Rod Owen

Aug 25, 2005
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Grogansville
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Gold Coast
Pretty weird post. The discussion here and the post you replied to is talking about paedophilia. I wouldn’t be comparing it to other “sh*t they used to do and get away with”.
I was replying to (or intended to) a post rattling off a list of stuff that was associated with one club and suggested that it was exclusive to them.

I disagree completely, and stated that the same s**t happens everywhere - but if you win, no one cares.

Don't know what is weird about that?
 
Aug 25, 2005
11,640
16,684
Grogansville
AFL Club
Gold Coast
I think there are layers to this. Obviously even the most professional clubs of the 80s like Hawthorn, Carlton and Essendon would of had players regularly getting up to things that would never fly this century, or probably not even the mid to late 90s when things had gone mostly fully professional.

However, I think St Kilda being a rabble made things worse in Owens case.

Desperate for anyone who could play at all, he made his debut at 16, that would of been unlikely to happen at any other club at that time.

Ian Stewart just seemed to want a quick fix and to hell with the consequences. Being rubbish would of created its own pressure with that attitude as well, and different times obviously.

I do think their culture would of been worse than other sides though. Just as I am sure Carlton’s culture in the 2000s was way worse than say Sydney’s.
I thunk Ian Stewart is a perfect example of 'if you're winning no one cares'!
 
Aug 25, 2005
11,640
16,684
Grogansville
AFL Club
Gold Coast
I do think their culture would of been worse than other sides though. Just as I am sure Carlton’s culture in the 2000s was way worse than say Sydney’s.

Maybe. Probably. I was a little kid in the 80s so I wouldn't really know. But from the stories I've heard first hand, even if the culture was better - it still didn't make it good!
 

gingernuts

binlicker
Apr 25, 2018
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That was a tough read.
The effects of childhood sexual abuse is such a demon. Those around you cannot see what is happening as it slowly eats away your inside, your soul and spirit.

Hope Rod has turned the corner. Kudos to him for being a survivor.
It wont be just Rod Owen suffering the poor guy,It has a massive flow on effect.My son was molested by his school teacher when he was 7 years old . This occurred during school hours.The guilt I live with is harrowing because I feel I should have picked up on what was going on. I failed to protect my son. It is along story but I will say this the education dept, are know better than the Catholic church with cover ups.When I thought soemthing was wrong I confronted the school 's principal and another senior teacher and I was told to "fook off and mind your own business"12 months later the s**t hit the fan when it all come out with my son.The whole family was in turmoil with grief.His mum,his brothers also in Primary School it was the worst time of our lives.People say "why didnt you kill him" etc but its not how you think you have to try and keep your family together.
To see my son projectile vomiting at the mention of the school teachers name at the police sexual assault unit was an image that will live with me forever.
In some ways we were fortunate in that I had the whole family counselled on multiple occassions.The paedophile school teacher got 4 years jail.
My son is now 33 and married with a little tacker and doing really well.There is more to it but anyhow that was the gist of it.
Fooking s**t it was, 26 years later it is still s**t.
 
Absolutely terrible story. I remember Rod Owen's playing days very well. He possessed some serious talent. All the best to him and his family. St Kilda emerges from this with zero credit. Hopefully they try and do better by the bloke now.

No surprise to see the name Ian Stewart appear prominently in the story.

He was an appalling coach at my Club and it appears a worse administrator at the Saints.

The ABC story should be compulsory reading for every junior footy player with stars in their eyes.
 
It wont be just Rod Owen suffering the poor guy,It has a massive flow on effect.My son was molested by his school teacher when he was 7 years old . This occurred during school hours.The guilt I live with is harrowing because I feel I should have picked up on what was going on. I failed to protect my son. It is along story but I will say this the education dept, are know better than the Catholic church with cover ups.When I thought soemthing was wrong I confronted the school 's principal and another senior teacher and I was told to "fook off and mind your own business"12 months later the sh*t hit the fan when it all come out with my son.The whole family was in turmoil with grief.His mum,his brothers also in Primary School it was the worst time of our lives.People say "why didnt you kill him" etc but its not how you think you have to try and keep your family together.
To see my son projectile vomiting at the mention of the school teachers name at the police sexual assault unit was an image that will live with me forever.
In some ways we were fortunate in that I had the whole family counselled on multiple occassions.The paedophile school teacher got 4 years jail.
My son is now 33 and married with a little tacker and doing really well.There is more to it but anyhow that was the gist of it.
Fooking sh*t it was, 26 years later it is still sh*t.

