If a person wants to take drugs for whatever reason they will do so and not because Hock or any other person in the public eye does or has done. I am in no way condoning what Hock has done but if he wants to abuse his body then thats his affair surely ,yes he should get a ban plus a hefty fine but dont agree he should be banned for life, like scooter says should everyone be banned for taking drugs in music ,sport or any other job in the public eye .

Yep he could be banned for 2 seasons but if he had shoved a glass in a girls face he,d be able to resume playing after his custodial sentance was over. On the other hand if he,d been filmed repeatedly kicking someone senseless in the head after a night out he could play straight away if for example he,d been given community service.

Now I think thats odd don,t you ?

Hock as a "pro sportsman", as are the pop stars et al a previous poster refers too, have influence & to deny that is fatuous. Fortunately we have a governing body they can be rightly ban offenders from the game. If the punishment was significant then more within the game would think twice.

And as have many posters have clearly stated cocaine can act as performance enhancing but whether Hock took it as such is irrelevant, its illegal and also a banned substance from our sport. Throw the book at him.

Agreed, should face the same punishment my company would do to me..immediate dismisal.

People seem to have accepted that these players are still playing rugby league and for me their offence is much worse as Hock is only damaging himself. I just wonder if he played for us and doing a superb job would people still feel the same .

Scooter nik,just look at my name,if i took any e i would loose my job and massive pension!!! (not paid by your taxes though!) but serving our country for over 15 yrs!.i have never sniffed,swallowed or injected any e,since i had a smoke on a spliff at 13yrs old,which made me so ill i could not swim for northern counties at Blackpool Darby baths(yes the salt water ones)Any so called proffesional sportmen know the rules,so bollox to Hock if he is guilty,he should get the two year ban and whilst banned should be tested every week if he wants to continue in RL.If he is innocent then good luck to him!You don't have to tell me about young one's as i have experience with my nephew what e does to them,also my daughter who is a club 18/ 30 rep in Europe tells me that Northerners are the worst and she was born and brought up in Somerset.Currently in KOS if u want a cheap deal!!! Bollox its took me ages to post this!!!

Damn, and I thought your name was Robert David!

Point taken, but as it's your job to uphold the law, it is only fair and right that if caught breaking those laws that you should lose your job.
Gareth's job is to play RL, not to uphold the laws of the land.

IMO it's the law of the game that is wrong, not the punishment.

Surely it is a greater offence to assault someone in the street than to poison yourself?

if kids choose to follow there sports stars example in taking drugs they are sad and need to get a life. Like was said about the musicians like the beetles and ozzy osbourne?? do you still buy there albums YESS so what is the diffrence with Hock everyone calling him a scrote cause he chooses a drug the doesnt affect anyone else you or me so leave him to it. As i already said yes it is an illegal drug and hes should be punished but fine is suffiecent cause it doesnt affect his playing potential. Cant belive so many people think it is so uncommmon im 19 and i will tell you now 7/10 people out on the town at weekends are on the stuff

You expect a sports governing body not to follow the laws of the country?

Don’t know what field you work in, but in the automotive game most employers have a no drugs policy, with the help of rltheserl I've previously dismissed 2 people for working whilst under the influence of drugs and would happily do it again.

...interesting. Presumably there is insufficient evidence to prove that Hock has broken the laws of this country, otherwise he would be prosecuted for same. But Sports Governing bodies don't ban players for, say, drink-driving, or for tax fraud. And taking pseudoephadrine is not illegal, but that would get Hock the same ban, as it's a prescribed substance. I see where you're coming from, but I don't think this argument holds.




I'm sure if Hock has turned up at Wiggin under the influence of drugs, he'd have been dismissed. In the automotive game, the implications of taking drugs are such that it could lead to the deaths of colleagues or bystanders, so again, I'm not convinced the analogy works. There is a wider question about how far a employer's rights extend into the private lives of its staff (qv the recent discussion as to whether medical staff can be disciplined for smoking publically while in uniform but not in work). But again, that's not at issue. Hock doesn't face sanction from his employer, but from the governing body of the sport. If Wigan terminate his contract, it will be because he cant fulfil the obligation to play, not directly because of his failed drug test, one assumes.

None of this is to excuse someone breaking the rules. But neither does it demand or justify a witch-hunt. There are rules, it seems he broke them, if he did there are punishments that will be implemented. Nuff said.

Because its loads and loads of fun, so I'm told

(and, no, I have no first hand experience. But I've been drunk, and I enjoyed that. Mostly).

All the kids you see with Ronaldo etc on there football shirt backs actually see him as a hero, whatever he does is what they want to do/ be associated with (thus why Beckham made more money out of marketing than his football skills).

Hock taking the drug doesn't affect anyone but himself (of course you could argue its affected his club and its standing, the sport of RL etc , however i'd let you go with "no-one else effected"icon_wink.gif, unfortunatly for those of us who have no wish to be associated with ANY illegal drug taker (recreational or otherwise) Hock BUYING the drug affects the entire country and beyond.

7/10 people in Leigh on drugs is a exceptionally high amount if true, one wonders how many people in Leigh are also victims of drug related crime directly or otherwise.

I'll never forget the time when on Boots N'all Andy Wilson referred to Hock as Gareth Cock. Freudian slip?

The Watcher would ban him for life,I dont want druggies or "thuggies" in our game.