In a bid to maintain a potential NRL career, a Cronulla junior rugby league player has confirmed he covered a pair of tattoos on his legs that sparked outrage earlier this year.
Joshua Taylor-Myles was threatened with a ban from the competition after an image on NSWRL social media of the “vile” tattoos went viral.
The 23-year-old, who plays hooker for the Aquinas Colts, received a warning from the club following the image, with his sanction eligible to be lifted if he was to cover the tattoos.
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The tattoos on his thighs read “eat shit f—t” and “snort lines and f—“.
Taylor-Myles remained unnamed initially, however, has since revealed himself after showing off his tattoo cover-ups while on holiday in Bali.
The post of the cover-ups, which appeared to be a bear and a Viking, on his Instagram was captioned: “Gone but not forgotten.”
NSWRL’s post was an announcement of Taylor-Myles selection to compete in the NSWRL Luke Lewis Cup.
News Corp reporter Phil Rothfield reported that the club was unaware of the nature of the tattoos until the image circulated on social media.
“Just vile,” Rothfield said.
“They are so offensive. It is so homophobic.
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“They’ve said to this bloke [who was not named at the time of Rothfield’s comments], ‘Cover them up with tape or you will not play in a NSWRL sanctioned competition ever again’.
“I applaud them for coming down so hard on this rubbish.
“He plays in a club where there are a lot of young women and men who participate for the enjoyment, for the comraderies and it’s just so out of order.”