Quote: TheElectricGlidingWarrior "If a player used a firearm on the pitch it would certainly be within the public interest for the police to intervene. And I don't think anyone has actually presented the argument that anything on the pitch is fine so I don't see the relevance in countering a non existent argument.
Some people are using the argument "if it happened on the street he'd be arrested, therefore he should be arrested" but that applies to all incidents of fighting on the field; they'd all be arrestable offences "on the street", and no, players don't have to accept being punched or otherwise struck as part of the game. Those things are explicitly excluded from the sport by virtue of the laws of the game.
The other thing to mention is that if Hohaia did make this a criminal matter his own infraction (the forearm to Flower's jaw) would surely be brought into question, since that too would be an arrestable offence "on the street". The CPS couldn't turn a blind eye to a forearm in the face on the basis that it occurred during a game of rugby if they were prosecuting the person who was forearmed in the face for retaliating disproportionately.'"
If it happened on the street Flower would be perfectly entitled to claim self defence and he'd probably get off with no charge, maybe even a well done.
The if it happened on the street argument fails because on the street what he did is exactly what any sensible person would do, eliminate the threat as quickly as possible and make sure the threat does not persist.
On the pitch, as difficult as it may be, you take the blow and smile as the aggressor walks off for 10 minutes or the rest of the game while your kicker is lining up for two points. Had he done that then I'm sure Wigan would have won and everyone would be commending him on his restraint in the face of an assault from Hot Head Hohoia.
