BUT THE REF HAD NOT CALLED 'HELD'



Correct, but I don't think there is any way Bateman [iintended[/i to do what he ended up doing, which was a fluke due to the unfortunate coincidence that as he did what he did, the tackled player happened to line up in an exactly vertical position.

I am sure neither player thought there was any malice in it, and I'm equally sure that Bateman was sorry for the result of his effort, as he went out of his way to apologise immediately afterwards. It looks like everyone who saw it "live" including the fans and the players didn't think (regardless of the result) Bateman had done anything malicious, which is why nobody came charging in or remonstrating.

Nor did the ref, or the linesmen, all of whom we presume were watching the game, call for a penalty. So they all saw it same as us.

I do presume it went on report due to yet more VR interference in the process, but even without that, the way things are going the Match review lot would have singled Bateman out anyway. I expect that if one of our players farted in a scrum he'd be at Red Hall on Tuesday.

Hence the word 'effectively'. The chances of Hodgson suddenly jumping to his feet with 2 men on his back (or kneck) were slim. My statement was in response to Sam who questioned whether the offence was in relation to Hodgson being lifted & dropped.
It is irrelevant as regards the suggested offence if he was held or not.

I do realise that no Bulls player has ever deliberately commited foul play & that there is a RFL conspiracy against them.

But until the ref calls held you know very well that plenty still goes on in the tackle, especially nowadays. Of course he wasn't about to jump to his feet but I expect he was trying to get into a position where he could make a quicker PTB and Bateman was doing his best to prevent that. You're saying I think that what Bateman did was foul play regardless?

If that's right then why was there no penalty or any sign of players coming into remonstrate with Bateman? The reaction was pretty much nil from all concerned.

Given that then how can he suddenly be up for as much as a 5 match ban?

If he gets a worse ban than Chase then it just goes to show the RFL disciplinary committee is more out of touch than it's ever been and I would say it brings them into disrepute.

IMO it was a poor tackle, clumsily executed. I certainly don't think it warrants the severity of the charge.

What I don't think anyone can comment on is intent though. Only one person can comment on that and that is the player during the hearing. As much as you can say as a fan "he's not that sort of player, there's no intent" - fact is that no one really knows what is going through a player's head on the pitch.

And I'm absolutely NOT saying I think he had intent but just that I don't think trying to judge an individual's motives is necessarily useful.

I agree with this. As is often the case in most things, the truth is somewhere between the extremes of "Nowt wrong with it, we might as well play tiddlywinks" and "Bateman tried to rape him to death".

Absolutely ridiculous that Bateman has been charged for this tackle.

Nothing wrong with it whatsoever. If charges are going to be handed out for tackles like this then teams will constantly be missing half a dozen players every week.

Of course it's relevant, if the ref had shouted held, Bateman would have stopped doing what he was doing and it would never have happened!

Secondly it's relevant because before the ref has shouted 'held' Bateman is entirely within his rights to continue to get the opponent on the deck and he did what he did in the attempt to do just that.


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