Quade Cooper charged with burglary

[robyn <3]

QUEENSLAND Reds and Wallaby rugby union star Quade Cooper has been charged after allegedly robbing a residence on the Gold Coast.

Cooper was released from Southport watchhouse this afternoon, charged with one count of burglary.

A police media spokesman said a 21-year-old man had been charged with one count of burglary of a residence in Surfers Paradise this morning.

He is due to appear in the Southport Magistrates Court on December 11.

Cooper recently returned from a breakthrough Wallaby tour, where he played all four tests in Australia's Grand Slam quest.

A Queensland Rugby Union (QRU) spokesman declined to comment as the matter was before the courts.

Asked if Cooper would be stood down, the QRU spokesman replied: "We've got to establish the full facts of the matter before we can decide what action if any action will be taken."

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/bre...-1225807488993

[travelling_gerry]

| December 6th, 2009

Wallabies star Quade Cooper has been charged by police with burglary after allegedly robbing a residence on the Gold Coast.

The Test and Queensland centre was released from Southport watchhouse late today, charged with one count of burglary of a residence in Surfers Paradise on Sunday morning.

The 21-year-old is due to appear in Southport Magistrates Court on December 11.

Cooper recently returned from a breakthrough Wallabies tour, where he played all four Tests in Australia's grand slam quest.

His form was one of the few bright spots on an inconsistent Wallabies tour and he was praised for finding a new level of maturity in his game as he replaced the injured Berrick Barnes at inside centre.

The Australian Rugby Union (ARU), to which Cooper is contracted along with the Queensland Rugby Union (QRU), was reluctant to go into details.

``We are still looking to receive the full facts of the issue,'' said an ARU spokesman.

``It's a matter before the courts so at this stage we can't make any further comment.''

Cooper is currently on holidays and was scheduled to return to pre-season training with Super 14 side the Reds in January.

ARU and QRU officials are likely to await the outcome of Friday's court appearance before jointly deciding on any action against Cooper, such as standing him down.


ARU boss John O'Neill has previously taken a dim view of player misbehaviour.

He rubber-stamped the sacking of Western Force halfback Matt Henjak in February last year after he was involved in a fight with a team-mate.

And Mr O'Neill tore up the contract of Wallaby winger Lote Tuqiri this year for reasons both refused to disclose.

Asked if Cooper could be stood down, a QRU spokesman replied: ``We've got to establish the full facts of the matter before we can decide what action, if any, will be taken.''

New Zealand-born Cooper made his Test debut against Italy in 2008 and has so far played 11 Tests for Australia.


http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/...oast-news.html

[Darren]

WTF? There's gotta be more to it - probably snuck into an old GF's house to get his belongings or something?

[laura]

WTF?!
He's 21, playing test rugby for his country and earning a minimum of $100,000/year. Why on earth would he want to rob a place?! Sounds suss, to say the least.

[travelling_gerry]

Evidently a laptop?????

[TOCC]

i dunno, i reckon its some kind of gag thats gone wrong

just when quade starts to look like his maturing he goes and puts himself in a position like this which isnt compromising and damaging to his image, even if he is found innocent it will have tarnished his image quite a bit.

[KenyaQuin]

Sorry but..

F*@k me!

[Sheikh]

Definately a WTF? It's probably as Coach said - an ex's holding onto belongings (or possibly nicked them off him when he was on tour).

Other possibilities which spring to mind:
- playing a trick on a mate which went wrong - should be sorted out easily.
- someone's played a trick on him (similar to above but Cooper's the fall guy).
- he's a thieving scally (difficult to believe).

Maybe he's practicing pinching more ball in the tackle!

[travelling_gerry]

The 21-year-old flyhalf was arrested in a backyard at Budds Beach near Surfers Paradise after the door of a house, rented by two foreign university students, was allegedly kicked in and a laptop computer taken.

A police source said officers used capsicum spray to subdue Cooper during the 4am arrest but a police spokeswoman would not confirm this. Another source said the students came home to find their house had been broken into and rang police.

The students, from Colombia and Turkey, had no idea they had allegedly been burgled by an Australian sports star until told by police. The students would not comment when The Courier-Mail - The Daily Telegraph's sister paper - visited their Palm Ave home, saying they were yet to give official statements to police.

[tragic]

Maybe we need an annual TWF WTF award. Inaugural award goes to....

[slomo]

must be a slow news day in the uk, this is one of the lead stories on bbc /sport......
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[mudskipper]

A very odd story... was there something on the lap top he wanted?

[Happy]

must have been something on there worth the risk - he's a naughty boy though!!

[qld supporter]

I don't think the Police would lay these charges without just cause, so I think we may have seen the last of Mr Cooper playing in/for Australia....what a waste. The Reds will have to edit their promo too I suppose.

[AndyS]

The mind boggles at what could possibly have motivated it, but there just has to be a bigger story!