🏉 Players Pull Out For Not Pulling On Pride Jersey

Well hello there, it's Tuesday, 26 July. It was a busy day at NRL HQ yesterday with reviews into controversial refereeing decisions, a player getting shown the door for having an e-dart on the dunny and players pulling out of a match because they won't pull on a jersey. But in terms of bad days at NRL HQ, this one wasn't that bad at all! Here, let us explain it all for you. 

⏱ 1131 words = 6 minutes

👀 The robot apocalypse is upon us and it's started with the children

THE MAIN GAME

🏉 Manly men refuse to wear rainbow pride jerseys

Seven of Manly's best players won't play in Thursday's crucial match against the Roosters because they refuse to wear the club's pride jersey on religious and cultural grounds. 

Golden points: Yesterday morning, the Manly Sea Eagles announced the team will wear special rainbow-themed 'Everyone in League' jerseys to celebrate inclusiveness and diversity on Thursday night. 

• It's the first time an NRL club has worn a pride jersey that recognises the LGBTQIA community.

• But by mid-afternoon, reports emerged that the players had not been consulted about the pride jersey and that up to 7 players would stand down from selection on religious and cultural grounds.

• By late evening, reports said the 7 players opting out were Josh Aloiai, Jason Saab, Christian Tuipulotu, Josh Schuster, Haumole Olakau’atu, Tolutau Koula and Toafofoa Sipley.

• Manly coach Des Hasler says he supports the decision of those players and understands the difficult position they're in because the club didn't consult them about the jersey.

• While there isn't precedence of this in the NRL, Muslim Giants AFLW player Haneen Zreika withdrew from her club's pride round match on religious grounds last season.

They said it: "I try to see it from all perspectives but this breaks my heart," - Manly great Ian Roberts, who was the first NRL player to come out as openly gay in 1995.

What are the chances... Manly get the win over the Roosters on Thursday? Well, their chances of victory have dropped without 7 of their best players. And this is a crucial game too because it's 8th v 9th on the ladder with finals just around the corner.  

QUICK SINGLES

🏉 NRL: The NRL admits the Bunker got the call wrong at the end of the wild Cowboys-Tigers game. NRL football boss Graham Annesley said yesterday the league didn't think there was enough evidence for Bunker referee Ashley Klein to award a match-winning penalty to the Cowboys after full-time in Sunday's thriller in Townsville. But Annesley defended the use of the Captain's Challenge, saying it was used correctly despite a grey area in the rulebook. 

🏉 NRL: Titans show veteran Kevin Proctor the door for vaping in the wrong place at the wrong time. Proctor posted a video on Instagram of himself vaping from the dressing room bathroom during his side's loss to the Bulldogs on Sunday. It's against the law to vape inside the stadium and for players to use a phone during the game, so he's been sacked by the Titans and fined $15,000. 

🥇 Athletics: Super shoes are in the spotlight again after blistering back-to-back world records at the World Champs. Tobi Amusan won Nigeria's first track and field World Championships gold medal when she broke the women's 100m hurdles world record in the semi and final yesterday (the 2nd record doesn't count because of wind assistance). But Amusan broke the record wearing a pair of the new, and perfectly legal, super shoes, which are bouncier and have been worn by several athletes that broke world records at the World Champs. 

🏉 AFL: Tasmania's hopes of getting an AFL team look like it'll come down to who is gonna pay for the new stadium. A report in the Herald Sun says the AFL wants the Tasmanian government to fund most of the new stadium in Hobart that's estimated to cost somewhere north of $500 million. But the Tassie government says it's only going to pay for half of the stadium. 

🏀 NBA: The Boston Celtics have reportedly had a few chats with the Brooklyn Nets about getting NBA megastar Kevin Durant. The report, filed by NBA bombshell specialist Adrian Wojnarowski, says the Celtics are engaged in talks with the Nets about Durant because they have the assets (like draft picks and good players) to make a trade. We don't know where, when or if Durant will be traded, but we do know 'Woj' will be the 1st to know. 

LEFT OF FIELD

♟Chess: At a chess tournament in Moscow last week, a 7yo boy was playing a robot. You read that correctly. Kids these days, huh? The robot looks like a mechanical arm, something you'd see out of a Marvel movie like Iron Man. But when the boy acted a little too quickly after the robot's turn, the robot clamped down on the boy's finger for what felt like an age and eventually broke it. Footage of the incident has been released and as you can imagine the boy is pretty distressed. But reports say he was OK and returned the next day to play and finish the tournament. The president of the Moscow Chess Federation, Sergey Lazarev, didn't sound too alarmed by a potential robot uprising: "The robot broke the child’s finger. This is of course bad."

📽 Highlight reel: There was time for one final world record at the World Athletics Championships yesterday. Sweden's Armand "Mondo" Duplantis, widely considered the greatest men's pole vaulter in history at the age of 22, set a new world best of 6.21m. 

📸 Photo finish: The Aussie cycling team has solved the age-old question of 'how many cyclists and their bikes can fit inside a padded elevator?'. Turns out it's 4. Only 2 more sleeps until the Commonwealth Games start in Birmingham. 

THE POLLING BOOTH

Monday's result: A whopping 68.22% prefer dogs over cats (19.63%) and turtles (12.15%). 

WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

• ⚾️ 09:00am - MLB - Phillies v Braves - Citizens Bank Park - Foxtel, Kayo

All times AEST

THE MANAGER'S OFFICE

If you want to avoid being called into the manager's office for an honest conversation (it'd probably be over Zoom to avoid confrontation)... tell your mates about us so we can grow big and strong. Thanks in advance 🙏