An Indigenous player allegedly called a rival player “white scum” during an NRL match last season — but the matter went nowhere because there was no audio of the incident and the opposition club had no interest in making a complaint.

The NRL confirmed to this column that the club had taken the incident to its wellbeing and education department, not the Integrity Unit, and suggested further education was needed around the language being used on the field.

When the NRL asked the club if it wanted to make a complaint, it declined. Because there was no audio nor vision of the incident, the NRL didn’t pursue it further.

The Herald has decided not to name the players nor clubs involved because the player who allegedly made the remark was not charged, and there is no proof the comment was made.

There’s also no value in rehashing the same circular debate like the one around Matildas captain Sam Kerr and allegations she called a London police officer a “stupid white bastard” after a night out last year.

Yet, the incident raised with the NRL is worth discussion as it reveals the racial fractures that exist in rugby league.

Spencer Leniu (right) of the Roosters exchanges heated words with Kotoni Staggs of the Broncos in Las Vegas.Credit: Getty

That’s something that has been painfully exposed by Roosters prop Spencer Leniu’s “monkey” comment to Broncos five-eighth Ezra Mam and the subsequent reaction of Polynesian players who say they have brushed off on-field racist remarks for years — and even consider the use of such language as “banter”.

The NRL judiciary on Monday night banned Leniu for eight matches. Manly and Tongan international Haumole Olakau’atu thought it was too much. Retired North Queensland star Johnathan Thurston argued “the game has failed” Indigenous Australians. He wanted 12.

Privately, the Roosters are less concerned about Leniu spending two months on the sidelines – he did, after all, plead guilty – than the judiciary flatly rejecting his claim that he didn’t understand the term “monkey” was racist.

“The panel did not accept the player’s claimed ignorance that he was not aware that ‘monkey’ was, when used towards the Indigenous community, a racist term,” the judiciary chairman, the Honourable Justice Geoff Bellew SC, said.

The game is fortunate to have someone of Bellew’s intellect and standing – a Supreme Court judge no less - running an eye over such important matters, but the findings against Leniu were brutal. The judiciary essentially ruled he was a liar........

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