IP Freely

Prized Sydney Roosters recruit Willie Mason can’t avoid trouble. This time he has fined for pissing in a public place, just days before his first game for the club.

Mason and teammate Anthony Tupou were issued infringement notices by Port Macquarie police last Saturday night after urinating on the side of a road.

In all honesty though, who really cares? Is the main problem here that he didn’t find a tree?

The Roosters were forced to issue a statement claiming the players were disappointed and remorseful regarding the embarrassing situation, a move which simply perpetuated attention the club had already drawn.

“I think he’s a great coup for the club - obviously he creates a lot of interest with the club,” coach Brad Fittler said.

This encounter brings back the debate over whether football players should be role models for anything other then their playing capabilities. Mason has a history of supposed disgraceful actions, but I ask again - who really cares? Nobody got hurt - this time or ever - by pissing. I’ve never seen the headline ‘Death by Urination’. This is clearly one of two things: either an overzealous police officer cashing in on celebrity, or an overzealous club cashing in on a new recruit’s reputation.

Willie Mason isn’t perfect - nobody is - but as long as he can deliver on the field, who really cares what he does off-field if nobody gets hurt. This whole incident reeks of tall poppies.

Fat.