On a day that should be celebrated in Rugby League circles will now be seen as one of the darkest days and one that will tarnish forever the reputation of the game. In some strange wisdom the 8th person named as a Rugby League Immortal was Andrew Johns.
The award is judged purely on playing ability and character & off-field incidents are not taken into account but in this situation the premise of this so called honour has been shown to be a blight on the game. Regardless of what you think of Andrew Johns playing ability he is a player that should have had all his records wiped from the books and never mentioned in high regards.
Andrew Johns is a self confessed drug cheat who only came forward after he was caught in possession whilst overseas in London after his career was over. Although he never tested positive any player who confesses to a long history of drug taking through their career should be wiped from the game. Johns himself admitted that he had taken drugs for about ten years throughout his career and it was in a need to escape the pressure and to be able to cope. With this said, if John's never took drugs he most likely would never have reached the heights he did and therefore needed the drugs to reach the levels he did. On this basis alone Johns should never be held in high regard, let alone be made an immortal of the game. It also needs to be pointed out that Johns would never have come forward about his past drug taking if he was not caught.
Also to be considered is the racist comments made by Johns that were aimed at Inglis and Folau that caused Timanah Tahu to walk out of State of Origin in 2010. The comments made are not ones I will repeat but it is not hard to find exactly what was said. This incident also was not a one off and it is claimed that Johns has a history of using racist terms.
Now Rugby League has the great honour of one of it's Immortals forever tarnishing it's image with the spectre of drugs and racism.
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