Australian rugby star loses captaincy for urinating in public

Gold Coast (Australia), Dec 12: An Australian rugby star has been fined and stripped of captaincy after he was found guilty of urinating in public.

Greg Bird, who has represented Australia at the international level and is co-captain of the club Gold Coast Titans, was fined Australian dollars 15,000 and also issued infringement notice.

According to a report on Bird's club Titans' website, the player was alleged to have urinated on a police car in the car park of a hotel. But he had refuted it.

"I know it was a stupid and a really dumb thing to do, but I really want to emphasise the fact that I didn't intend to disrespect anybody and I definitely didn't do it on the car," Bird said.

"I would like to apologise to the club and its fans and anyone I may have offended, especially to my wife Becky. It has put a dampener on our wedding weekend and I am incredibly embarrassed and disappointed in myself," added Bird.

Titans CEO Graham Annesley said, "All players need to accept personal responsibility for their actions and recognise that incidents of this nature not only damage the reputation and commercial prospects of the club, but also bring the image of the NRL and the game of Rugby League into substantial disrepute."

"Obviously this is very embarrassing from the clubs perspective. It is unacceptable from the clubs perspective. We'll continue to talk to the NRL and we'll hold a club disciplinary meeting later this week so we follow due process. It is to Greg's credit that he has publicly apologised and clarified exactly what took place. That will all be taken into consideration before a decision is being made," Annesley had said earlier.

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