm going through, journalists waking me up at 1 and 2 in the morning … You've got to understand what I'm going through'.
''A player broke in, 'What you're going through? Isn't that what you're paid the big bucks for?'
''Gallop became visibly upset. Then Steve Folkes jumped to his feet and said, 'That's weak as piss'. Gallop mistakenly thought Folkesy was targeting him personally and his emotional response to the player's words, but he wasn't, he was referring to the NRL's abandoning Bulldogs players who had yet to be found guilty of anything and who had professed their innocence.
''Gallop left the meeting. [Football manager] Garry [Hughes] and [NRL media manager] Polly [McCardell] chased after him. Polly was in tears. The intensity was unbelievable. Garry tried to talk Gallop into returning but he would not.''
But last night Gallop said he never walked out, and Folkes could not clearly remember the incident. ''I left the meeting when the meeting was over,'' Gallop said.
''I do recall that Folkesy and I were at odds, his view was that Danny Weidler had made the comments up, and to this day I do not believe Danny Weidler made those comments up.''
Folkes said: ''It was a long time ago, I can't remember. We weren't happy, we felt that we weren't given the support we were due, and it was later proven that there was no scandal.''
In the book, Hughes is also particularly scathing of former chief executive Steve Mortimer and former Bulldogs chairman George Peponis, who were responsible for the firing of his brother Garry Hughes, who was sacked as football manager in the wake of the scandal. He has since received out of court settlements from the club for unfair dismissal and defamation claims.
Hughes expresses his opinion that Mortimer was not qualified to be chief executive of the club, and believes that he had an agenda against Garry Hughes from the outset.
League HQ
