Nathan Broad, the AFL player at the centre of the Richmond photo scandal, has been handed a three-game ban by his club, to be served at the beginning of next season. Broad on Monday addressed the media alongside Richmond club president Peggy O’Neal and said he took “full responsibility” for sending an image of a topless woman wearing his premiership medal – without her consent.
In a statement read out by the player, he said he was “ashamed” and “embarrassed” but passed off the decision to send “a very private picture without this young woman’s consent” as a “very bad drunken” one.
He acknowledged he knew the woman in question, and spent time with her prior to this year’s grand final. He said he liked and respected her. However, Broad admitted he “lied to her and broke her trust” in not deleting and then distributing the photo. He said it was he, not the victim who deserves to be punished and that the woman in question “does not deserve any more pain”.
“Not only have I let down my family, my friends and the Richmond football club but most of all I let down a young woman who I cared about,” he said.
O’Neal said she and the club had been “disappointed” to learn that Broad had shared the image without consent, and reiterated that Richmond is a club committed to gender equity and respect and that his actions were “completely unacceptable”.
O’Neal added that if anything good was to come of this incident, she hoped that it would serve as a serious warning to all about respectful and responsible behaviour. She said the club would be looking for ways to educate players to ensure similar incidents never happen again.
Neither O’Neal nor Broad took questions from the assembled media.
The woman pictured in the photograph had previously ceased any police investigation into the distribution of the image. A statement released by her lawyers on Monday claimed she had no intention of pursuing a criminal investigation, but had approached police to get the image deleted from wherever it had been uploaded.
Under Victorian law, sharing an image without a person’s “express or implied consent” is considered “contrary to community standards of acceptable conduct”. This crime is commonly known as revenge porn and can carry up to a two-year prison sentence.
The statement also emphasised that she did not continue with the investigation because she wanted to avoid “further attention and distress” and “protect her identity”.
“Her main focus has been protecting her privacy, welfare and dignity as she tries to come to terms with what has happened,” the statement said. It added that “the unauthorised distribution of her photograph and the subsequent attention it has received has had a devastating impact on the young woman’s wellbeing.
“She is desperate to maintain her anonymity as she tries to get on with her life as best she can,” it read.
The length of the ban drew the ire of some AFL fans on social media, with suggestions the punishment was incommensurate with the club’s purported commitment to gender equity and respect.
3 weeks ... Nathan Broad has escaped with a slap on the wrist for what was (albeit allegedly/not proven by police or the courts) a sex crime
— Anthony Colangelo (@AnthColangelo) October 30, 2017
Nathan Broad has been suspended for three weeks and given a Channel Seven commentary role for sending the nude premiership medal photo.
— Titus O'Reily (@TitusOReily) October 30, 2017
