By Samantha Williams
St.George Leader
June 17, 2003
A nasty insult has led a Hurstville councillor to withdraw his
support for the St.George-Illawarra Dragons.
Hurstville Councillor Bill Pickering, a former mayor of Hurstville,
said he would vote against the council's proposed donation of
$50,000 to the Dragons Back to Kogarah bid at tomorrow night's
budget meeting.
Cr Pickering said he was totally disgusted with the Dragons after
winger Hassan Saleh was fined $2,000 by the club for calling his
daughter and her friends "[expletive deleted] sl*ts" at
Cronulla two weeks ago.
"I am totally disgusted by the actions of these members of the
Dragons Rugby League Football Club," Cr Pickering said.
"There is no way this proposal will get my vote. These players
and their foul mouths have tarnished the name of St.George and I
don't think we should be mixed up with this club."
Cr Pickering said the Dragons should enforce a strict code of
conduct. He believes the players should have been suspended as well
as fined.
"Just telling a player to make a token donation for public abuse
of young women is simply not good enough," he said.
St.George Dragons chief executive Peter Doust said the whole issue
had been investigated by the club and had been resolved.
He said Mr Saleh's fine was donated to Breast Cancer Research - a
charity that was chosen by the girls.
"The proposal for the finding was viewed as consistent with our
guidelines," Mr Doust said.
"It was accepted and suitable for the circumstances."
Mr.Doust said Cr Pickering was "drawing a long bow" when he
suggested Hurstville Council should not support a community asset
because of what had happened.
"If he doesn't want to support the Dragons and other sports
at the oval then he should say so rather than hide behind an issue
like that," Mr.Doust said.
Hurstville Mayor Vince Badalati agreed, saying it was unreasonable
for Cr Pickering to penalise the whole football club because of the
action of two "silly" players.
"It seems to be an attempt to grab headlines for himself," Cr
Badalati said.
He said having the Dragons in St.George was positive for the area.
"Different people identify with football clubs," he said.
"I am not a St.George supporter - I go for the Tigers - but I can
see the benefits of having a football club here. The kids can have
something to look forward to - they don't have to go to far to
see a game."
Cr Badalati said Hurstville Council's proposed contribution of $50,000 had been matched by Rockdale while the State Government had set aside $800,000.