An Australian rugby league footballer’s comparison of a hard-fought victory to losing his virginity has split opinions.
Queensland forward Sam Thaiday was asked for his thoughts on his team’s 6-4 State of Origin series-opening win over New South Wales on Wednesday night.
“It was a bit like losing your virginity,” he told Channel Nine’s Brad Fittler. “It wasn’t very nice but we got the job done.”
“I’m not sure I have a second question,” said Fittler.
@DHughesy pic.twitter.com/sfXqUHc3vb
— Tan_Tan (@tetitanya) June 1, 2016
The response has been mixed, with some calling for Thaiday to apologise for the analogy.
The Daily Telegraph decried Thaiday’s “lewd and tasteless victory speech”, noting that the “cringeworthy” interview “soured a hard-fought” game and was “screened live nationwide”.
The Family First party expressed their shock to News Corp Australia newspapers that Thaiday, “a family man”, “would bring sex into the discussion over a game of rugby league”.
The former NSW Labor deputy leader Linda Burney, and now federal parliament candidate, tweeted a link to the Daily Telegraph’s coverage, and called for Thaiday to apologise before breakfast.
Sam Thaiday's comments unacceptable, he should apologize b4 he has his breakfast this AM #stateoforigin
— Linda Burney MP (@LindaBurneyMP) June 1, 2016
https://t.co/M4LRRgFuow
Richard Hinds, the Daily Telegraph’s sports columnist, noted on Twitter that it was only “a bit like losing your virginity” if your own “not very nice” experience was “in front of 70,000 people with Gus Gould criticising your performance”.
"It was a bit like losing your virginity...in front of 70,000 people with Gus Gould criticising your performance" Updated Thaiday.#Origin
— Richard Hinds (@rdhinds) June 1, 2016
The Huffington Post called Thaiday’s line the “Most Tasteless Sport Thing Ever”, suggesting that writer Anthony Sharwood is blissfully unaware of Mitchell Pearce’s simulated sex act with a dog, or considers it less offensive.
But others were in favour of any deviation from the usual post-match chat of games of two halves.
“Interviewing athletes, by and large, is a painful and boring exercise,” wrote Oliver Murray of news.com.au in an opinion piece defending Thaiday for “breaking away from the usual script”.
Sam Thaiday just won analogy of the year. #origin
— Dave Hughes (@DHughesy) June 1, 2016
Spare me your confected outrage over Sam Thaiday. Good on him for having some personality.
— Steve Zemek (@stevezemek) June 1, 2016
Thaiday should have said "yeah nah, obviously, at the end of the day, obviously, as a playing group we put out best foot forward" #origin
— Trent (@keipert76) June 2, 2016
I dont know why Sam Thaiday said what he did, but I understand "professional i'm outraged people" even less.
— Andrew Voss (@AndrewVossy) June 1, 2016
Thaiday’s teammate Johnathan Thurston – whose penalty goal made the difference for the Queensland side – gave an encouraging message to the students of Aurukun state school in his post-match interview.
“There’s obviously been a lot of trouble up there, so to all the students there, I just want you to believe in yourselves and keep turning up to school.”
The Aurukun campus of the Cape York Aboriginal Australian Academy, in far north Queensland has been troubled by violence from students in the past few months.
Thurston’s remark was met with a positive reception (“Attention Sam Thaiday: this is how you should do it” – Huffington Post Australia) though no coverage in the Daily Telegraph.
Thaiday brushed off criticism on Channel Nine on Thursday morning.
“I could stand there, give a boring interview straight down the line, chuck in a few cliches, but I thought I’d be different and toss something else up.
“I’m living with it, and it was pretty funny, I thought,” he said.
A Channel Seven reporter pressed him to reveal contrition at Sydney airport.
“Do you regret your comments from last night?”
“No.”
“You don’t think they’re inappropriate at all?”
“Nah.”
“You’re a professional athlete and you’re referring to winning a game like losing your virginity.”
“Yeah.”
“You don’t think that’s inappropriate?”
“No, not at all.”
Do you regret your comments? "No. Not at all" -Sam Thaiday speaking to @AshleaBrown7 https://t.co/9TSVaWPqxf #Originhttps://t.co/VNTQ6k3HP1
— 7 News Sydney (@7NewsSydney) June 1, 2016
It was not the first time Thaiday had linked his performance on the field to that in the bedroom.
When he was denied a try in Brisbane’s round six win over St George Illawarra in April, he told Fittler – again – after the match that it was “like almost losing your virginity”.
“That’s what it was like. I was so close but I didn’t get there.”