You, your better half and your son have obviously put a great amount of work into helping him be where he is now. Absolute kudos.
 

gingernuts

binlicker
Apr 25, 2018
1,825
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Geelong
You, your better half and your son have obviously put a great amount of work into helping him be where he is now. Absolute kudos.
thank you. you read things like Rod Owen story and it all comes back.We didi speak openly about it with other family members and close friends I think that helped. We had no reason to be embarrassed or shamed as the school teacher prick was the one who did this to my family
 

the hypnotoad

Premiership Player
Mar 7, 2021
4,279
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Sydney
Sad story.

I honestly don't remember him as a player though, didn't ring any bells.

i read this post earlier and tried to ignore it ... but it sums up one of the major issues the story uncovers and underlines exactly what Lavender Bushranger was getting at ...
because you don't remember him 'as a player' is fckng irrelevant, it's a horror story whether rod owen was a 'famous footballer' or not, and it's almost like you're saying the brutal significance of the story is really only measured by rod owen's worth as a footballer
your post has nagged at me for two hours and needs to be called out for its pointless ignorance and cruelty
 

raymond35

Club Legend
Jan 5, 2004
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Pretty amazing story.
Growing up in Moorabbin Rod was well known for his antics, but i certainly never knew about the little league stuff.
I never understood the fascination with the Saints Disco either. Was a bloody s**t hole as far as i was concerned, deafening crap music and chock a block with drunken bogans.
 
Mar 2, 2015
18,940
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Hawthorn
To be fair, the only difference to what you've described at St. Kilda and other clubs at the the same time - was winning.
Not a single thing you've described wasn't exactly the same at all VFL clubs at the time.
The reason St. Kilda get lumped with it and are the poster boy for it - was only because they were rubbish on-field.
What a load of crap! :rolleyes:

Don't try to minimise the story by making lame excuses for the Saints that "everyone else was doing it". That simply isn't true.

I don't know of any other VFL club in the 80's who were handing out amphetamine tablets to their 16 year old players before a game.

Extraordinary stuff!

I don't even know of many clubs who were pushing kids of that age up for senior selection. Most clubs were pretty patient with their kids. They let 'em progress through the ranks from Under 19's to Reserves to Seniors.

St Kilda was a cash-strapped club in the 80's who pushed their young players through to senior footy because it was cheaper that way. Ian Stewart admitted it was a priority at that time to get the talented teenage kids in their zone signed and playing ASAP in case they fell away. That was a BIG DIFFERENCE between St Kilda and well-run clubs such as Hawthorn, Carlton and Essendon.

There were examples of teenagers at other clubs who were forward in their development and they'd play senior footy at a young age. But they weren't thrown to the wolves and treated just like the older blokes. Clubs looked after them. They gave them guidance, something St Kilda clearly failed to do in this instance.

Rod Owen had just lost his father. Most clubs would've looked after him and put his welfare first. The Saints only seemed to care about how many goals he could kick. They told him "Don't worry about school. You don't need that. We'll look after you". They thrust a 16yo kid straight into senior footy against the express wishes of his mother and father, then sat back and did nothing as he ran right off the rails. Disgraceful. That wouldn't happen at a good club.

The Saints had a unique reputation in the league for being the dysfunctional pisshead/party club thanks to their infamous social club disco. You can disagree all you like, but the Saints' reputation was well earned. It wasn't just because they lost that people said this s**t about them. The club was rabble in the 80's with terrible administration and bereft of good leadership.

I'm not naive. I know footballers from all clubs got up to some pretty wild s**t, especially back in the 80's and 90's before people carried phones around. But I'm not aware of any club who gave the green light to their players to go on 2 day drinking benders at their social club disco and enabled their 16/17 year old recruits to write themselves off right under the noses of club officials & committee members.



Oh, and this is the first time I've heard of pedos being in charge of a VFL Little League team and molesting the boys in their care.

Did you somehow skim over this rather important part of the article? :confusedv1:

You're incredibly naive Back One Out if you think this type of behaviour at all clubs wasn't common practice. It's just that no one cares when you win. It's the reason why I look down my nose at the average footy fan. The sort of sh*t behaviour that the average loser footy fan turns a blind eye to because the guy wears their team's jumper is just disgraceful really. If you win, no one cares. If you lose, it's a problem.
That's the whole problem with sporting culture across the country and always has been.
Maybe next time, try reading the article thoroughly before formulating an opinion and engage your brain before you post.
 
