Fallout for Ben Cummins last year

[Jacks Fur Coat]

Police patrols, suicidal thoughts and his kids abused: Ref reveals sad fallout of GF gaffe


NRL PREMIERSHIP

• October 9, 2020 7:55am
• Source: FOX SPORTS

Cooper Cronk of the Roosters (left) reacts as he is sent to the sin bin by referee ben Cummins during the 2019 NRL Grand Final.Source: AAP
NRL referee Ben Cummins has finally spoken out about the abuse he copped after that fateful six-again call during last year’s grand final.


The senior rugby league official infamously called “six-again” to the Raiders but then quickly changed his mind, but Canberra player Jack Wighton had already played on and so lost the ball.

Many people believe the confusion cost the Raiders a premiership as the Roosters would then score a try to win the game in the frantic final moments.

Cummins has now spoken to the Sydney Morning Herald about that moment and the 12 months since, during which he and his family have been subjected to online abuse and threats.

The vitriol was so bad he had to “hide” for a week immediately after the grand final, then fled to Papua New Guinea for a month.

The NRL even called on police to patrol Cummins’ house following the game as a result of people trying to find out where he lives.

“I was ashamed, I couldn’t celebrate with my (referees) team in the hotel,” Cummins said.

“I had family in town for the game. I basically went home and went into hiding. I stayed at my house for a whole week.

“The local command got in contact and said they were monitoring the house.

“We were given a contact by the police we could call if someone was there.”

The abuse was so bad it affected Cummins’ mental health and he admits to contemplating suicide.

“I’ve thought about a lot worse than just walking away,” Cummins said.

“I’m not proud of it but I thought about it (suicide). I was in a dark place after the grand final. Being ashamed of your performance, there’s not a lot of people you want to talk to.

“If people could just realise what goes on inside your head when these things happen. Not just for myself but my family.”

Cummins said his son still gets bullied at school while his three daughters have been subjected to online abuse.

He wasn’t given the whistle for Friday’s grand final rematch between the Roosters and Raiders

[Mad_Rabid_Rooster]

Absolutely terrible. Regardless of the circumstances, nobody should have to go through that, especially wives, children and extended family members. Some "people" out there are beyond saving unfortunately. It is a sad state of affairs.

[Steakface]

Mate, reinforces something i've believed for a while. And that is, we've got plenty of disgusting narcs in our society. More than we used to for sure - perhaps social media created them?

Economic prosperity has papered it over, but we are a nation packed full of self-absorbed finger pointers who blow up at the slightest personal inconvenience.

No empathy. Full of perpetual outrage. Lured in by sensationalist tabloid news outlets. People have become insular, and have totally lost perspective. They are stuffed to the gills with household debt (we are NO.1 in the world for the record!) and are angry as **** because they have to commute 15 hours a week to a job they hate to pay off $800,000k mortgages.

No one gives a fk about anything excpet house prices. The pubs in the city aren't even friendly anymore. We are in straightjackets, surrounded by nanny rules at every turn. We think we are enlightened, but we aren't that far away from the 6'oclock swill really.

Glad I moved OS a few years ago.

Nowhere is perfect, but Australia is mentally sick.

[Jacks Fur Coat]

Mate, reinforces something i've believed for a while. And that is, we've got plenty of disgusting narcs in our society. More than we used to for sure - perhaps social media created them?

Economic prosperity has papered it over, but we are a nation packed full of self-absorbed finger pointers who blow up at the slightest personal inconvenience.

No empathy. Full of perpetual outrage. Lured in by sensationalist tabloid news outlets. People have become insular, and have totally lost perspective. They are stuffed to the gills with household debt (we are NO.1 in the world for the record!) and are angry as **** because they have to commute 15 hours a week to a job they hate to pay off $800,000k mortgages.

No one gives a fk about anything excpet house prices. The pubs in the city aren't even friendly anymore. We are in straightjackets, surrounded by nanny rules at every turn. We think we are enlightened, but we aren't that far away from the 6'oclock swill really.

Glad I moved OS a few years ago.

Nowhere is perfect, but Australia is mentally sick.

And thats why they should keep the bloody flag the same!

[zac]

i remember the nrl's promotion of our first match with canberra this year featuring the 6 again decision and implying it was the reason canberra lost.

nrl lucky they don't have blood on their hands.

