Rugby league great Mark Geyer has defended Paul Gallen after the former Sharks captain was filmed in an altercation with another man at a pub on the NSW south coast on Friday evening.
Ny Breaking Australia exclusively revealed Gallen was filmed being restrained by up to four men at a time at the Shoalhaven Heads Hotel, with the footy star turned Nine commentator since expressing his disappointment with himself for getting involved in the fight.
Gallen had gone to the hotel with his 2GB radio colleague Mark Levy, who could be heard in the background shouting: ‘Stop it. Enough enough. Gal, stop’ as the men fought to stop the 42-year-old NSW Origin legend as shocked drinkers looked on.
Geyer told his Triple M breakfast co-host Mick Molloy about the dangers of going to the pub as a footy star or boxer.
“Any time you go to a pub or anywhere where there’s alcohol and other men, the alcohol and the testosterone create the perfect storm when it comes to trouble,” Geyer said on the show on Wednesday.
Mark Geyer says high-profile athletes such as football stars are always the target of trouble when they are in pubs
‘To be honest, I used to look for it. I knew that if I was in a pub and someone made fun of me for being in a pub, I would say, ‘stop it, I’m enjoying it here.’
Geyer said the big difference today is that everyone has a cell phone and can record what’s happening.
The ex-Penrith star explained that he was often confronted by aggressive pubgoers when he had a beer with his friends.
‘So that’s what the message would be for young kids who play sports or play prominent roles today: when you’re out at night, you say, ‘Let’s have another drink or let’s go to that pub. “.
‘Do not do it. You better go home. You are a target. You’re definitely a target.
“Everyone will say Gal can have a drink and go out. But that’s really not possible when you’re so famous and he’s a boxer.
‘A, he’s a rugby league star, and B, he’s a boxer. That’s a double target on Gal’s head because everyone’s going to try to attack him.”
Geyer (pictured celebrating Penrith’s 1991 grand final win) says he often attracted aggressive attention from pubgoers when he was drinking
Geyer believes Gallen (pictured during the brawl exclusively revealed by Ny Breaking Australia) is a ‘double target’ because he was a footy star and a boxer
Geyer said his advice to his 22-year-old son is not to get into a situation outside his control in a pub or club.
“Cell phones these days are like a loaded gun and they can get you into so much trouble,” he said.
‘Don’t go looking for it. Do as I say, not as I did.”
When Ny Breaking Australia asked Gallen about the incident on Tuesday afternoon, he initially said: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
When told that witnesses had captured footage of the fight, Gallen added, “No worries,” then asked, “What do the witnesses say happened?”
Hours after the video of the skirmish was published, Gallen offered a fuller version of what happened.
“I was involved in an altercation with customers at the Shoalhaven Heads Hotel last Friday evening,” he said.
‘The clients were unknown to me and the group I was in. The video circulating online does not accurately reflect the full circumstances under which I was first affected.
The Nine Network NRL commentator (circled in red) was filmed being restrained by up to four men at the Shoalhaven Heads Hotel on the NSW south coast on Friday evening.
“While I did not strike in retaliation, I apologize to the hotel owners and other customers for the incident.”
Gallen and Levy arrived together at the pub, also known as The Heads, where the retired footballer played pool in the beer garden and hit the dance floor.
The row involving the married father-of-four, which was recorded on mobile phone cameras, happened around midnight as the pub was preparing to close.
Witnesses claimed the fight started after Gallen lost a pool game and broke a cue stick over a table.
Several sources said Gallen bled from the face after being hit in the nose, which some observers believed was broken.