Tompkins - Four Nations Boycott : Sun Aug 28, 2011 9:05 am  

At least the incident is being 'invetigated' : http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 695413.stm But frankly folks, we all know what the standards of an RFL investigation are and increasingly, Red Hall has been acting like some Third World Banana Republic (after all, when was any player of any colour last suspended for a cup final / grand final ? Thus, giving abolustely no incentive to behave). Does anyone realistically think that someone on (one would suspect) a salary in excess of a hundred thousand per year be bothered by couple of hundred pounds 'slap on the wrist' by the RFL ? Much has been made by the booing of him at the Exiles game (and whilst I didn't partake of it myself, I can understand the reactions towards him, given his penalty-milking antics across Northern England) but it is worthwhile considering that Leeds fans seem to have been blamed for the booing, most of the regular Leeds fans were in their regular places in the South Stand and thus, you'd expect the noise to come from the regular places (e.g the back etc.) ... It didn't and from what I could see, most of the noise was coming from down the front and sides, where there were groups of (amongst others) Cas and Hull (both sets) fans. To label it a Leeds problem only is laughable. And, given the supposed respect campaign towards match officials, check out the reaction of Sam Tompkins towards Rob Hicks after the scoring of the last Ryan Hall try at Wembley ... A flurry of screaming abuse towards someone doing their job to the best of their abilities. Both these incidents of behaviour are not acceptable and should not be tolerated. Interestingly, in Aussie Rules (a game noted for its biff once-upon-a-time), they used to double the length of bans for trouble during showpiece occasions, but don't expect anything as forward thinking from the RFL. Brining me on to my main point, in a couple of weeks time, Leeds fans will be asked by the RFL to unite behind the odious Sam Tompkins and his slightly less odious brother Joel kick-a-man-on-the-ground Tompkins as if nothing has happend. Well folks, if you support this idea, things could be different this year and perhaps force the RFL's hand in to taking some serious action against these sort of antics. Do not dismiss 'fan power' and power of the pounds in Leeds fans pockets. After all, why do you think the Exiles game was played at Leeds and heavily pluged to Leeds fans in an attempt to get them to turn up ? I would estimate that at some internationals that Leeds fans make up some 20% - 25% of the fans attended. Take those levels of fans away and it going to hit the RFL in somewhere where they will finally start to take notice ... Their back pockets. I would suggest that the Four Nations runs on margins where a 20% drop in projected revenue is going to make a serious difference. So, what can you do ? I know some of you will have got tickets for the England games already and that's fair enough .... But for those of you that haven't and were thinking of going, do you really want to pay your hard earned cash towards someone that shows that level of contempt towards you ? Is Sam Tompkins worthy of representing this nation on the back of those sort of antics and abuse towards match officials ? The ball is very much in the RFL's court and if they fail to deal with this matter, then our response is to not support the 'national' team. You might also want to consider boycotting England shirts and merchandise (they don't look very good anyway) and / or withdrawing your email address and details from RFL mailing lists. Wembley is going to look very big and very empty without the thousands of Leeds fans that otherwise would be there .... And let's see the RFL try and fill it with Wigan 'bandwaggoners' and Hunslet fans etc. They need us down there far more than we need them (you could always watch the national side getting hammered on Sky, if you're that interested)

At least the incident is being 'invetigated' : http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 695413.stm But frankly folks, we all know what the standards of an RFL investigation are and increasingly, Red Hall has been acting like some Third World Banana Republic (after all, when was any player of any colour last suspended for a cup final / grand final ? Thus, giving abolustely no incentive to behave). Does anyone realistically think that someone on (one would suspect) a salary in excess of a hundred thousand per year be bothered by couple of hundred pounds 'slap on the wrist' by the RFL ? Much has been made by the booing of him at the Exiles game (and whilst I didn't partake of it myself, I can understand the reactions towards him, given his penalty-milking antics across Northern England) but it is worthwhile considering that Leeds fans seem to have been blamed for the booing, most of the regular Leeds fans were in their regular places in the South Stand and thus, you'd expect the noise to come from the regular places (e.g the back etc.) ... It didn't and from what I could see, most of the noise was coming from down the front and sides, where there were groups of (amongst others) Cas and Hull (both sets) fans. To label it a Leeds problem only is laughable. And, given the supposed respect campaign towards match officials, check out the reaction of Sam Tompkins towards Rob Hicks after the scoring of the last Ryan Hall try at Wembley ... A flurry of screaming abuse towards someone doing their job to the best of their abilities. Both these incidents of behaviour are not acceptable and should not be tolerated. Interestingly, in Aussie Rules (a game noted for its biff once-upon-a-time), they used to double the length of bans for trouble during showpiece occasions, but don't expect anything as forward thinking from the RFL. Brining me on to my main point, in a couple of weeks time, Leeds fans will be asked by the RFL to unite behind the odious Sam Tompkins and his slightly less odious brother Joel kick-a-man-on-the-ground Tompkins as if nothing has happend. Well folks, if you support this idea, things could be different this year and perhaps force the RFL's hand in to taking some serious action against these sort of antics. Do not dismiss 'fan power' and power of the pounds in Leeds fans pockets. After all, why do you think the Exiles game was played at Leeds and heavily pluged to Leeds fans in an attempt to get them to turn up ? I would estimate that at some internationals that Leeds fans make up some 20% - 25% of the fans attended. Take those levels of fans away and it going to hit the RFL in somewhere where they will finally start to take notice ... Their back pockets. I would suggest that the Four Nations runs on margins where a 20% drop in projected revenue is going to make a serious difference. So, what can you do ? I know some of you will have got tickets for the England games already and that's fair enough .... But for those of you that haven't and were thinking of going, do you really want to pay your hard earned cash towards someone that shows that level of contempt towards you ? Is Sam Tompkins worthy of representing this nation on the back of those sort of antics and abuse towards match officials ? The ball is very much in the RFL's court and if they fail to deal with this matter, then our response is to not support the 'national' team. You might also want to consider boycotting England shirts and merchandise (they don't look very good anyway) and / or withdrawing your email address and details from RFL mailing lists. Wembley is going to look very big and very empty without the thousands of Leeds fans that otherwise would be there .... And let's see the RFL try and fill it with Wigan 'bandwaggoners' and Hunslet fans etc. They need us down there far more than we need them (you could always watch the national side getting hammered on Sky, if you're that interested)

Re: Tompkins - Four Nations Boycott : Sun Aug 28, 2011 9:12 am  

How can he say he knows nothing about it?

