Former AFL footballer asked how much he drank before he was allegedly raped
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-29/daniel-hayes-former-afl-footballer-lawsuit-rape-allegation/106167550
Former AFL footballer asked how much he drank before he was allegedly raped
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-29/daniel-hayes-former-afl-footballer-lawsuit-rape-allegation/106167550
17 Comments
Reading about the AFL trying to get around this on a technicality is sickening.
Also:
>Mr Heaney has not faced any criminal charges in relation to Mr Hayes’s accusations but is being sued in the civil division of the Victorian Supreme Court, alongside AFL Victoria.
>He was, however, jailed in 2014 for grooming Liam Foster, a then-13-year-old in the Sydney Swans Academy.
Grooming is just the first step to getting access to the child. Does anyone actually believe he would stop at grooming in Daniel Hayes’ case?
Unbelievable that Mark Heaney isn’t rotting in prison.
What a sad story.
The question of how much he drank is strange though. What angle are they going for? It he was intoxicated then they can’t try and claim it was consensual.
Sadly, yet again, for all the social posturing by the AFL, the victim becomes a casualty.
That raises the new question of who plied him – a minor – with alcohol.
Suspect it’s a pattern of behaviour for this bloke… I particularly hope he no longer has any access to young boys/men and can’t commit any more assaults. Bleak
I believe Daniel.
He’s being treated in exactly the same way as women who are rape victims are treated.
I wonder how commonplace this is in the AFL given their efforts to sweep each instance under the rug. How awful.
Ah, the ol’ “he was too tempting” angle of attack.
It’s a bold move, Cotton.
I hope it gets more men to come forward, reading that headline bought back a deeply uncomfortable memory of being tied up to playground equipment in high school in the early aughts and my “friends” filming it and rumours that flew around school of said tape.
Looking back, that is something that could’ve ended up being much worse.
Edit: grammar, didn’t notice how jittery it made me thinking about it.
I’d love this to be spoken about on the AFL TV Media but they wouldn’t dare
Mark Patrick Heaney was a senior AFL employee who played a crucial role in the code’s expansion into New South Wales and coached Sydney Swans academy teams for three years.
Heaney, who was the AFL’s Northern New South Wales regional manager between 2009 and 2013, lost his job with the league in 2014 when he was convicted and jailed for grooming a 13-year-old junior footballer in 2013.
Between 2004 and 2008, and at the time of the alleged incident, Heaney was an assistant coach and regional development manager for the Eastern Ranges team in the AFL’s TAC Cup (now the Coates Talent League) Under-18s competition.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-13/afl-employee-daniel-hayes-sydney-swans-academy-rape-allegation/102336506
I really hate when alleged perpetrators are shielded from accountability and victims are blamed when they come forward.
I believe Daniel Hayes was groomed and sexually assaulted.
Fuck you, AFL Victoria. Never believe any of their attempts to present themselves as progressive. They have a terrible track record with indigenous players and with victims of rape.
AFL is not the sport
They ask the same question to women, too. Sickening.
The AFL is a corrupt and disgusting organisation on many levels, only interested in protecting their brand.
This is the biggest step forward in gender equality that the AFL has taken since they let the AFLW play nationally for minimum wage