Fevola not punished over Bingle pic

Lara Bingle's refusal to talk to investigators over the nude photo taken of her by
Brendan Fevola meant the AFL couldn't prove allegations of misconduct against the
Brisbane Lions forward.
However, AFL football operations general manager Adrian Anderson, who on Friday was
provided with a report into the matter, says the investigation remains open.
The AFL will monitor Bingle's threats of legal action against Fevola, and they are
also willing to talk to the former fiancee of Australian cricket vice-captain
Michael Clarke, with the swimsuit model so far declining their approaches.
"Certainly one of the things that made it difficult to make any findings in this
case was our investigator's inability, because Ms Bingle's advisers refused
permission for us to speak with her," Anderson said.
"We would have liked to have spoken with Ms Bingle but she's not obliged to talk
with us.
"If she would like to, we will and we'll take it from there."
Anderson said there was "insufficient evidence" to establish any breach of the AFL
rules by Fevola.
"Given the evidence currently available to us and the time elapsed since the alleged
behaviour, the AFL has not established that a breach of our rules has occurred.
"What we have to do is thoroughly investigate these matters and that's what our
investigators have done here and we will continue to monitor the outcome of any
legal proceeding to see whether any further action is appropriate."
The investigation was completed by the AFL's manager of integrity services, Brett
Clothier and former senior police officer, cultural strategy and education manager
Sue Clark, and followed claims the former Carlton player took a nude photograph of
Bingle in the shower during their brief secret affair in 2006 and distributed it to
other AFL players.
Fevola, who was married at the time, was interviewed twice as part of the
investigation while Bingle, through her lawyers, declined to speak but provided a
statutory declaration.
Other AFL players were also interviewed. Anderson said Fevola admitted taking the
photo, which appeared in Women's Day magazine early last month, however the
circumstances under which it was taken were "not clear".
Bingle claimed it was without consent. The AFL star denied he distributed the photo
and the investigators didn't find any evidence that proved otherwise.
"There's no evidence to establish distribution of the photograph and the
circumstances of the taking of the photo are not clear because we couldn't speak
with Ms Bingle," Anderson said.
He warned that although the misconduct allegations were unproven, it didn't mean the
AFL was going soft on the issue of women and player respect.
"We take this matter very seriously, we take respect and responsibility toward women
extremely seriously and the fact that the evidence doesn't establish a breach in
this particular case doesn't or shouldn't distract from the fact that we're very
serious about respect from our players and everyone in the AFL toward women," he
said.
"Any player or official who takes a photo of a woman in these sorts of circumstances
without consent and distributes it, is risking a sanction under the AFL rules."



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