Sydney: Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL), which has dealt with repeated scandals involving player misbehaviour in recent years, on Wednesday apologised for a questionnaire quizzing players on their favourite swear words.
Players were asked to choose their favourite rude words as part of a player profile on the NRL website, and some did not hold back, reports said of posts that have since been taken down.
Several footballers nominated their preferred coarse language, including one who cryptically said his “starts with an ‘s’ and ends in a ‘t’”, the reports said.
A post on NRL.com apologised for the “articles which asked players about swearing”.
“This question was inappropriate, and the responses should not have been published,” it said.
Australia’s NRL has suffered from a number of scandals over the past few years, often involving alcohol and sometimes violence against women.
The league has been attempting to clean up the game’s reputation and has stressed in the past that misbehaviour by players is not acceptable and will not be tolerated.
