Lance

This is becoming increasingly unfortunate.

If Lance has the agenda he claims to have then he needed to be much clearer about who he was criticising, and precisely for what. It just isn't clear from his initial comments that he only meant management, nor is it clear in what ways they allegedly failed to support him.

I'd be interested to know who wrote the first response from the club, as I thought it was a terrible piece of PR. It seemed to appear moments after Hohaia's interview came to light, and the contents reflected that. It was overly emotional, poorly written and ambiguously worded in places. In a situation with possible legal implications you need to be absolutely clear-headed and precise in your use of language. This was quite the opposite, and, given that one of the things the statement kept trying to stress was that the club has the highest professional standards, it rather undermined its own message.

Eamonn's subsequent statement was much more on the money, but I think Lance is right to pick him up on the comment about his degree. Students with severe mental health problems get degrees all the time, usually with the help of a strong support network. The major difference between carrying on with a degree and continuing to play RL, of course, is that by doing a degree you aren't risking getting your head stoved in any further.

I've no idea where this will go, but I don't think either party is covering itself in glory.