[redwhiteblue]

Mate, reinforces something i've believed for a while. And that is, we've got plenty of disgusting narcs in our society. More than we used to for sure - perhaps social media created them?

Economic prosperity has papered it over, but we are a nation packed full of self-absorbed finger pointers who blow up at the slightest personal inconvenience.

No empathy. Full of perpetual outrage. Lured in by sensationalist tabloid news outlets. People have become insular, and have totally lost perspective. They are stuffed to the gills with household debt (we are NO.1 in the world for the record!) and are angry as **** because they have to commute 15 hours a week to a job they hate to pay off $800,000k mortgages.

No one gives a fk about anything excpet house prices. The pubs in the city aren't even friendly anymore. We are in straightjackets, surrounded by nanny rules at every turn. We think we are enlightened, but we aren't that far away from the 6'oclock swill really.

Glad I moved OS a few years ago.

Nowhere is perfect, but Australia is mentally sick.

Hit the nail on the head with that one. I got into an argument during work (it's not the same when it's via Zoom) about the 6 to go nonsense with a Raiders fan who can't get it through his head that Canberra never once lead that grand final and if they were that good, they would have scored whilst Cooper was in the bin but they didn't. Self entitled people thinking the world owes them something. It's like the people getting all outraged because Chris Lilley's show got pulled from Netflix but no empathy at all for the young man suffering from depression from all the bullying he copped because one of the characters was supposedly based on him. That young man's life is never going to be the same again now but oh no, let's just keep our gentle satire..well there is nothing gentle about it if another human being is being hounded to the point where their mental health is under a cloud. I agree with you too regarding the real estate obsession and it's scary. I work for one of the major banks and some people are just obsessed with getting more and more and not satisfied with what they have. I'm so glad I was raised by parents who lived through WWII and we were taught to live modestly and be humble and kind to others and to apologise if you've done the wrong thing. We've just sold our last investment property as a family back home in country Qld and everyone keeps asking me what I'm going to buy next and I say 'nothing' and I'm going to keep working until I'm in my 70's because I love working and helping people, not because I have to and be some slave to some gigantic mortgage and to acquire some instagram worthy lifestyle, whatever that is.. I hope you are safe and well OS Steakface. . PS I can't remember the last time I went to a pub and that has nothing to do with lockdown..

[redwhiteblue]

Absolutely terrible. Regardless of the circumstances, nobody should have to go through that, especially wives, children and extended family members. Some "people" out there are beyond saving unfortunately. It is a sad state of affairs.

I remember when one of the Sharks coaches got sacked a few years back (I think it was Stuart Raper) and his young daughter was taken to hospital with very bad stomach cramps. They thought she had appendicitis but it turned out to be anxiety attacks brought on by school yard bullying..not cool...

[ism22]

Absolutely terrible. Regardless of the circumstances, nobody should have to go through that, especially wives, children and extended family members. Some "people" out there are beyond saving unfortunately. It is a sad state of affairs.

Agreed.

IMO the media hung him out to dry too. It's a disgrace how much whinging has gone on about our victory over a 12 month period. I'd argue it's all fuelled by the media too. At the game there was zero objection to it... people just wanted an excuse for the loss and the media cherrypicked this one.

I literally went home from the stadium on a train + walked up Albion st to my place without hearing anybody suggest anything 'controversial'. Then I read the papers the next day and apparently our win was controversial + people from Canberra were messaging me to say it was all 'controversial'. I had no response to this as the clutch moment was a 90m try that was simply poor defence on behalf of the Faders.

Sorta glad we're not in the preliminary finals because I'm sick of how we've been treated as fans too. For a full ~6 months after our win I'd go to kids' parties with my 4 y/o and have fully grown men/women telling me that my team didn't deserve to win. About a month ago the same thing happened... straight after the Roosters v Raiders game we visited the same family and they were heckling me as if they'd just won a GF. I was graceful and was like 'congrats... yeah it was a good game... well earned... hope you guys beat the Storm...etc'. (Didn't mention the dog shot on Morris once or give a whinging couldabeen scenario). Maybe that's just how Robbo's coached us as fans as well? Our defence wasn't good enough to win... own it and move on!

To me there's been no grace about it all. I know I regularly blame the refs after a bad loss as this is a natural part of the grieving process. However, for 12 months and directly targeted at friends during BBQs and stuff? Nup. To me the Faders + media have been big babies about it. I'm glad we lost because they can all shut up now.

