Rugby League-Australian player Bird stripped of captaincy

Dec 12 (Reuters) - Greg Bird, one of Australia's top international players, has been dumped as captain of his National Rugby League (NRL) club team, the Gold Coast Titans, after being caught urinating in public. The Titans also fined Bird A$15,000 (US$12,370) and warned him that his contract would be torn up if he misbehaved again. "All players need to accept personal responsibility for their actions and recognise that incidents of this nature not only damage the reputation and commercial prospects of the club, but also bring the image of the NRL and the game of Rugby League into substantial disrepute," Titans chief executive Graham Annesley said in a statement. A talented player who has represented Australia's national team 12 times, Bird was issued with an infringement notice on Monday after he was caught urinating on a public street, a day after he got married. He apologised but the Titans took a dim view of his actions, which was just the latest in a series of off-field incidents involving NRL players. (A$1 = US$0.82) (Editing by John O'Brien)