Gallen in the clear over Paea bust-up - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Gallen in the clear over Paea bust-up

By Steve Jancetic 24/05/2009 08:48:10 PM Comments (0)

NRL officials will not take any action against Paul Gallen following suggestions the Cronulla skipper racially abused St George Illawarra forward Mickey Paea in Saturday night's local derby.

Paea and Gallen became involved in a heated exchange eight minutes from fulltime in the Dragons' 26-4 win over the embattled Sharks at Toyota Stadium, with television commentators claiming the incident may have been sparked by racial vilification.

Paea declined to make an official complaint at the time of the incident and indicated after the game that he didn't want any action taken against the Test forward.

NRL chief operating officer Graham Annesley said the league had contacted the host broadcasters on Saturday night to see if there was any evidence of racial abuse, with Fox Sports indicating nothing had been caught either on video or audio from the game.

"In the absence of any complaint and without any other evidence, there's really nowhere it can go," Annesley said.

"You need a complaint to deal with it under the anti-vilification code, but there's obviously the match review committee and the NRL code of conduct which can also come into play depending on what evidence is available, but at the moment there really isn't any evidence.

"We checked with Fox Sports last night and they claim they don't have anything and clearly the player has indicated he's not prepared to lodge a complaint, without that there's very little room to move."

The drama surrounding Gallen was the last thing the Sharks needed as they slumped to their ninth straight loss, just one short of the club record.

Their struggles on the field pale into insignificance when compared to their off-field dramas, the club mired in massive debt and battling for its very survival.

The Sharks are set to deliver a report to the NRL on Monday morning to explain a long list of off-field indiscretions and to detail the club's plan to escape from its financial problems.

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