Double standards and hypocrisy abound in the Sydney Swans' sex scandal

There has been extensive commentary by politicians, activists, and others condemning the Swans footballers' behaviour in a Pullman Hotel room around 4 AM on 17 August in Melbourne. What is quite extraordinary is that so much posturing took place during days when almost nothing was known about what the footballers had actually done or who the alleged female victims were. Innuendo hinted at privileged male players guilty of vile sexual assaults and violence against innocent unconsenting women.

Information is only slowly coming to light in what increasingly comes across as ideologically inspired male-bashing, that ignores the contribution by the women concerned to outcomes they clearly facilitated.

Even now, nearly two weeks after the event, the footballers are reportedly yet to be interviewed by police, and there is a growing consensus that they will never be charged with any criminal offence. What is, however, certain is that lawyers are now involved, and the AFL can be expected to pay big dollars to complicit "victims" to make the scandal disappear from public view.

The entire affair needs to be seen within the context of Australian sports and political culture.

Australians see their country as a sporting nation, despite active sports participants constituting a declining proportion of the population compared with (say) the 1950s and 1960s. Many fans these days are mere sedentary spectators of sport. A "we won" mentality is now standard amongst enthusiastic supporters, who personalise victories by "their" team.

Sports stars (especially in AFL, Rugby and cricket) have become idolised to the point of being amongst the greatest celebrities in the nation. Their fanbase includes a solid following of "groupie" female fans, some of whom (figuratively speaking) throw their knickers at the elite players. Football awards nights also are regularly characterised by displays of flesh by the female partners, who compete to see who can exhibit the most leg, midriff, and bosom.

It gets even more extreme. The major sporting codes have evolved into politically correct multi-billion-dollar family entertainment businesses, awash with revenue especially from TV rights. The NRL in 2026 is reported to have signed a $5 billion-plus broadcast rights deal over seven years, while the AFL signed a for $4.5 billion deal in 2025. The revenue stream of sporting codes is also awash with sponsorship, ticketing, and other money.

Not only are the big sporting codes flooded with their own revenue, but politicians bestow them with even more money, and individual politicians fall over themselves to be identified with particular teams. The heavily indebted Tasmanian Government is currently committed to building a new AFL stadium now expected to cost $1.13 billion. The AFL is contributing a paltry $15 million to the project while the Commonwealth is providing $240 million for the entire Macquarie Point precinct.

This all follows billions in public money being spent on other stadiums in places like Townsville and Sydney, and billions more on facilities for the Sydney and Brisbane Olympic games (and nearly $600 million in cancellation fees for the aborted Commonwealth games). Despite claims of facilities being a lasting asset, the Sydney Olympic Stadium had been set for demolition and replacement after only 30 years use. After an outcry, that decision was reversed.

With all the largesse bestowed on major sporting codes, even less celebrated footballers are now routinely paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year (running into seven figures for major stars). No wonder that, as a group, football players are widely regarded as spoilt, overpaid and over-sexed, even though many of the experienced mature players are level-headed. Alcohol, drug and gambling problems are not uncommon amongst sports stars, some of whom are unable to manage money.

I have zero sympathy for the five players that have been punished by the AFL for breaching club standards. In my opinion they were guilty of ill-discipline and commercial vandalism, and the cost to their club and their football code was very substantial. They have been stood down for reasons of team discipline and public relations, which has diminished the Swans' finals prospects. The players are supposed to be mature adults, with partners and children in many cases, and should have known better. Worse still, they did all this at the business-end of the year, when they were supposed to be preparing for the finals.

That said, I believe that most commentators who attacked the players went off half-cocked without knowing clearly what had transpired (and probably caring less).

I don't claim to know exactly what happened on the night concerned, but I can recount what has been reported in the media, and the reader can draw his or her own conclusions. For balance, I will concentrate on one account sympathetic to the alleged victims and one more critical.

Firstly, according to Channel 9, "The scandal began with a report of sexual assault but broadened to include allegations of drug taking by some players. The ABC understands the sexual assault allegation centres on one player allegedly touching a woman without her consent at a Melbourne hotel early on Monday morning. Several female adult entertainers are understood to have joined players at the Pullman East Melbourne Hotel after being hired in the hours after the team's win against Essendon on Sunday night.

The ABC's Danny Tran and Olivia Jenkins reported on Thursday evening that detectives had been told some players paid the women extra to consume drugs off their bodies. It is understood one of the women was later seen leaving the hotel room in a distressed state, with a Triple Zero (000) call made to police soon after.

