Quote: Pie Eyed "Unfortunately, therein lies the entire problem with the disciplinary in this country - They tend to take that same, skewed view.
"Mistake or not, this was the show piece of the British game............"
So fecking what ????
What you appear to be saying is that if he had done that in a non-televised match, he should receive only a standard punishment, but simply because of the match it took place in, he should be both sacked and banned for at least 6 months ???
Utter garbage.
Sadly, the RFL have been seen to take such things in to account before. ("It's a big occasion, so we'll apply a ban in months, rather than matches"icon_wink.gif.
Or, the complete opposite - "It was REALLY bad, but we need him to play for England". (Yes Mr Westwood, I'm looking at you).
For me, he should receive 1-2 matches for the first punch, plus 4-8 for the second. (Based on the Sonny Nickle ban a few years back - 9 matches for broken jaw)
Hohaia should also receive 1-2 for the elbow.
That's still a substantial (2-3 month) ban, but is more in line with the guidelines set out for striking.
IF he gets more FOR THE ACT, then that's fine, but anyone calling for him to be sacked or banned, simply because it was a big occasion needs to give their head a wobble.'"
the issue is the game is massively tarnished and is being made out to be a thugs sport by the southern media. As you will tell by my user name i now live down here. never heard RL being on the local radio, but it is and it has nothing to do with the result! i have tried for 4 years to change the opinion of my work friends that it isnt just big blokes smashing 7 bells out of each other by showing them clips of absolute skill and passion. however as soon as i came in this morning ive been getting "banter" for that "filthy northern sport" all because of this one incident.
and for this reason it should be a large ban, not sure about being sacked, but bearing in mind ZH got 7 games for calling someone a name you think this should be 1 game more? id also like the ban to take in to account friendlies, be utter crap if he only misses 1 competitive game due to wigan playing 4-5 friendlies