THE son of St George great “Lord Ted” Goodwin has become the first rugby league player to be banned for inappropriate use of social media — but claims he was victim of a joke.

Grayson Goodwin’s unprecedented 26-week ban has left his dream of following his father and brother Bryson into the NRL in tatters after a homophobic posting on his Twitter account appeared during the South Sydney versus Tigers game on March 21.

The tweet “Gay refs shouldn’t be allowed to ref because they r so s##t’’ appeared for only a few minutes.

Goodwin, who plays for Cabramatta Two Blues, told the NSWRL a friend tweeted the message when he went to the toilet and he removed it when he returned. But it had already been retweeted by about 30 others.

The NSWRL refused to accept the testimony of the man who claimed to have posted the message and notified Goodwin by letter that he had been kicked out of the competition until September 20.

Goodwin accused the NSWRL of double standards after an Under-20s state player was suspended for just two weeks for his on-field remark describing a Queensland player as a “f … … gay c …” during last week’s curtain-raiser to the Pacific Nation’s Test.

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Goodwin said his season-ending suspension was the result of an ambush after he appeared at an NSWRL meeting without a lawyer. Goodwin claims he briefly left his phone with a mate while watching Bryson play for Souths. “I came back from the toilet and he gave me my phone back,” he said. “I looked at it a couple of minutes later and I had about 30 Twitter notifications.

“I opened my account and saw the Tweet and deleted it straight away.

“I told my mate off and I forgot all about it. The post was only up for eight minutes.

“Next thing I know I am being asked to attend a meeting with the NSWRL. I got a letter saying I had breached my contract and had to attend a meeting on the Wednesday.

“I opened my account and saw the Tweet and deleted it straight away. I told my mate off and I forgot all about it.

Grayson Goodwin

“I walked in thinking I was having a meeting with one person and there were eight people and a lawyer asking me if I had a lawyer too. I felt like I had killed someone.’’

Goodwin’s friend attended the hearing and took responsibility for the tweet, which was understood to be aimed at openly homosexual referee Matt Checcin (above). “He stood up and told them what had happened,” Goodwin said. “They didn’t say anything and then I got another letter saying I had been suspended for the rest of the year.

“My mate owned up but the tribunal was of the opinion the account was mine and so was the phone. My career has been ruined and I can’t play at all.

“The ironic thing is that Matt used to babysit me when I was a kid and I have nothing but respect for him.”

Having served six weeks of his suspension, Goodwin only agreed to be interviewed after Wests Tiger Mitchell Moses was suspended for two weeks for a homophobic slur broadcast live on Fox Sports.

The man who testified to sending the offending tweet, who asked not to be named, said: “Grayson has got on my Facebook a couple of times and sent stuff to chicks, so I thought I would get him back.

“I went to the tribunal and told them what happened.

“They thought I was bullshitting. I feel so terrible because the bloke has lost his contract and his career.”