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

This theory always provokes a passionate reaction. It's a theory I've genuinely held for quite some time. I hope we can discuss it like grown ups but I doubt we can. I'm sure the reactions will be defensive. We've already had "but I like other black players" which might as well have been "some of my best friends are black".

Prior to last season Ryan Bailey had, for a front line prop forward of his experience, a squeaky clean disciplinary record. Only 1 yellow card in several seasons, despite supporters misconceptions about him.

Does he play the game hard? Yes. Does he engage with opposition players in a manner that is dis-similar from any other front rowers playing the game today? Well, if you believed what you read on these forums or heard from supporters on any terrace in the league you would think so. But the reality is, he doesn't He's no better or worse than any single forward playing in the league today and his disciplinary record is better than most.

Earlier in this thread the OP linked to some youtube footage from a game against Huddersfield and was aghast at Bailey's late challenge on Kevin Brown. Yet the same footage begins with an identical challenge on Brown by Kylie Leuluai. Not a murmur. The poster was unhappy at Bailey's fisticuffs in the ensuing melee. But not, it seems, unhappy at the part played by the Australian Caucasian in the same melee who was also given a red card.

We even had a post on Southstander from an opposition fan last year that said Bailey was a criminal who should not get near an England shirt unlike good honest players like Morley and Chris Bridge. It must have escaped that posters attention that Morley and Bridge are nice white boys with criminal records.

Players like Sculthorpe, lauded in this thread for an attack on Bailey, Barrie McDermott, Lee Radford, Adrian Morley and Jamie Peacock are held in high esteem league wide for their hard man enforcer image in the minds of supporters of all clubs. Bailey is only trying to do the same job as them.

I'm not suggesting posters are card carrying members of the BNP but I am certain that there IS an element of racism, whether it be sub conscious or not, in the fact that people really do not like it that one of the very few ethnic front rowers in the game plays the game violently, yet just on the right side of the line, as his disciplinary record would suggest, whatever posters lazy assumptions and misconceptions may be.

I watch Bailey each week. He's an excellent front rower. His offensive work rate could improve but he shows that in flashes. He actually wins Leeds more penalties than he concedes and is one of the most discipline forwards I've seen in the game. Look at the Radford incident in the game against Hull in 2010. Little occurred in the ruck that doesn't occur in every single ruck in a league game but Radford launched an assault on a prone Bailey. Bailey's reaction? Cover up, do not retaliate and win the penalty. Not to mention Radford was dismissed in a game crucial to both team. This is a perfect example of Bailey's conduct and the reaction a perfect example of my theory.Radford, who acted like a thug and an idiot in the incident, was lauded on here for "putting Bailey in his place". Hmmmm. Just pause for a second and imagine your view if the players roles were reversed. If it had been Bailey punching a prone Radford several times and being dismissed for it. Now think back to how you viewed Radford at the time. Food for thought?

I'm sure I will have upset a few people. I'm sure my opinion will be dismissed. But perhaps one or two people might just pause and think about why Bailey, specifically, provokes such a reaction in them, unlike other prop forwards in the league.

And accuse me of drifting towards Godwin's law by all means but isn't such an accusation really an example of the accuser drifting towards Godwin's law rather than discussing the issue itself?

And, btw, I fully support the RFLs decision. Players should never place hands on a match official.

Great post.

And cue one-eyed opposition fan bringing up his court case in 5,4....

If only Ryan stuck to breaking into people's hotel rooms and assaulting them while they were still half asleep like some front rowers lauded on this very thread eh?

Ryan bailey is a Nazi? TMFMISL maybe, but I can't see him being a fan of Hitler.

I dislike Bailey because of what he gets up to on the field. Am I a racist? If your answer is yes, then you, sir, are an imbecile. Do racists exist? Of course they do, do any follow RL? almost certainly, is the primary cause of Bailey being disliked a manifestation of rampant racism? No.

As far as examples go, one that springs immediately to mind is his childish/pathetic downward swinging arm to attack Chris Riley's head in the last play of the 2010 Challenge Cup final.

So why isn't Adrian "drink drive then give a false name to the police" Morley widely villified as a thug for his blatant attempt to decapitate Robbie Kearns - not the first or last time in his career either, by some distance?

Why doesn't Barrie McDermott get ridiculed as a thug, a coward and a bottler despite having a much worse disciplinary record than Bailey?

Paul Sculthorpe had a particularly cheap and nasty streak when it came to dishing it out to less experienced opposition players, yet that seems to get quite happily glossed over, Why is that?

There are plenty of players in the history of the game - and running around SL at the moment - who play(ed) the game right on the margins of what's acceptable and what isn't, yet none of those seem to get the same amount of stick Ryan Bailey does.

If it's not because he's black, then the only other reason I can think of is because he and his club have been extremely successsful and it's down to jealousy.

I'll leave you to decide which it is for you.

He is by a lot of people, Morley only has to make contact with a player 1mm above the shoulder these days for people to be outraged and call for a sine die ban because of his past record.



You've got me, as a player I hated McDermott and wasn't unknown for me to call him a dirty ****.



Are you putting words in to my mouth? See my comments re

lol @ this. You're not even defending Bailey, this argument is along the lines of: "Well he started it miss!". The line "you must be racist if you hate Bailey" is utter, utter, utter, utter b******s. Ben Cockayne gets tons of stick for being a nasty horrible piece of work, too. The widespread rejoice and jeering that went on in the RL community when he lost his job at Hull KR should tell you that. Maybe Ben is of mixed heritage and you can still use your racism excuse for why most people hate him, too? Oh wait, that actually clearly isn't the case.

As for Bailey getting more stick than other players, I'm not entirely sure that's true - there are lots of players who get criticised and/or called names on here, the difference is that single comments turn a small thread in to a 58 page epic every time it happens in Bailey's case because of the Leeds fans being so bloody precious about anybody daring to criticise one of their players.

Now, racism may be prevelant in Leeds and the surrounding areas to the extent that you see it where-ever you look, I don't know, but over here on the enlightened side of the pennines we don't give a **** if somebody's white/black/brown/orange/green/red/blue. Now, if you'd care to answer the question, am I racist because I dislike what Bailey gets up to on the field of play? If your answer is yes, then I suggest you see a psychiatrist to resolve this strange obsession you have.