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A star Australian rugby league player has quit after a photograph of him performing a sex act with a dog was distributed on the Internet.
Joel Monaghan played with the Canberra Raiders in Australia's National Rugby League, the highest level of professional rugby in the world -- a league as popular in parts of Australia as the NFL is in the United States.
Monaghan was attending an end-of-season house party with up to 30 Canberra players and friends when someone snapped a photo of the star player with a teammate's Labrador dog.
Mark Nolan, Getty Images
Rugby star Joel Monaghan has canceled his contract with the Canberra Raiders after a photograph circulated on the Internet showing him having a sexual encounter with a dog.
The image was later distributed on the micro-blogging service Twitter before making its way to the media. One week after the picture surfaced -- greeted by widespread shock and condemnation -- the 28-year-old player announced he had asked that his approximately $250,000 per year contract with Canberra be canceled.
"I accept total responsibility for what happened," Monaghan said. "It was a moment of madness, and while it was totally out of character, I have to cop the consequences. I'm disappointed that the photo was distributed, but I should never have put myself in that situation. It's something I will have to live with for the rest of my life..."
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