What a ridiculous comment to make when you don`t know exactly what has been said, the charge grade he is up against includes homophobic, racist abuse and you think that is acceptable in anyway? It`s not. Why should someone come to work to be abused?

This whole "come to work" argument is BS.

RL isn't the normal work environment is it. If I had a meeting at work, it isn't in front of 15k & nor am I putting my body on the line for it. My boss doesn't take me up to high hall for sprints at 6am on weekday etc and sack me if I don't do it etc.

Here's the thing again. It actually doesn't matter what he said as it's sport/entertainment. People will happily pay £30 to watch Fury fight and he's said some nasty things etc.

But it does matter what he has said though, as I say racial abuse, homophobic abuse is not acceptable regardless of what you say or regardless of the environment that you are in.

I’m not sure if you have ever played the game but if that is how you played it you will have lumps taken out of you.

I was a gobby player but there are lines you don’t cross, certain words, gouging, spitting etc are not things that go on and if they do away from the pro game then they tend to be dealt with on the field and sometimes off it if they are missed.

In a professional sport that has aligned itself with the Stonewall Charter and the quite obvious equality movement with the 13 seconds prior to a match then we just turn a blind eye to it would be both stupid and hypocritical in equal measure.

Basically you are talking out of your backside.

Not sure how simply I can't put this for you...

Other sports are littered with people who've said worse and done worse things than call a ref. Some of said people/stars are the very definition of box office attractions i.e. people pay money to just watch them on TV. Those sports seem to be bucking the trend and growing too...

If you think having the games best players sat in the stand is a good thing, all because we're aligned with x, y or z charity then you're a fool.

How do you know what was said?

If players break the rules they should be sat in the stands.

Don’t make excuses for the players. Make the players take accountability for their actions.

Blaming the game because a player cannot control their actions or words is simply the height of stupidity, the individual is accountable, not the game.

Are you just going to ignore what I'd posted, or are you just going to keep trotting out more BS?

1. I don't know, or care what he said and it doesn't matter to me or a hell of a lot of others too. You want proof on that? Check out the revenue for Fury when he fights. Boxing again in know, but 1.6m people bought Tyson's exhibition bout in 2020 & he's a convicted rapist, who also said he wanted to eat someone's kids.

2. I'm not making excuses for them. I just don't care one iota what they say, think or do outside of 80mins on a rugby pitch. Simple as that really. Not sure why you, as a grown man do either?

Once again however, as you don't seem to grasp this - Having the big names, actually playing the game is the BIGGEST benefit to the sport. Not charity work, not outreach in the community or schools, not taking a knee or even helping old ladies cross the road. Delivering an exciting product on the field should be the #1 goal for RL. Having players sat in the stand is detrimental to that.

Now if you want to talk about fines instead of bans, I'm all for it. Just don't f your product up by limiting your biggest assets.

You are correct on this in my opinion. Apparently it wasn’t racist or homophobic, but very dumb things to be saying. Slap on the wrist and fine would have sufficed, there are very few big name players over here from Oz and we want to watch them play….

Ok so let’s start at the natural place…

1. It matters to a lot of people, the fans who find certain words abhorrent, it matters to the players who chose to observe the 13 second equality stance prior to the game…and it matters to sponsors.

Picking out 2 global stars in 1 sport doesn’t prove you right. That is marketing.

Some sponsors will not touch either Tyson….boxing at the highest level can work with that, it isn’t an issue…huge money is involved in that sport at elite level, drop down only a few levels and see pro boxers struggling to make ends meat and see if they appreciate sponsors walking away.

2. You don’t cross certain lines. Simple as.

You definitely have never played the game if you do not get that.

You may not care, but others will.

Also it is against the rules hence why it is sanctioned.

Basically you are attempting to say it’s ok to go against the rules of the sport…just let them play regardless.

I care about it because of the effect it has on the sport, participation and sponsorship.

3. Fines instead of bans…so a player at a club with money and who is on a big wage can afford to break the rules….but others cannot.

Being relevant Israel Falou lost $14million in sponsorship over his comments.

Mason Greenwood?


Justin Thomas?


You are attempting to set a president that illegal play should be dealt with financially which will effect 0 change rather than an actual punishment.

All this is without considering the fact the sport has just tried to promote itself over the most inclusive World Cup in any sport.

Performance enhancing drugs are against the rules should we just issue fines for that?

You are an absolute clown.

I don’t disagree with a lot you have said Jon, but one thing that I fundamentally disagree with is that any person can be deemed to be guilty of an offence in the public domain, when having not been found guilty in a court of law is abhorrent. Kangaroo courts and cancelling people on a whim should not be acceptable to a democratic society.

I’m not sure where I said that.

It’s always innocent until proven guilty.

Non of us know what was said.

Let’s see how it plays out.

I was told it was allegedly a word beginning with an ‘s’ that idiots (more so 20 years back) would call a person with disabilities. I’m not getting in to the gradings of it being worse or better than some other types of slurs but it’s just so easily avoided. Bans were getting handed out like confetti for all manner of accidental offences last season, some were absolutely baffling, especially a couple of ones for contact with the ref, so to get a ban for something like this is madness on the players part. It’s not like it’s hard to stick to the F’s and C’s if he wants to start the verbals with another player.

My mistake, I apologise. I thought because you had listed Greenwood you were hinting that a player could be guilty even though it had not been proven in a court of law.

Wire play the Rhinos first up, how would the alleged comments be taken by Rhinos players and RL in general given the struggles that RL great R Burrow is going through. I think it says a lot about the respective character of a person if they have to resort to discriminatory comments when under duress. A prime example being T Clubb who deserved the ban he got.

As a gay, disabled "grown man" I personally do care what is said both on and off the pitch, be it by players, fans or the mascot.

Society has moved on from the 80's where the "N" word was regularly thrown about, and whilst I'm not suggesting that word was said, other words can be just as harmful to minorities such as myself.

I know from personal experience how damaging inappropriate use of language can be.

"Grown men" should be grown up enough to understand that.

You included.