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Ando727

Norm Smith Medallist
Dec 12, 2009
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Hobart
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What a load of crap! :rolleyes:

Don't try to minimise the story by making lame excuses for the Saints that "everyone else was doing it". That simply isn't true.

I don't know of any other VFL club in the 80's who were handing out amphetamine tablets to their 16 year old players before a game.

Extraordinary stuff!

I don't even know of many clubs who were pushing kids of that age up for senior selection. Most clubs were pretty patient with their kids. They let 'em progress through the ranks from Under 19's to Reserves to Seniors.

St Kilda was a cash-strapped club in the 80's who pushed their young players through to senior footy because it was cheaper that way. Ian Stewart admitted it was a priority at that time to get the talented teenage kids in their zone signed and playing ASAP in case they fell away. That was a BIG DIFFERENCE between St Kilda and well-run clubs such as Hawthorn, Carlton and Essendon.

There were examples of teenagers at other clubs who were forward in their development and they'd play senior footy at a young age. But they weren't thrown to the wolves and treated just like the older blokes. Clubs looked after them. They gave them guidance, something St Kilda clearly failed to do in this instance.

Rod Owen had just lost his father. Most clubs would've looked after him and put his welfare first. The Saints only seemed to care about how many goals he could kick. They told him "Don't worry about school. You don't need that. We'll look after you". They thrust a 16yo kid straight into senior footy against the express wishes of his mother and father, then sat back and did nothing as he ran right off the rails. Disgraceful. That wouldn't happen at a good club.

The Saints had a unique reputation in the league for being the dysfunctional pisshead/party club thanks to their infamous social club disco. You can disagree all you like, but the Saints' reputation was well earned. It wasn't just because they lost that people said this sh*t about them. The club was rabble in the 80's with terrible administration and bereft of good leadership.

I'm not naive. I know footballers from all clubs got up to some pretty wild sh*t, especially back in the 80's and 90's before people carried phones around. But I'm not aware of any club who gave the green light to their players to go on 2 day drinking benders at their social club disco and enabled their 16/17 year old recruits to write themselves off right under the noses of club officials & committee members.



Oh, and this is the first time I've heard of pedos being in charge of a VFL Little League team and molesting the boys in their care.

Did you somehow skim over this rather important part of the article? :confusedv1:

Maybe next time, try reading the article thoroughly before formulating an opinion and engage your brain before you post.
Spot on, mate. That was ridiculous drivel being posted and you called him out perfectly.
 
Oct 9, 2003
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i read this post earlier and tried to ignore it ... but it sums up one of the major issues the story uncovers and underlines exactly what Lavender Bushranger was getting at ...
because you don't remember him 'as a player' is fckng irrelevant, it's a horror story whether rod owen was a 'famous footballer' or not, and it's almost like you're saying the brutal significance of the story is really only measured by rod owen's worth as a footballer
your post has nagged at me for two hours and needs to be called out for its pointless ignorance and cruelty
Your post needs to be called out for being so daft.
Before you got up on your busted soap box to deliver that pointless rant, did you miss the very first line in my post?

My point about not remembering him, was that in the article there was a video of him dominating against North at the MCG in 1991. I was there and have no memory of it.
 
The ABC story kept me busy for a while yesterday morning. There was a very similar lengthy article a few weeks back about ex-Wallaby Tony Daly.
I read the one about Daly too it was horrible, that front row was huge in the 91 World Cup final. I also read it with reference to what's going on in Canberra at the moment and thought wouldn't be nice of female victims who come forth with similar tales are believed unconditionally like these guys are. That's not to downplay these experiences but a double standard clearly exists.
 
Apr 28, 2008
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I read the one about Daly too it was horrible, that front row was huge in the 91 World Cup final. I also read it with reference to what's going on in Canberra at the moment and thought wouldn't be nice of female victims who come forth with similar tales are believed unconditionally like these guys are. That's not to downplay these experiences but a double standard clearly exists.
Whilst I agree that there is often a double standard, I think this particular sense of credulity is more about that child abuse v adult abuse type thing. The likes of catholic institutions and junior sports also tend to be more under the microscope in recent times given recent reporting trends.
 
