Kath Hetherington came out and said on numerous occasions that James Rule oversees the day to day running of the club. Therefore when he decided to take the action he did he was doing so on behalf of the club (the one he ran day to day according to the chairperson).

As a Hull fan I am absolutely sick to the back teeth of my club being in the press for all the wrong reasons. I am though satisfied that the new owners will root out all the ills of the previous regime.

In Adam Pearson we have an owner with proven pedigree within the sports world. I strongly feel that he would relish a full RFL investigation as it would give him the opportunity to get under the skin of the despised Heatheringtons.
Kath and I have no doubt at all her beloved husband (I can take abuse from Rhinos on this as its my opinion) has managed to walk away from this and also the impending large tax bill unscathed. She controlled the day to day affairs of the club. Regardless of whatever was said before in terms of Rule. She held sway and she ruled with an iron rod and imo was able to do so as she employed young ambitious men to do the work for her. She promoted people and made them feel good. In turn they did as they were told. And one such thing imo was making Rule the fall guy in all of this.
Now if the RFL want to go after the club then I am certain Kath will be implicated. Now do the RFL have the balls for that? I would imagine Gary will have a quiet word and all will be forgotten. It wouldn't take to much for people to talk. Rule is a broken man who's ambitions have been seriously checked. Ok he also had a brain to say no to doing what he has done. But I am sure that if this was taken further then he would easily be persuaded to talk.

So imo the RFL can and should punish the club, but it would come at a large cost to the game and also the precious Heatheringtons who are quite simply vermin.


I apologise for that word but its the mildest form of what I actually feel.

I understand the point. What I'm saying is that in terms of criminal responsibility it doesn't always work that way - it's dependent on the details of the case and none of us know the details.

lol we've been hearing this since Wilby and Lloyd took over the club, I suppose it has to come true eventually!

No, I won't agree to disagree, because you're wrong.

Also, you keep referring to criminal liability - to help you out, I'll remind you again that this is not a criminal case and as such, the burden of proof is significantly lower.

You really ought to bow out of this aspect of the discussion; your wishful thinking is making you look daft.

Didnt put that as clearly as I meant Adey. Meant to put that it was unfair to punish Hull with a points deduction as that affects them on the field. If their found guilty of bringing game into disrepute then its largely to do with clubs image and not really an on field issue so should be a fine. They didnt gain any on field advantage from covering up why gleeson wasnt playing. Its the covering up bit they might get done for, not the failed drugs test.

It's not wishful thinking - it's a difference of opinion. I haven't dismissed your argument out of hand and I've already noted that I could be wrong. Time will tell.

I understand the difference between criminal and civil cases when it comes to the burden of proof. The same guiding principles are involved though and they were the only examples I had personal experience of. If you have a better example that illustrates your argument then I'd be genuinely interested to hear it.

If you're so sure you're right, how come the club haven't been punished?

You're either very arrogant or very stubborn if you can't prove your point but insist that it's right.

Its all Radford`s fault.

Presumably its not within UKAD's remit to punish clubs? Wouldnt the natural sequence be for them to deal with the individuals, with any action against the club taken subsequently by the RFL?

Precisely.

What I'm arguing against here is the misguided certainty of some Hull fans, who seem to think that the RFL can't punish the club for the actions of it's employees, simply because there's been a regime change, some resignations or because the individuals were acting independently; all of those assumptions are wrong.

What I'm not arguing however, is that the RFL definitely will punish the club; I believe they should, but I'm not certain they will.

On another matter - am I right in thinking that all three players who've been busted for drug offences in the past couple of seasons are Wigan products?

to be fair it has, but with adam pearson now in charge, all fc fans are excited and optimistic about our future now, we've rid ourselves of the cancer at the club finally, one of the best days in the clubs history when pearson took over and one of the worst for dobbins fans!