Did he actually say that? If so it sounds like the team are mocking him for it and if he can take stick and banter from his own team mates I'm pretty sure he can cope with the abuse from total strangers in the north of England.

All that remains is when Briers puts in a kick he'll shout "fetch, boy!" and Joel will be scoring tries for fun all season.

Why are we getting dragged into this.

Barry in "protesting too much" shock.

Something to hide Baz?

I believe his wife is settling in well?



He's gonna get ripped to shreds, make no, erm, 'bones' about it.

Maybe that the first game is the best time to get at him fans from 40 different teams all chanting barking at the same time in the Millenium stadium with the roof on will be worth the entrance fee alone.

I would like to RFL or Tony the anker Smith pick the bones out of that.

Barry McKenzie used your club as an example of why it wouldnt matter if the 'crowd' at your place decided to launch into a 'dogs blow Joel' type of song...he wouldnt hear you as the crowd down at 'the moon' are usually less than the amount of players on the field.

You might not have any money to pay the fine...but you havent got any fans to sing anything that might contravene any public order act anyway...so you are pretty safe

He's going to get Riddicule not abuse ,and not because of his sexual orientation , or his skin colour or any other reason this rule is made for , it is because he was an idiot!. So how will Smith make a case for that ? he should be playing this down not pontificating ,and now he's only gone and made it make it worse for the lad

We're still amazed at how a 3 try scoring cup hero was suddenly ' Retired ' only to surface at the Eels to make room for him , + the irony of him wearing a shirt with a Dog motif will not be lost on many.

I wonder why there is no mention of this in the UK press ANYWHERE. Anyone else sniffing a made up story?

So... 'riddicule' and abuse are 2 seperate things in your book?

No idea if you have a job.. but just say you did..and one of your colleagues had been filmed doing the same thing as Monaghan...and then every time he came back to work the whole office made 'barking noises' at him.. or started singing 'who let the dogs out' .. or something similar every time they saw him....do you think that would be classed as a form of abuse?


Ps I agree JM was an idiot for what he did

For what it's worth...I believe that opposition players are fair game for the 80 minutes. Sean Long gets abused when he plays against Wigan. Gary Connolly the same when he played against Saints, this was just for playing for the wrong team. If a player is to be stupid enough to engage in fellatio with a canine, and have someone photograph it, they are fair game as far as i'm concerned on the playing field. If that then migrates into his personal life, IE he gets abused in the street by opposition fans, then there may be a problem. He committed an act of beastiality which is illegal, and thus, deserves any 'Abuse' or 'Taunts' he may receive from the opposition fans. The same as say, Ben Cockayne or Leon Pryce or Stuart Reardon or Feka did when they were found to have blatantly broken the law. Nobody whinged about the poor rugby player getting a bit of stick then.

Bizarrely it isn't in the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) where Monaghan is from.

That surprises me actually. You would expect it to be legal in Tasmania or some counties of England... but not the ACT...


Joking aside I know what you are saying. He will cop it off the crowd. You wont be able to stop it. How can you police it?

But fundamentally is the crowd verbally abusing Monaghan much different than abusing Gareth Thomas?

I hope the RFL are ready to fine every club in SL (except Wire), because he is going to get abused by all and sundry at Millennium magic.

Why were no clubs punished when they fans abused Sean Long and Martin Gleeson for placing bets?

Why were us Wigan fans not fined for giving Adam Fogarty abuse for decking Jack Duckworth in corrie?

Monaghan did something shameful, Gareth Thomas has not.

Unless Barry you are saying that being Homosexual is the same as bestiality?

You are not saying that are you Barry, please tell me you are not

I have a job , and I'm aware of ' Bullying & harrassment policies ' etc so yes ' making fun of your work colleague is not allowed.
If you read the post I didn't condone . I just state it's going to happen and the wisdom of Tony Smith using the RFL code on Equity & Diversity ( Human Right Act 198icon_cool.gif to basically threaten? he's stoking the ire , not damping it down .

It's there to protect :-
Equal Pay ,Religion, Age Discrimination, Sexual Discrimination , Gender Reassignment , Race Relations , Disability , Sexual orientation ,
Nowhere, can I see a link to a foolish prank committed on a drunk night out being made public. unless the mockery is made by one of his work colleagues, he might have a case then ..