Brutality on the field sometimes spills into home life, says WAG
The Age
Wednesday August 12, 2009
SALLY Robinson has his initials tattooed on her left wrist. She's been photographed both blonde and then brunette, dolled up on the red carpet, beaming, her tiny frame tucked under boyfriend Greg Inglis' strong, right arm.On Monday evening Robinson was snapped again and this time she was a mess. Weeping she looked frightened and was bruised.Like many football partners, she is standing by her man. Robinson has told police she was bruised because of Botox injections. She didn't want to press charges stemming from a loud argument at her Altona Meadows home in the early hours of Sunday. However, Inglis, 22, will front Sunshine Court this morning charged with unlawful assault causing reckless injury to her.Despite having a glass smashed in her face, Katie Milligan stood by former Cronulla Star Greg Bird. The girlfriend of Manly's Brett Stewart, Jaime Baker, has also maintained her allegiance despite him being charged with sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl.Robinson, who has been off and on with Inglis for nearly three years, has already put up with quite a lot from her man. Last year, Inglis was photographed lifting his shirt and partying hard with the NRL's self-proclaimed "cougar", Charmyne Palavi. And early last year Inglis was cleared of aggressive behaviour at a Melbourne pub after he told Melbourne Storm officials he was protecting Robinson.Former WAG Shireen Lolesi, who was married to Canterbury Bulldogs footballer Jamaal Lolesi, says that game's brutal nature may lead to some partners putting up with physical abuse.Stressing that she never experienced violence in her marriage, she suspects that some partners tolerate it because of what they see on the field. "They see that they are bred to tackle and hit, to be violent, then when they take it out on their partner, maybe some girls are more accepting of this because they see that their boyfriend or husband's day job is to be that way," Lolesi said.Lolesi said while she did not condone domestic abuse, she said some footballers find it difficult to detach from aggressive on-field behaviour.She believed that their lives revolved around "his world", leading some partners to stay through hellish times."Firstly I think some WAGs feel that she can't do better than him," Lolesi said. "That there really isn't a life outside that life. When people are blinded by that and love, they just agree to the craziest stuff and accept it. It can happen to anyone that loves somebody."But after a scandal-plagued season, the NRL's multimillion-dollar advertising campaign involving Inglis, Brett Stewart and Matthew Johns has been airbrushed out of sight. All that the code has to sell now is the football.Stewart and his brother Glenn were removed when Brett was charged with sexual assault. Matthew Johns was removed as the membership drive's front man after revelations of his involvement in a 2002 New Zealand group sex incident.The charges against Inglis, in a week promoting indigenous involvement in the game, is unfortunate. Inglis is studying to be a youth worker and only weeks ago returned to his home town of Bowraville to encourage indigenous youth to finish school and to show respect to others.
© 2009 The Age