[Johnny Tobin]

If any fans wanted to lynch Cummins it would be ours after almost two decades of hammerings from him.

[King Salvo]

It's only a game but the press/media have a case to answer as they revved it up with headlines about the clappers being robbed/ref blunder/adds for the 6 again in Chooks vs Clappers re-match etc etc etc- They think it sells papers and attracts eye balls but forget the human side of it all.

There are strange people out there whose lives seem to revolve around one thing i.e football team- it is a sad state of affairs if this is all that gets them up in the morning and all they have to look forward to.

[ism22]

It's only a game but the press/media have a case to answer as they revved it up with headlines about the clappers being robbed/ref blunder/adds for the 6 again in Chooks vs Clappers re-match etc etc etc- They think it sells papers and attracts eye balls but forget the human side of it all.

There are strange people out there whose lives seem to revolve around one thing i.e football team- it is a sad state of affairs if this is all that gets them up in the morning and all they have to look forward to.

My biggest complaint about this approach from the media is that it's biased and ignores the other 79.5 minutes of footy that was played. We saw zero technical analysis of how we beat the Faders. Instead, we just saw this cry baby BS.

When we lost to the Faders this year, the media asked Robbo whether he wanted to complain about the refs missing the blatant high shot on Morris. He said something like... 'no... look... if you're arguing about little things like that then you're clutching at straws... our defence wasn't good enough to win the game and I take responsibility for that'.

I was proud of Robbo's response because it shows where we're at as a club. You like to win every game, of course, but how you respond when things don't go your way can be a far more telling story.

[JAF]

My biggest complaint about this approach from the media is that it's biased and ignores the other 79.5 minutes of footy that was played. We saw zero technical analysis of how we beat the Faders. Instead, we just saw this cry baby BS.

When we lost to the Faders this year, the media asked Robbo whether he wanted to complain about the refs missing the blatant high shot on Morris. He said something like... 'no... look... if you're arguing about little things like that then you're clutching at straws... our defence wasn't good enough to win the game and I take responsibility for that'.

I was proud of Robbo's response because it shows where we're at as a club. You like to win every game, of course, but how you respond when things don't go your way can be a far more telling story.

Excellent post ISM and very well said!

[Rooster1908]

I remember when one of the Sharks coaches got sacked a few years back (I think it was Stuart Raper) and his young daughter was taken to hospital with very bad stomach cramps. They thought she had appendicitis but it turned out to be anxiety attacks brought on by school yard bullying..not cool...

That's why I'm so against the attacks on our players on here . Social media is used so much to attack young people be it on the phone or on the net , forums should be used as a constructive media not a personal vendetta when you perceive someone has not been up to people's expectations

[BUDDY]

The TV, radio and newspaper media fuelled this way beyond anyone else drilling as fact that had the call not been made that the Raiders would definitely had scored.

Remember the dumb arse Thurston's first question to Robbo?

I was at the game and on the way home all Raiders supporters were congratulating me. Nobody knew anything about the 6 again call being so controversial. As soon as I hit the car that is all anyone was talking about on the radio. And that is what it was like for weeks. If it had been on the other foot and we copped the same call then Cummins would have been given the keys to Canberra and put in a horse carriage and had a ticker tape parade.

[King Salvo]

That's why I'm so against the attacks on our players on here . Social media is used so much to attack young people be it on the phone or on the net , forums should be used as a constructive media not a personal vendetta when you perceive someone has not been up to people's expectations

SPOT on all that stuff about Flano that came out quoting club sources/insiders etc that he was going to be punted - very unprofessional of the club is this was being leaked - what would have happened if the player was in a dark space thinking he was the cause of not winning the comp and he topped himself.

People don't think about the consequences of their actions and what it could do to others- mental health is a growing issue not just with sporting people but society in general and any one thing even minor in nature could push someone over the edge.

I sincerely hope all on here think about what they write and post and be more kind in their comments not only about players but about each other. It really annoys me when they say how the Chooks and Vermin hate each other as that really encourages behavior which is not in the interest of anyone or society - to hate something or someone is going backwards as a human race.

Even the article's headline will stir it up again - GF gaffe

Police patrols, suicidal thoughts and his kids abused: Ref reveals sad fallout of GF gaffe