Latrell Mitchell and Josh Addo-Carr have both been charged with firearms offences following their controversial weekend camp.

NSW Police confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that the duo had been charged and will face court in August, after Addo-Carr uploaded videos of him shooting a gun on social media.

Police will allege Mitchell gave a firearm to a person not authorised to use it, and he has now had his licence suspended and a number of guns seized by police.

The pair were both fined $1,000 by NSW Police on Monday for breaking social-distancing laws after a weekend gathering at a property near Taree.

They issued an apology, with Mitchell admitting the Kangaroos stars had “slipped up”.

The NRL issued the pair with $20,000 fines, with another $30,000 suspended, but neither will miss a game after getting one-match suspended bans.

Photos posted by Addo-Carr showed the pair with 10 other men around a fire, prompting the NRL to label the pictures as disappointing and unacceptable.

He was also seen shooting a gun and riding a dirt bike without a helmet, while NRL-contracted Newcastle fringe player Tyronne Roberts-Davis is seen in one of the photos.

“Police have been told a group of more than 10 men were at a gathering on a rural property near Taree on Saturday 25 April, in contravention of current ministerial directions,” NSW Police said in a statement.

“Following extensive inquiries, three men – two aged 22 and one aged 24 – have been issued with $1,000 [fines] for failing to comply with a ministerial direction. The 24-year-old had previously received a warning for breaching the Public Health Act.”

The fine also came on the same day the league further pushed its claim for a return, discussing its strict biosecurity rules with clubs on Monday afternoon. But Mitchell insisted they did not mean to flout rules imposed by the federal and state governments to stem the coronavirus pandemic.

“I have been up here with my family for four or five weeks practising social distancing,” Mitchell said in a video. “It was a little bit of a slip up. Foxy [Addo-Carr] reached out, his cousins are going through a bit of stuff up in Sydney.

“He just wanted to get up to the bush and make sure they were getting cultured and connected again. That was the whole part of the concept of what the weekend was.

“I wasn’t here to break any rules or hurt anyone. We’re not being selfish, I couldn’t turn down the brothers in a time of need. On behalf of Foxy and all my mob, we do want to apologise.”

A repentant Addo-Carr said “nothing was intentional or deliberate” as he tried to “put a smile on the faces” of family members going through a tough time. But under NSW guidelines people can only leave the house for work, essential shopping, exercise, medical appointments and compassionate visits.

All NRL players also agreed to health and safety protocols when the competition was stopped for the shutdown.

“On face value, the image in today’s media is both disappointing and an unacceptable breach of health orders,” the NRL said in a statement. “The NRL will be speaking to the players involved to seek further information and we will ensure the players provide any assistance authorities require.

“Our players are role models and we expect them to lead by example during this pandemic.”

The drama could not have come at a worse time for the NRL as it attempts to convince the government it can safely resume its season on 28 May, ahead of other major codes.

Proposed NRL biosecurity rules for the season resumption will make players stay home – with no visitors allowed – except when training, playing, making visits to the doctor and doing essential food shopping.

The NRL has threatened teams with the loss of points and heavy fines if any player breaks the rules, and say they will further educate players before next week’s planned resumption of training.

However Australia’s chief medical officer Brendan Murphy said the actions of the pair would not influence any government decision.

NRL players Latrell Mitchell and Josh Addo-Carr have been hit with firearms charges after a weekend getaway with about 10 men.

Key points:

• The NRL players have been accused of “putting the game and community at risk”
• Mitchell and Addo-Carr have been charged with firearm offences
• Pictures emerged of Cleary with a group of people at his home

Photos and videos posted to Melbourne star Addo-Carr’s Instagram account showed a group huddled around a camp fire at Mitchell’s property on the NSW Mid-North Coast.

There were also photographs showing a group of men, including the players, shooting guns and riding dirt bikes at South West Rocks.

Newcastle’s Tyronne Roberts-Davis was not in the photos around the camp but was sprung in another image posted of the group dirt biking.

South Sydney star Mitchell attended Taree Police Station today after being charged with giving a firearm to a person not authorised by licence/permit.

His firearms licence was suspended, and a number of guns were seized by police.

Addo-Carr has been charged with the unauthorised use of a firearm.

Both men will appear at Taree Local Court on Tuesday, August 4.

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It comes after NSW Police confirmed yesterday they had fined Mitchell, Addo-Carr and Roberts-Davis $1,000 for the getaway.

The NRL today issued four players with breach notices for “bringing the game into disrepute” by flouting social distancing laws amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Mitchell and Addo-Carr have each been handed $50,000 fines, with 60 per cent of that suspended until the end of the season.

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Roberts-Davis has been issued with a $10,000 fine, with 60 per cent of that suspended.

In an unrelated matter, Penrith player Nathan Cleary was also fined $10,000 after photographs surfaced of Cleary with a group of people on Anzac Day.

Each player has been handed a one-game ban, however that is also suspended.

The players now have five days to respond to the breach notices.

Australian Rugby League Commission Chairman Peter V’landys said the players were “putting the game and the community at risk by their actions”.

“It’s certainly hard to accept such behaviour when the game is doing everything it can to persuade the community that its players are responsible and behave appropriately,” he said.

NSW Police has said it is looking into photographs which appear to show Cleary violating social-distancing rules on the weekend.

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Social media photos have emerged of him in close contact with a group of several women, reportedly taken at his home on Saturday.

“Police are aware of the images and are investigating,” a NSW Police spokeswoman said.

