This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

NRL players convicted of serious offences such as sexual assault should be banned for life, the league’s gender advisor and a former team captain says.

Former Canberra Raiders captain Alan Tongue also believes the NRL should consider decreasing the salary cap for players in response to a spate of recent alleged sexual assault and domestic violence incidents.

Five players are facing criminal charges before courts.

St George Illawarra player Jack de Belin was charged over allegations he sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman last weekend. The 27-year-old New South Wales representative forward was arrested and charged with one count of aggravated sexual assault.

Earlier this week, star Jarryd Hayne faced court over allegations he sexually assaulted and injured a woman in the NSW Hunter valley.

Manly Sea Eagles’ Dylan Walker has pleaded not guilty to assaulting his fiancee at a home on Sydney’s northern beaches. The 24-year-old was arrested and charged with common assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

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And Penrith reserve-grade halfback Liam Coleman has been charged with indecently assaulting a woman in an alleged incident along with Wests Tigers player Zane Musgrove.

Former Canberra Raiders captain Alan Tongue, who now works on community mentoring programs, said the scandals were tarnishing the game.

He said players were being paid more than ever and perhaps the NRL needed to consider increasing fines and decreasing the salary cap across the board.

“It’s one in all in, everyone is being tarred by the same brush,” he told Guardian Australia.

There’s speculation the code has lost up to $5m in sponsorship in recent weeks as a result of reputation damage.

Catharine Lumby, who has been a pro-bono gender adviser to the league since 2004, said incidents involving players were inevitable because it was a broader problem in society.

Lumby said while the NRL had the best anti-gender violence education program across all sports and was showing considerable leadership, stricter penalties were needed.

“My view is if someone is convicted of [domestic violence or sexual assault], they should never be allowed to play again,” she told Guardian Australia.

Players facing criminal charges should not be on the field until they were cleared, Lumby said.

“I’m advocating an extremely tough and, some would argue, unfair approach,” she said.

Lumby said she hadn’t come to that conclusion lightly but based it on more than a decade of examining the game’s gender issues.

“I think sport is right at the heart of Australian culture ... Sporting codes need to hold themselves to a higher standard than the community,” she said.

At present, the NRL’s integrity unit investigates allegations and assesses the severity of player breaches. The league waits for clubs to impose sanctions and if they aren’t satisfied they can apply tougher penalties. Some players have been stood aside in the past but it’s not a consistent rule.

Tongue said he supported lifetime bans for players convicted of serious offences. The 2017 ACT Australian of the Year finalist agreed the code needed to look at the sanctions of players.

Our Watch, an anti-gender violence campaign group, has been working with the NRL to help change its culture for four years.

The chief executive, Patty Kinnersly, said the recent spate of incidents showed the NRL still has work to do.

Sporting codes have a responsibility to set a tone that gender equality is promoted and normalised, she said.

“We’re moving beyond the stage that this behaviour is acceptable because the person is an athlete or a CEO or media personality,” Kinnersly told the Guardian.

The NRL recently participated in the UN’s 16 days of activism against gender violence campaign.

“As a game and a community, we endeavour to create a standard of behaviour and culture around respect towards women that runs through our rugby league clubs but also our schools, workplaces and society as a whole,” the league said in a statement.

The AFL has also been grappling with the issue of sexual harassment this year.

• In Australia, the national rape and domestic violence hotline is 1800 RESPECT (737 732) and the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14.