I wonder what it is abvout Ryan Bailey that makes people dislike him so much?

I've never understood why Saints fans make this comparison. Is Bailey there to compete with Graham? No. It'd be like comparing Paul Clough to Jamie Peacock.

I consider Bailey's well decorated career at Leeds to be a bit of an anomaly. It's in the same bracket as Leroy Rivett winning the Lance Todd Trophy.

After being at the 2009 GF I don't remember Bailey's game being that impressive. I do remember Maguire and Sinfield having a storming game, anyone can "do a job" from the bench. What I mentioned is he hardly puts in massive performances in my opinion.

It's well documented that Bailey is not liked outside of Leeds, again no different to I suppose Roy Keane was hated everywhere outside of Manchester United.

Back on Topica there seems to few complaints about the Ban, again his childish behaviour towards the official seems to have made it worse for himself.

A quick check on his disciplinary record for the last three years says he's been in front of the disciplinary panel 25 times. Compare this to Peacocks 4, Kylie's 12 and JJB's 10 and perhaps we start seeing the trend.

As an ref at amateur level I really don't want players thinking they can push me and get away with it. The pro game has to set those standards.

Bailey in a different team would have the Leeds fans frothing at the mouth judging by their reactions to Ben Westwood

Or just the fact he is a niggly, dirty player. I can't stand him and ben cockayne in equal measures.

Utter. Rubbish.

Perilously close to Godwin's law, this.

I don't like him because he's a sh*thouse thug who picks on the youngest/smallest member of the team he plays against. The fact he is black has no bearing on whether I like him.

For instance,

I have no issue with JJB, Watkins, Jones-Bishop, all who play for leads, and all are black also. To cry racism is, to be honest, asinine.

I agree that his colour has no bearing on almost everybody who dislikes Bailey, if that was the case everyone would have hated Fleary. What does, however, seem to impact very heavily is this received wisdom that he's a bully and a coward, I say received wisdom because more often than not people struggle to actually come up with any evidence to support the idea.

So, all you haters out there, can we have five clear cut examples (one for each of his GF wins) of where, during a game Bailey, has been a thug and/or a coward. It shouldn't be too difficult seeing as that's clearly all he's ever done during his career.

A good example of thuggery would be an experienced pro (Sculthorpe) picking a young prop (Bailey) off the floor and punching him in the face, or a former boxing champ (Radford) punching someone who can't defend themselves (errm, who was that again?) but then they can't be the acts of thugs because they're widely applauded on here, so maybe I don't know the definition.

He's a panto villain who does no more dodgy stuff during a game than the likes of Ben 'lead with the elbow' Westwood, and I think people hate him because he's a winner.

I'd also point out that players like Barrie McDermott could be capable of some pretty thuggish stuff on a rugby field during their time and yet, he's merely a "loveable rogue".

Since when are/were the likes of Luke O'Donnell, Fa'asavalu, Morley and Lauaki the youngest/smallest players at their respective clubs? Another Bailey myth.

FWIW I've valued Bailey's contribution to the Leeds team long before phrases such as 'TMFMISL' and 'Classic Bailey' started doing the rounds, which has seen many of the less knowledgeable Leeds fans swing from massively under appreciating his contribution (because he doesn't make yards with gusto like a Barrie Mac type-player) to over-rating it. The reality is somewhere in between. Bailey makes a strong contribution as a prop who can play longer spells, and does a good job in winning penalties by winding up opposing forwards (although admittedly this sometimes backfires). He's generally good defensively, makes few mistakes, and has a good turn of pace for a front-rower. Contrary to the popular opinion of opposition fans, he doesn't shirk mixing it with the big boys when needed.

TBH I think the reason why most opposition fans dislike Bailey is because he's the archetypal RL pantomime villain, much like Sam Tomkins, Shaun Edwards etc. This isn't to say that racism doesn't come into it as well in some cases, although I don't think this is the major motivating factor.

Leeds fans make you laugh, when cas had Dean Sampson he was a thug same as Ben Westwood to the one eyed loiners but Ryan Bailey is an angel, never done anything illegal on or off the rugby pitch...... Infact I think I may nominate him for a pride of Britain award