He's also only himself to blame if he wasn't aware.

Ignorance is no defence.

It's about taking responsibility for one's actions.

Having read the Ben Cooper report I now agree that fault lies with him rather than Gleeson/Long. Apologies.

How convenient.

Perhaps you could start a Gleeson & Long are innocent campaign?

Long hasn't been charged with anything and thus is innocent already.

Gleeson never denied that he'd inadvertently taken a banned substance and hasn't tried to challenge the guilty verdict. As you said in your other post the ultimate responsibility for checking any supplement lies with the athlete, although in this case he was given duff information - albeit second-hand - by someone he had every right to trust.

He was found innocent of any wrongdoing because the conditioner at the time was proven to be a fraud. The RFL had employed him prior to Saints and I believe had recommended him to Saints. That's aside from the relative lack of education, information and clarification of responsibility that there was then compared to now in RL when it comes to banned substances. I believe that it is ultimately the player's responsibility to check against the list of banned substances readily available on the UKDA website before taking anything, whether recommended by their conditioner or not.

Nah, they both have history together for being numb as pumps.

Quote SaintsFan="SaintsFan"He was found innocent of any wrongdoing because the conditioner at the time was proven to be a fraud.'" Probably innocent too when he was also helping Longy's father promote his dodgy health and sports nutrition stall at Wigan market. www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2004/jan/31/rugbyleague

Quote SaintsFan="SaintsFan"He was found innocent of any wrongdoing because the conditioner at the time was proven to be a fraud.'" Probably innocent too when he was also helping Longy's father promote his dodgy health and sports nutrition stall at Wigan market. www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2004/jan/31/rugbyleague

Well said ,could not agree more.

Will there be/should there be any punishment of Hull FC for this?

We got there in the end



seeing as everyone involved in the fiasco has now either left or sacked what would be the point and would it be legal ?

I just posed the same question on our board.

My own view is that if this story gains sufficient attention in the mainstream media, the RFL may decide to issue a points deduction and/or a fine, to address any suggestion that they are toothless or don't take these matters seriously enough. People will say of course that neither Wigan or WTW copped such sanctions when Messrs Hock and Newton were busted for drug cheating - they key difference is that in neither of those cases was there any suggestion that club officials were involved in an attempted cover-up.

Either way, It's a sordid mess and does the game no favours at all.

Its just been all over BBC news 24.