{"id":80248,"date":"2024-03-11T09:16:42","date_gmt":"2024-03-11T13:16:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=80248"},"modified":"2024-03-11T09:16:42","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T13:16:42","slug":"rugby-league-player-banned-for-8-games-after-racial-slur-against-rival-in-australias-nrl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/11\/rugby-league-player-banned-for-8-games-after-racial-slur-against-rival-in-australias-nrl\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby league player banned for 8 games after racial slur against rival in Australia&#8217;s NRL"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SYDNEY (AP)- A rugby league player has been banned for eight games after using a racial slur against a rival during the Australian NRL&#8217;s season-opening round in Las Vegas. A National Rugby League judiciary on Monday rejected a claim by Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu that he didn&#8217;t\u00a0 know he was racially vilifying Ezra Mam when he directed the slur at the Brisbane Broncos player in the March 2 match. The 23-year-old Leniu has Samoan heritage and has represented its national team. He was born in New Zealand and moved to Australia as a child. He signed for the Roosters this season after playing for the defending champion Penrith Panthers since 2019. Mam is an Indigenous Australian who has Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent. Leniu issued a public apology&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2024%2F03%2F11%2Frugby-league-player-banned-for-8-games-after-racial-slur-against-rival-in-australias-nrl%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SYDNEY (AP)- A rugby league player has been banned for eight games after using a racial slur against a rival during the Australian NRL&#8217;s season-opening round in Las Vegas. A National Rugby League judiciary on Monday rejected a claim by Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu that he didn&#8217;t\u00a0 know he was racially vilifying Ezra Mam when he directed the slur at the Brisbane Broncos player in the March 2 match. The 23-year-old Leniu has Samoan heritage and has represented its national team. He was born in New Zealand and moved to Australia as a child. He signed for the Roosters this season after playing for the defending champion Penrith Panthers since 2019. Mam is an Indigenous Australian who has Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent. Leniu issued a public apology... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2024%2F03%2F11%2Frugby-league-player-banned-for-8-games-after-racial-slur-against-rival-in-australias-nrl%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rugby league player banned for 8 games after racial slur against rival in Australia&#039;s NRL - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/11\/rugby-league-player-banned-for-8-games-after-racial-slur-against-rival-in-australias-nrl\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rugby league player banned for 8 games after racial slur against rival in Australia&#039;s NRL - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SYDNEY (AP)- A rugby league player has been banned for eight games after using a racial slur against a rival during the Australian NRL&#8217;s season-opening round in Las Vegas. A National Rugby League judiciary on Monday rejected a claim by Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu that he didn&#8217;t\u00a0 know he was racially vilifying Ezra Mam when he directed the slur at the Brisbane Broncos player in the March 2 match. The 23-year-old Leniu has Samoan heritage and has represented its national team. He was born in New Zealand and moved to Australia as a child. He signed for the Roosters this season after playing for the defending champion Penrith Panthers since 2019. Mam is an Indigenous Australian who has Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent. Leniu issued a public apology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/11\/rugby-league-player-banned-for-8-games-after-racial-slur-against-rival-in-australias-nrl\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-11T13:16:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/11\\\/rugby-league-player-banned-for-8-games-after-racial-slur-against-rival-in-australias-nrl\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/11\\\/rugby-league-player-banned-for-8-games-after-racial-slur-against-rival-in-australias-nrl\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Rugby league player banned for 8 games after racial slur against rival in Australia&#8217;s NRL\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-11T13:16:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/11\\\/rugby-league-player-banned-for-8-games-after-racial-slur-against-rival-in-australias-nrl\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":382,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/11\\\/rugby-league-player-banned-for-8-games-after-racial-slur-against-rival-in-australias-nrl\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/11\\\/rugby-league-player-banned-for-8-games-after-racial-slur-against-rival-in-australias-nrl\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/11\\\/rugby-league-player-banned-for-8-games-after-racial-slur-against-rival-in-australias-nrl\\\/\",\"name\":\"Rugby league player banned for 8 games after racial slur against rival in Australia's NRL - 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A National Rugby League judiciary on Monday rejected a claim by Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu that he didn&#8217;t\u00a0 know he was racially vilifying Ezra Mam when he directed the slur at the Brisbane Broncos player in the March 2 match. The 23-year-old Leniu has Samoan heritage and has represented its national team. He was born in New Zealand and moved to Australia as a child. He signed for the Roosters this season after playing for the defending champion Penrith Panthers since 2019. Mam is an Indigenous Australian who has Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent. 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