And we didn`t have solicitors who advertised no win no fee.
There was always trouble in the "good old days"
Men were men and were too ashamed to say they had got a good hiding from someone so just got on with it.
Trust me I was friendly with the likes of Paul Gill, Roy Dickinson, John Atkinson and Alan Smith who I am sure could tell you a story or two.
CCTV like has been mentioned wasn`t around either.

Yep. Drink-driving mentioned. People drink-drove *all the time* in the 70s/80s unfortunately. Including many of the Loiners first team, I'd imagine (case in point, John Atkinson, a former *policeman* got done for it many years later, once it became taboo.)

Take advantage of a girl when drunk? Go for it. Hell, marital rape wasn't made illegal until 1991. Controversy over a homophobic insult? Ha.

Fact is for all our rose-tinted memories RL was played in a tougher, more macho world on and off the pitch back then and there's no evidence that behaviour of the stars was any better than now, and I'd wager if judged by today's standards it would have been a good deal worse.

I have to agree - I sincerely believe that today's modern RL player is much better behaved than his 60's/70's counterpart.

The difference being social media, CCTV and the fact that 90% of the UK's under 25's have a smart phone complete with 'quick access' camera glued to their hand 24/7. Coupled with the unfortunate litigious society that we currently live in, misdemeanors like the one's that Zak seems to get himself into are quickly reported, dramatised, exaggerated, tried and sentenced on the internet within a matter of minutes.

In a court of law the defendant's previous behavior can not be a contributing factor to their trial, but with the society we live in today will pin a big fat "Guilty" on someone because of the past indiscretions before anyone can bat an eyelid.

So far we are debating something that might not even have happened.

Still seems a bit strange that the incident took place on February the 3rd and the first its reported is March the 10th. It said several men entered along with other students yet no images of them put up to question them. That nobody there was able to identify to police Hardaker who is a top player for the city's RL club and apparently entered the building with them?

If you stuck Zak Hardaker's face in front of four random students at any university in the country, I doubt many would be able to immediately identify who he is.

Even less so at 3am when you've just been woken up by a ruckus outside your front door.

If he's involved, it's one incident too many. Time he was gone.

I'm pretty sure the building they entered has decent security too so if they were in there then they were invited in by someone. Who knows what went on after that.

It's not just any random university somewhere in the country, the building is just down the road from the training ground.

As Charlie Sheen mentions in his post. The building has really good security, trust me I've been in it.....they didn't just sneak in, they couldn't.....someone must've let them into the building so someone knew who they were bringing into the building and as the original article says, they were SEVERAL men and students who entered together.

Let's get one thing straight before you read on, with this post I am in no way defending anything Hardaker has done in the past or has been implicated in this time, I'm merely making the point that people on here seem to be very hypocritical and cannot have it both ways.

This 'one incident to many' bull is an absolute joke, yes the England incident was one which didn't represent the club well etc, however the only other incident in which he has been found guilty of to my knowledge or memory was the homophobia incident last year, the same incident to which hundreds came on here and were making comments along the lines of 'this happens every week it's only because it's been seen on camera blah blah blah blah' so to come on now and say it's one incident too many after defending him over that one is absolutely ridiculous. Like I said you can't have it both ways, so if you were defending him last year and didn't think it was 'fair' then stop posting stupid saying 'one incident too many'

Then for the people who question his ability or what he brings to the team, get off your sofa and get to a game and actually watch other games too, he's the best full back in the league IMO and many others, hence why he was in the dream team last year, you may not believe his performances have been brilliant this season, but for one the lad had no pre season so he's only just getting going really and for two what's expected of him in terms of performance standard has been raised also. If you would rather have any other fullback from the super league playing for us over him, go watch badminton because you'd have about as much of a clue about that!

Claypitrhino nail on the head mate

I think that most of us on here want Hardaker to be fit & playing for the Rhinos. I know that I certainly do.
But, & it is a big but because we have no knowledge of what has actually happened, I am dismayed that he does seem to attract trouble & all the wrong sorts of headlines.
As I said earlier you would think that the Rhinos, of all clubs, have sufficient outstanding role models that anybody with an ounce of common sense could see & learn how to conduct themselves on & off the pitch.

Don't think you are far wrong with any of that to be honest. The England incident was one blown completely out of proportion, and one the Leeds club have since recognised to Hardaker they dealt with harshly. Not to mention the fact England picked him again the year after, so hardly a bad incident to them, considering it was Hardaker who left that camp, not the thrown out as previously reported.

However, me personally, and without the facts to hand, find the current situation worse than the other incidents. And more to the point of that, the fact that whether right or wrong, his reputation was tarnished throughout last year, so the last thing you do is risk tarnishing it further. Get a grip of your life and live it squeaky clean, at least until other things are forgotten.

Every night I went out when I was a student at Leeds Uni I saw or was invloved in, or a mate got into, a dust up of some description. I was punched several times by random strangers in the Union and in various clubs, I've done a few things myself too. I don't know any of them that got as far as the police. Only a couple of the fights I saw involved RL players (my mate who played second row for the Uni was a bit of a nutter if someone was daft enough to have a pop at him, but otherwise harmless). Students are always kicking off.

Gotcha & Old Feller

Completely agree with you both there, however I believe the reason he seems to 'attract the wrong sorts of headlines' is a lot to do with the media (obviously himself too, he has to give them something to play with first of all), if you cast your mind back to the England incident a national Newspaper from then on labelled him 'England Bad Boy', which after one incident and the nature of that incident was an absolute joke, any little thing, gets jumped on and blown up. Please don't get me wrong, I'm not saying anything he may or may not have done it 'little' but because of the media giving out tags like that, this IMO is part of the reason these things get so much exposure. I remember when a certain now ex Castleford Tigers player got banned from xscape in Castleford and convicted of affray only a couple of years back, there was nowhere near this much publicity around it, okay he may not have at the time been on the same pedestal as Zak is, but he hadn't been labelled a national bad boy is my point.

Obviously yes its down to him from then on to avoid certain situations, but the next incident is then one which as I said in my previous post are being very hypocritical about in terms of counting it against him, so shouldn't be posting rubbish like 'one incident too many'

Where are the pictures / videos that you all refer to? I have not been able to find any when I have looked.

I have been in Leeds 11 years now, studying full time for 4 of those and studying part time for another 4 of them and I have never seen or been;

"involved in or a mate got into, a dust up of some description. I was punched several times by random strangers in the Union and in various clubs, I've done a few things myself too."

I'm not having a go at DHM here, but I guess if you are a quiet, meek person, you have quieter nights out with no drama. If you are a bit of a gob$hite 23 year old and on decent money and with lots of free time and think you are Jonny Big Balls in Leeds, living with a 19 year old who similarly has a lot of free time and a lack of tact or ability to weigh up risk then you probably will go out more and will get into more trouble when you do.

I'm not saying DHM is / was those things I am alluding to ZH and EM being above, but I was a million miles away from those things and I have never got in scrapes during my time in Leeds.