I'm 100% with Mintball on this one.

Terry Newton was a very gifted RL player, one that sometimes played close to the line and sometimes over it! Every time he pulled on a shirt he played with 100% commitment and passion. However off the field Terry was obviously a deeply troubled man, battling with depression and obviously the end of his career was cut short by his own cheating and use of banned substances (which he fully knew were banned).

Now the whole affair is tragic from Terry's mental illness to his career ending by his own stupidity but one of the only positive things that came out from this was Terry wanting to actually talk about these issues and hopefully help other players out and help them not to make the same mistakes has he had done. Unfortunately Terry's mental state obviously got so bad that he thought he couldn't carry on no more, and as I say this is an immense tragedy.

But these aspects of Terry's life should not be swept under the carpet, mental illness needs addressing not ignoring otherwise we will not get anywhere, and the drug issue also shouldn't just be swept away and forgotten as the issue is obviously a big problem in RL.

I think some people need to grow up and realise that Terry as well as being remember for the RL talent he was, he will also be remembered for his indiscretions and for his mental illness and anyone who 'dares' to mention it is not being disrespectful they are just mentioning one part of Terry's troubled life and his ultimately tragic death.

As a side note, I'm not sure what's going on with some Wigan supporters lately but their team has won the league, got to the grand final, won all three awards at the MOS night and yet they continue to believe everyone is out to get them, and as for the OP I'm not sure how Eddie Hemmings was having a go specifically at Wigan with his (realistic) comments on Terry Newton seeing as though Terry also played for Leeds, Bradford and for a very brief time Wakefield.

Nah mate, you wished a broken neck on a player who tugged another players shirt, that is far far worse.

On the occasions when someone close to me has died, the talk at the funeral and in the immediate aftermath have involved not just eulogies about their wonderful talents and good humour, but also anecdotes about their failings or misadventures. It's the full picture which make us human. Some could argue that immediately beatifying a person after their death, when all know that he/she was far from a saint, is somehow rather more disrespectful, due to its transparent falsehood, than a fair, frank and warts 'n all recollection which is closer to the truth, and therefore rather more respectful of the person the deceased actually was.

Personally, I'd rather be remembered as a fully rounded human being, with all my flaws, than have folks bang on about what a perfect, faultless individual I was. If they did that, I'd only be able to conclude, from my vantage point in purgatory, that they were either raging hypocrites, sanctimonious simpletons, or simply didn't know me at all and only turned up for the free sandwiches.

Can we stop with the shouting now ? A tragic event has taken place, which with the best will in the world has only the most tangential real impact on the lives of those of us who never actually met Terry Newton, and there are people on here shouting at others in spittle-flecked rage that they're not all publicly tearing their shirts in some sort of pre-approved way. It seems a bit self-defeating to me. A bit like someone at a real funeral screaming at people to look sadder during the service. Let's just stop it, shall we ? Those who want to remember Newton as some sort of two-dimensional legend can go do that, and those who prefer to remember a deeply flawed and troubled man who was pretty good with a rugby ball in hand, can do that.

Making a rash comment about a player or making one about a dead person get a grip

Terry was an awesome player who put his hands up that he made some bad choices he should be shown some respect for his achievements on the pitch

Grow up.

Well, I didn't see it, but I would imagine that if eddie said those words, it would have been to promt his fellow presenters into discussion about the many other aspects of Terry's career.

Everyone on here knows Terry won't be remebered as a drugs cheat, lets be honest he'll be remebered for being not only a good player, but also a dirty barsteward - one of the leagues pantomine villians.
For me, its a testiment to RL fans that, although on a few occasions he would have been severely cursed by opposition fans, (practically) everyone has shown the deepest sympathy following this tragic event, showing that the sport's family spirit transcends the mere game on the field.

When exactly did talking frankly about someone's good and bad points become 'disrespect'? Particularly when one of those bad points apparently had a direct impact on his decision to end his own life?

A lot of people on this and other threads really need to grow up and take a long hard think about what they're posting. Sentimental airbrushing does not equal respect, folks.

After being away for the weekend, I have now managed to catch up with the Grand Finals from Sunday and of course the piece on the tragic death of Terry Newton

The performance of Eddie Hemmings during this was interesting, he did seem to be enthused about having something to talk about and was a little insensitive at times. I didn’t feel that mentioning the drugs ban was out of place – it is of course the final legacy of his career. Hemmings did carry forward the interview too long but he was filling the time between the two finals of course

The most ridiculous thing he mentioned was the ‘timing’ of the event. As Brian Carney pointed out to him, when a man has reached such a point in his life that he feels the only course of action left to him is to take his own life (and leave two small children without a father) the timing in relation to a rugby league game is completely irrelevant. As a side note, I thought that Carney was superb – dignified while obviously in shock and grieving, his comments were insightful and thoughtful

On a final note, Hemmings stated that the former Leeds, Wigan, Bradford and Wakefield hooker sadly died – how the original poster took from this that Hemmings hates Wigan I will never know, that line of thinking is completely delusional

It's news. He's a journalist.



The OP and thread title? A harsh description of it, but a true one.

Roy Haggerty has said it far better than me



If people can't restrain themselves and post appropriately, in line with the AUP, their posts will be edited or deleted.

Eddie was doing what he was told to do. I don't believe for one second they didn't know the news when they began coverage at the ground, it just hadn't been announced so they couldn't speak about it. During that time the researchers and directors would have been hastily assembling a menu of items for Hemmings to work through.

In my opinion he did his best in very difficult circumstances and he will only have been approaching the topics he was told to do. Brian Carney and Barrie MacDermott clearly agreed to speak about it as well.

As for what Hemmings said, it was pretty accurate. The abiding memories I'll have of Terry Newton will be the game at Wigan in the playoffs, which was the worst game I've ever seen for disrespect of fellow professionals as he set out to seriously hurt Long and Gilly and also his drugs ban.

I hope this sad event isn't used to attack Eddie Hemmings.

The saying is "Truth Hurts" and yes it was bad timing 24 hrs after his death but as the saying says!!!

Go on then...



The bit about him being a brilliant player is subjective, the second part is speculation. I'm not offended by what you've posted, just pointing out that elements of what you've written are not as factual as you might wish.