Whilst I agree that there is often a double standard, I think this particular sense of credulity is more about that child abuse v adult abuse type thing. The likes of catholic institutions and junior sports also tend to be more under the microscope in recent times given recent reporting trends.
English football has had it's moment of reckoning with the issue recently, I wouldn't be surprised if there were more stories like this. Any organisation that works with large numbers of young people has historically attracted the last sort of people that should be working there.
 
Aug 25, 2005
11,640
16,684
Grogansville
AFL Club
Gold Coast
What a load of crap! :rolleyes:

Don't try to minimise the story by making lame excuses for the Saints that "everyone else was doing it". That simply isn't true.

I don't know of any other VFL club in the 80's who were handing out amphetamine tablets to their 16 year old players before a game.

Extraordinary stuff!

I don't even know of many clubs who were pushing kids of that age up for senior selection. Most clubs were pretty patient with their kids. They let 'em progress through the ranks from Under 19's to Reserves to Seniors.

St Kilda was a cash-strapped club in the 80's who pushed their young players through to senior footy because it was cheaper that way. Ian Stewart admitted it was a priority at that time to get the talented teenage kids in their zone signed and playing ASAP in case they fell away. That was a BIG DIFFERENCE between St Kilda and well-run clubs such as Hawthorn, Carlton and Essendon.

There were examples of teenagers at other clubs who were forward in their development and they'd play senior footy at a young age. But they weren't thrown to the wolves and treated just like the older blokes. Clubs looked after them. They gave them guidance, something St Kilda clearly failed to do in this instance.

Rod Owen had just lost his father. Most clubs would've looked after him and put his welfare first. The Saints only seemed to care about how many goals he could kick. They told him "Don't worry about school. You don't need that. We'll look after you". They thrust a 16yo kid straight into senior footy against the express wishes of his mother and father, then sat back and did nothing as he ran right off the rails. Disgraceful. That wouldn't happen at a good club.

The Saints had a unique reputation in the league for being the dysfunctional pisshead/party club thanks to their infamous social club disco. You can disagree all you like, but the Saints' reputation was well earned. It wasn't just because they lost that people said this sh*t about them. The club was rabble in the 80's with terrible administration and bereft of good leadership.

I'm not naive. I know footballers from all clubs got up to some pretty wild sh*t, especially back in the 80's and 90's before people carried phones around. But I'm not aware of any club who gave the green light to their players to go on 2 day drinking benders at their social club disco and enabled their 16/17 year old recruits to write themselves off right under the noses of club officials & committee members.



Oh, and this is the first time I've heard of pedos being in charge of a VFL Little League team and molesting the boys in their care.

Did you somehow skim over this rather important part of the article? :confusedv1:

Maybe next time, try reading the article thoroughly before formulating an opinion and engage your brain before you post.
Honestly, that's the first time you've heard if that sort of stuff?

As I said, incredibly naive.
 
Aug 25, 2005
11,640
16,684
Grogansville
AFL Club
Gold Coast
Don't try to minimise the story by making lame excuses for the Saints that "everyone else was doing it". That simply isn't true.
And to be clear, I'm not minimising anything or excusing anything by pointing out the appalling behaviours from players at Hawthorn, Carlton and Essendon - I'm pointing out that pretending that this abhorrent s**t was limited to one club only is in fact playing it down.

This type of stuff wasn't an exception. It was the rule.

It was unacceptable and awful, and to play it down by naively pretending it was limited to one club with a 'bad culcha' is just dogshit.

It was common place, and completely acceptable if you were winning. No one cared. Fanbois cheered you on.That same mindset which you've displayed in this thread is sadly still quite common place.
 
Mar 2, 2015
18,940
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AFL Club
Hawthorn
Yep. :rolleyes:

You never addressed a single point I raised in my last post. You're just blathering on with the same tripe as before.

I get the distinct impression you can't read more than one or two sentences.

Good day, sir. I have better things to do than converse with fools.
 
Last edited:

the hypnotoad

Premiership Player
Mar 7, 2021
4,279
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AFL Club
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Your post needs to be called out for being so daft.
Before you got up on your busted soap box to deliver that pointless rant, did you miss the very first line in my post?

My point about not remembering him, was that in the article there was a video of him dominating against North at the MCG in 1991. I was there and have no memory of it.

and in the context of what happened to rod owen, your point wasn't worth making ... the thread was about the story of the childhood horrors he endured, not your memories as a football fan ... and yes, you said 'sad story' ... all heart
 
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