Five Swans players were suspended for the rest of the season on Wednesday, though the club was careful to note that the suspensions were for failing to meet club standards, and were not directly related to the allegation being investigated by police.

Two of the women involved in the incident spoke to the media on Thursday, including the woman who alleges she was sexually assaulted. The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, reportedly told Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper that she was not interested in money, only justice".

Bettina Arndt put a different spin on events: "Gradually, details of what apparently took place in that fancy Melbourne hotel room leaked to the press. The ABC reported, citing police sources, that players paid extra to snort drugs off the dancers' bodies. A woman agreed to three slaps at $50 a pop but copped a fourth for free - and that's what blew up the room. As one commentator quipped, if that's really all there was to it, it belongs in the Small Claims Court, not a police investigation, and a national media circus.

What was a real hoot was our esteemed Prime Minister finger-wagging at the Swans, lecturing them that they "needed to do better". The Swans have banned the "Pullman 5" from playing for the rest of the season, in a devastating blow to Sydney's premiership hopes".

While every person, including sex workers, is entitled to respect and dignity, there can be no pretence that the women concerned were innocent paragons of virtue taken advantage of by privileged elite footballers (an inference of some of the media and political commentary). The footballers were clearly affected by alcohol and allegedly taking drugs, and the women allegedly performed lap dances for money, and allegedly accepted payment to facilitate drug-taking and other activities. Sensible behaviour should have involved the footballers being denied service and the sex workers should have left before predictable problems began.

I would imagine that "touchy" clients are not uncommon in the lap-dancing business. Adding drugs and alcohol would greatly raise the risk of inappropriate behaviour, and professional lap dancers ought to have realised this. Essentially, if the facts alleged are true, not just the footballers, but also the lap dancers, behaved badly.

The main financial losers in this sorry saga would have to be the Swans' club and its players, the latter perhaps deservedly. Missing key players, the Swans chances in the finals are diminished, though you never know. Some sponsorships have already been lost. Midfielder Isaac Heeney reportedly is facing a loss of $2m in sponsorship and endorsement earnings. Other members of the five also face lost income from being suspended by the club and from loss of sponsorships. There is already talk of some of the Swans Five moving away from Sydney at season's end.

It is hard to determine if there have been losses of income on the part of the lap dancers. The Party Girls Melbourne manager told Seven News she and the exotic dancer who made allegations had been identified online and they were now both concerned for their welfare. "I'm so scared, this is so dangerous for our safety," Seven said she told the network. Crying or distressed women make for great media footage.

While there are real issues in our society involving both sexual assault and violence towards intimate partners, there is a lack of balance in public commentary. Politicians and women's advocates are constantly pushing a negative stereotype about young men but totally ignore any women's bad behaviour. In legal circles many recently passed rape laws (for example) have been condemned for being unfair to defendants, while on the other hand the feminist lobby consistently rails against "victim blaming".

In my opinion, male politicians have almost totally caved in to the feminist lobby on a range of issues including rape laws, favouritism for women in public and political appointments, and in the one-sided narrative concerning interactions between the sexes.

So-called victims in some cases contribute to their fate. For example, when either men or women get "blind drunk", the risk of misadventure skyrockets, and people often do things they later regret. Retired British Judge Mary Mowat observed that the rape conviction statistics will not improve until "women stop getting so drunk". Would the outcome for Brittany Higgins have been different if she was fully sober?

There are countless other examples of victims contributing to their fate. Motorists greatly increase the risk of car theft by leaving keys in the ignition. People who walk through bad neighbourhoods alone at night increase their risk of getting mugged etc. While the criminals are still primarily at fault, imprudent behaviour clearly increases the risk of victimhood.

The events at the Pullman Hotel should never have happened. The players should never have gone out on their drunken binge or have invited lap dancers to their room at four in the morning. Similarly, the lap dangers, upon discovering the intoxicated state of the players and their plans to take drugs, should have walked away from the situation. Had they done so, instead of acting unprofessionally, unfortunate events probably would not have happened.

So-called "entitled and powerful men" themselves can end up as victims. Effectively, being well-monied can make men targets for a shakedown by unscrupulous women and their lawyers. The business model concerns the financial and reputational damage sex scandals can cause business and individuals, especially if these cases run their course through the courts and in the media. Even if a man successfully defends such a case, the personal damage can make this a Pyrrhic victory. In one case, where a female litigant lost her case, the court described her case as "scandalous", highlighting the challenges individuals face when taking on powerful corporations without strong evidence.

In the current case, the AFL is both awash with money and noted for its political correctness. Whatever their merits, almost everyone expects a very profitable payday for the lap dancers and their lawyers, and for the episode to go away without an ugly court case.