In an Instagram video posted on Monday afternoon, Addo-Carr said that he was “really sorry from the bottom of my heart” and said the getaway was the result of family members “going through a really tough time”.

In a separate video, Mitchell also apologised and said the incident had been “a little bit of a slip-up”.

“We’re not here to break any rules or hurt anyone, we’re not being selfish [but] I couldn’t turn down the brothers in their time of need,” Mitchell said.

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Duration: 5 minutes 9 seconds5m

“Where did we go wrong? […] The system failing the youth.”

La Horquetta XF head coach Dave Quamina is lamenting that the society in general and the football community in particular is allowing young men to slip through the cracks, after two of his former players, 25-year-old attacker Neil Mitchell and 22-year-old right back Chikizie Jordan, were charged with the 9 February murder of 31-year-old Kevon Robinson.

Robinson, a La Horquetta resident, was shot dead while standing outside of his vehicle on St Eustace Bernard Drive in Phase 5, La Horquetta.

Mitchell was just 16 years old when he became a Trinidad and Tobago Pro League champion at Joe Public under then head coach Derek King in 2009. The talented attacking midfielder went on to represent North East Stars and St Ann’s Rangers and was considered a solid—though not necessarily spectacular—performer.

Mitchell’s next big showing will be in the High Court, though, where he and Jordan also face charges of possession of a firearm and ammunition.

Quamina, whose team plays in the East Zone (EFA) told Wired868 that, while he does not know all of the details of Mitchell’s situation, he believes that it is symptomatic of what has been happening in the football community and in T&T society as a whole.

“The football community in Trinidad in a real mess,” Quamina continued. “I not saying he right or he wrong but the system failing them. It have no avenue, it have nowhere to go!”

But how did things come to this?

Just over ten years ago, Mitchell, a player his former coaches describe as “polished” and “always disciplined,” left the La Horquetta XF youth set-up to join up with King at Joe Public. There, he continued to blossom and, at just 16, was regularly involved in King’s senior team set up that went on to claim the 2009 Pro League title.

“When he was going to school at El Dorado, I had him in the (Joe Public) youth team,” King told Wired868, “and I brought him up and gave him his break with the Joe Public senior team. I think he had talent (and was) destined to be a national footballer. He was disciplined and really came out to work hard.

“It’s really sad to hear what’s happening now.”

What is happening is that national teams have rarely been able to go beyond the Caribbean phase of world or CONCACAF tournaments and local football is arguably at its lowest ebb in recent memory, financing having all but dried up. Several Pro League club owners are now offering a basic wage of TT$2,500-$3,000 and—as is the case with Stars—no longer field teams in the Flow Youth Pro League competition.

The instability of Pro League employment in itself is not new. For years, clubs offered only one-year contracts which, at best, offered a stipend during the two months of pre-season and nothing at all for the off season. And players would often bounce from club to club in search of a few extra hundred dollars on their pay cheque.

King lamented that this “hustle” has had a very visible effect on young aspiring players but the authorities have not given the situation the attention it warrants.

“You see now that the younger players not really motivated because of the whole situation with the finances of clubs,” said King. “We are in a poor state right now and it’s something that we have to take seriously.”

King has first-hand experience of the issue; as he and the bulk of the North East Stars squad quit the club for financial reasons, just months after lifting the 2017 Pro League title.

After his stint at Joe Public, Mitchell bounced back and forth between North East Stars and his La Horquetta XF hometown club. After a long spell out of the game through injury, he opted not to rejoin King at Stars—where he had just been appointed head coach—and moved to Rangers instead.

Mitchell enjoyed a solid stint at Rangers, whose season ended in November 2017. But then came instability again as players wait to hear what the future has in store for them with the cash-strapped competition.

Quamina suggested that the current football set-up is not doing enough for players from high-risk communities.

“Coaches not trying hard enough; they need to be more than coaches,” he said. “They just want to win now, they not checking up on the players. And the ones that I really rate, like ‘Dada’ (Anthony Wickham), look how they treating them…

“You telling me that Dada, who work in these high-risk areas for years and performing, can’t even get an assistant coach position on a national team?”

Quamina accused the Pro League of paying lip service to youth development.

“How much teams in the Pro League could say they giving youth a chance unless they struggling and trying to cut costs?” asked Quamina, rhetorically. “Teams with money won’t invest in a youth programme. So the current state of football is what really let [Mitchell] down.”

Jordan was arrested by officers of the Homicide Bureau of Investigations Region II on Carnival Monday while Mitchell was held three days later on Thursday 15 February. The investigation was supervised by Acting ASP Windel Flaviney and Inspector Andrew Lawrence while PC Ricardo Sutherland laid the charge.

Mitchell is one of three former Pro League players who are in jail for murder at present. Defence Force utility player Ross Russell Jr and attacker Balondemu Julius were charged, two years ago, for the murder of Selwyn Gaff on 6 June 2016. Russell Jr, the son of former Trinidad and Tobago international goalkeeper Ross Russell, and Julius were sacked by the Army just before they were formally charged.

Former Caledonia AIA and Trinidad and Tobago national youth defender Damani Richards, former Defence Force attacker Josimar Belgrave, ex-San Juan Jabloteh and National Futsal utility player Noel Williams and Rangers and National Youth Team attacker Anslem “Worm” Jackson were also charged for various offences ranging from robbery to fraud over the last two years.

Club Sando full back Kemuel Rivers was also arrested for robbing a casino in 2016 although charges against him were dropped after six weeks.