Paul Lewis: Sport can do better with criminally accused

Nick Kyrgios is currently due in a Canberra court on a charge of common assault. Photo / Photosport

OPINION:

Should Nick Kyrgios have been able to make his way into Monday morning's Wimbledon final after news broke he will appear before a Canberra court to be charged with assault after an alleged incident late last year?

Should the unnamed English Premier League footballer who has been charged with three counts of rape play in his club's pre-season fixtures because, like Kyrgios and all of us, he is innocent until proven guilty?

There's no clear answer – even though domestic violence and violence against women rose here and globally during the pandemic and lockdowns. There are few protocols governing this; most sports bodies tend to cover their backsides by issuing a "we can't comment because the matter is before the courts" statement.

As the men's governing body, the Association of Tennis Professionals, did: "The ATP is aware of the Australian case involving Nick Kyrgios but as legal proceedings are ongoing it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time," it told Reuters. Wimbledon – the All-England Tennis Club – said much the same. Kyrgios remained scheduled to play.

The problem for sports bodies is, if they stand an athlete down on the basis of an unproven accusation, they potentially open themselves to legal challenges, principally around preventing said athlete from pursuing his chosen career.

It doesn't help that a player like Kyrgios is involved. A polarising force, some (like me) find him thoroughly unlikeable and unwatchable; a man with a mouth like a cavern from which all manner of things spill; a spoiled child in a man's body, enjoying the attention his misbehaviour on court brings him when his talent doesn't.

But surely tennis – and other sports – must develop a set of rules, protocols which determine what happens if criminal charges against a player occur, even if guilt or innocence has not yet been decided.

All Black Shannon Frizell received diversion after being charged with assault in 2021. Photo / Photosport

Last year, when All Black Shannon Frizell faced two charges of male assaults female and one of common assault in a Dunedin bar, he was suspended after a NZR misconduct hearing – missing a Highlanders match and the first Rugby Championship test against the Wallabies.

The charges were later dropped after Frizell went through diversion. He said afterwards: "I would like to take this opportunity to say how very sorry I am for my behaviour during [the] incident... I would especially like to say sorry to the two people involved and for the harm I have caused. I let myself and others down and will now try to do everything I can to restore people's faith in me."

Frizell suffered an injury after the charges were dropped. He is traning with the All Black squad as injury cover and is under pressure for a loose forward spot for the World Cup; others progressed while he was absent.

Clearly Frizell's behaviour in a bar is more clear-cut than the prospect, for a sports body, of unravelling a potential he-said-she-said incident like the one in which Kyrgios is alleged to have grabbed a former girlfriend, according to media reports. The legal complexities can be seen in his lawyer's assertion that Kyrgios is not considered charged until he appears in court.

But, oh, for the clarity of what happened to Frizell to be applied in this and all other cases of this nature. Tennis has a bit of form in this regard – Alexander Zverev was the subject of an ATP internal investigation after he repeatedly and vehemently denied allegations from his former girlfriend that he was physically and emotionally abusive.

That was in 2021. So far, there is no news, no determination one way or the other. If Zverev had been stood down like Frizell, he could theoretically have been out of tennis all this time. He too lawyered up – gaining an injunction to stop the publication of one magazine which aired his ex-girlfriend's claims.

Controversial German tennis player Alexander Zverev. Photo / Photosport

So – what to do? While adding a passage into player contracts that they will automatically be stood down pending investigations is a possibility, and maybe even desirable, the Kyrgios and Zverev situations show how lawyers can shoot big holes in such intentions.

All professional sportspeople rely on image for sponsors, endorsements and other income that can total millions. Look at what happened to Novak Djokovic in that circus when he tried to enter Australia unvaccinated for the Australian Open; his image may never quite recover.

However, apart from the 'court of public opinion', the presumption of innocence and the right to make a legal living seems likely to prevail.

There's just one small thing – victims. Doing nothing means anyone abused by a sports star is less likely to blow the whistle if it all descends into the murkiness of the undetermined.

That, given the rising violence stats globally and nationally, just doesn't seem right. Surely sport has to make a stand of some kind – not just issue the "no comment" press release.