If Hardaker denies the charge then it should be dismissed. Unless there is some secret recording somewhere (which would make you question such a delay) then there clearly isnt anywhere near enough evidence to find him guilty.

Lip reading is notoriously difficult, especially outside of context. It is clear that Silverwoods evidence is at best tainted (even if not by him) and the only other witness has taken Hardakers side.

I think the RFL need to reexamine their procedures here too because this long delay since confirming the investigation has left a cloud hanging over a (possibly) innocent player for weeks before we even hear of a charge. Why? what benefit is there to the time they are taking? What evidence do they have no that they wouldnt have had immediately after the game?

as we have seen on this thread (and others) as an exercise in making the game more welcoming the RFL have fsked it up so much as to be entirely counterproductive.

Oh, the irony. A poster so full of his outraged indignation at the alleged use of the word "puff" describes an official as "a dick"

A tad homophobic perhaps?

How so?

What was Reg Gasnier's nickname?

Wasn't he a player whose playing career spanned an era when homosexuality was deemed a criminal offence subject to imprisonment and medical experimentation as the cure?

Society has moved on since then.

Jeff - so if Zac had called Flannagan an ugly/ginger b@stard would that also constitute an hereditary slur? - that is if you believe homosexuality is genetic.

Here we enter some grey areas don't we?

If he called him an ugly b*****d then we have two bits to look at. The ugliness is inherently subjective, so I guess you could make a case that it is different from racial or homophobic slurring. For me, I would be happy for this just to be normal abuse of the kind that happens on sports pitches. The idea is simply to insult your target, and it is unlikely that anyone else would feel terribly offended by it. Room for debate. You could also have an exciting philosophical debate about use of the word "b*stard" as a pejorative, but I think most language scholars would tell you that the original meaning has been lost long ago, and indeed much of the stigma removed form such circumstances anyway. So this again would go down as generic insult. Which of course is not very nice, but I don't think you'd find many advocates for players being punished for being a bit mean to each other. At least I hope you wouldn't.

Ginger is different again. It is something people are born with, and as such its use as a pejorative term might well offend some people. There is, however, room (in my opinion) for a difference in how severe we perceive that offence to be. I don't know of any instance where people have suffered genuine social exclusion, or been denied access to basic rights, because of their ginger hair.

I would still think that it's one well worth steering clear of in public though.

I think the "nature vs nurture" debate might be a bit much for me this morning.

This is one of the issues of dealing with the PC brigade - everything is black and white - no 50 shades of grey!!

I've never read 50 Shades of Grey.

I hear it's a bit, you know, rude.

What's that New York rap music executive called?

Or that well know breakfast cereal?

Certainly had an impact on my missus

He has also accussed me of being an "apologist" in the past can I be offended.