Broken Man

Last night as I watched Phil Gould interview Manly footballer Brett Stewart and his girlfriend Jamie Baker I had to hold back the tears for a young man who has lost almost 18 months of his life.

Exactly 2 years ago this weekend Stewart was an important part of the Premiership winning Manly team. He was a fantastic league player and was chosen to be the face of rugby league. It looked like Brett Stewart had the world at his feet.

All of that changed just 6 months later when a young girl accused him of sexual assault. He was immediately given a 4 match suspension by the NRL, no questions asked, and his name was in tatters.

For 18 months Stewart, with Baker by his side, had to fight to clear his name. On Wednesday he won that fight but last nights gripping interview on the Footy Show showed that it had not come without a price.

Stewart looked shattered and broken. His voice was timid and his words came out slowly, like he had not one ounce of confidence left in him.

The Brett Stewart case highlights the point that these days, especially if your a man - and a footballer at that, you are more likely to be guilty until proven innocent. Even the NRL didn't ask him for his side of the story and disgustingly, the NRL haven't contacted him to apologise.

The accuser in this case was a young girl that we don't know much about. From what can be released she suffers from a mental illness where her memory isn't in the best shape. From other details released it would appear that her family were the ones that pushed this to trial.

What this girl and her family have done is not only ruin the life of one man and his family, they have also perhaps made it harder for genuine victims of assault to come forward. There will be victims out there who will now think that they may not be believed because of this girl crying wolf.

I assume the motivation of this family was money and to take Stewart for everything, although if reports are true there is nothing left. To clear his name Stewart had to spend his life savings and last nights interview was a paid one to recoup some of his costs. It would be nice if the NRL stepped forward and provided some compensation for unfairly suspending him from his matches.

Next year Stewart will be injury free and his life will start to get back on track. I look forward to seeing him play some of the brilliant football he is known for. However if last nights demeanour is anything to go by he has a long way to go to build up his confidence and trust in people.

Hopefully the public put their full support behind him and help fix the broken man we saw on television.