Re: Tompkins - Four Nations Boycott : Sun Aug 28, 2011 9:19 am  

Mate as much as i dislike his conduct he will still get picked for England and rightly so.
We select teams on the players form (sometimes) and on form S.Tompkins walks into the England team.
We've all got opinions on his attitude ,behaviour etc etc but he is a good player and the RFL won't have the nuts to "ban him" for England and to be fair they shouldn't especially when there are still plenty of SL games to go so i'd be surprised IF he got a ban at all and anything other than a warning.

Re: Tompkins - Four Nations Boycott : Sun Aug 28, 2011 9:26 am  

Does Baily remember his antics after the game?? Bet Ryan King does! Will that be investigated also??

Re: Tompkins - Four Nations Boycott : Sun Aug 28, 2011 9:34 am  

rhinoms wrote:

Mate as much as i dislike his conduct he will still get picked for England and rightly so.
We select teams on the players form (sometimes) and on form S.Tompkins walks into the England team.
We've all got opinions on his attitude ,behaviour etc etc but he is a good player and the RFL won't have the nuts to "ban him" for England and to be fair they shouldn't especially when there are still plenty of SL games to go so i'd be surprised IF he got a ban at all and anything other than a warning.

It's either the case that the RFL nips this sort of antics, from any player, in the bud .... Or, as fans, we won't bother financially supporting the national team where such individuals are condoned and held up as some sort of figurehead.

Re: Tompkins - Four Nations Boycott : Sun Aug 28, 2011 9:37 am  

AdmiralHanson wrote: At least the incident is being 'invetigated' : http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 695413.stm But frankly folks, we all know what the standards of an RFL investigation are and increasingly, Red Hall has been acting like some Third World Banana Republic (after all, when was any player of any colour last suspended for a cup final / grand final ? Thus, giving abolustely no incentive to behave). Does anyone realistically think that someone on (one would suspect) a salary in excess of a hundred thousand per year be bothered by couple of hundred pounds 'slap on the wrist' by the RFL ? Much has been made by the booing of him at the Exiles game (and whilst I didn't partake of it myself, I can understand the reactions towards him, given his penalty-milking antics across Northern England) but it is worthwhile considering that Leeds fans seem to have been blamed for the booing, most of the regular Leeds fans were in their regular places in the South Stand and thus, you'd expect the noise to come from the regular places (e.g the back etc.) ... It didn't and from what I could see, most of the noise was coming from down the front and sides, where there were groups of (amongst others) Cas and Hull (both sets) fans. To label it a Leeds problem only is laughable. And, given the supposed respect campaign towards match officials, check out the reaction of Sam Tompkins towards Rob Hicks after the scoring of the last Ryan Hall try at Wembley ... A flurry of screaming abuse towards someone doing their job to the best of their abilities. Both these incidents of behaviour are not acceptable and should not be tolerated. Interestingly, in Aussie Rules (a game noted for its biff once-upon-a-time), they used to double the length of bans for trouble during showpiece occasions, but don't expect anything as forward thinking from the RFL. Brining me on to my main point, in a couple of weeks time, Leeds fans will be asked by the RFL to unite behind the odious Sam Tompkins and his slightly less odious brother Joel kick-a-man-on-the-ground Tompkins as if nothing has happend. Well folks, if you support this idea, things could be different this year and perhaps force the RFL's hand in to taking some serious action against these sort of antics. Do not dismiss 'fan power' and power of the pounds in Leeds fans pockets. After all, why do you think the Exiles game was played at Leeds and heavily pluged to Leeds fans in an attempt to get them to turn up ? I would estimate that at some internationals that Leeds fans make up some 20% - 25% of the fans attended. Take those levels of fans away and it going to hit the RFL in somewhere where they will finally start to take notice ... Their back pockets. I would suggest that the Four Nations runs on margins where a 20% drop in projected revenue is going to make a serious difference. So, what can you do ? I know some of you will have got tickets for the England games already and that's fair enough .... But for those of you that haven't and were thinking of going, do you really want to pay your hard earned cash towards someone that shows that level of contempt towards you ? Is Sam Tompkins worthy of representing this nation on the back of those sort of antics and abuse towards match officials ? The ball is very much in the RFL's court and if they fail to deal with this matter, then our response is to not support the 'national' team. You might also want to consider boycotting England shirts and merchandise (they don't look very good anyway) and / or withdrawing your email address and details from RFL mailing lists. Wembley is going to look very big and very empty without the thousands of Leeds fans that otherwise would be there .... And let's see the RFL try and fill it with Wigan 'bandwaggoners' and Hunslet fans etc. They need us down there far more than we need them (you could always watch the national side getting hammered on Sky, if you're that interested) Start of the trial, Judge says "lets deal with the sentence first" "we can listen to the evidence later"

AdmiralHanson wrote: At least the incident is being 'invetigated' : http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 695413.stm But frankly folks, we all know what the standards of an RFL investigation are and increasingly, Red Hall has been acting like some Third World Banana Republic (after all, when was any player of any colour last suspended for a cup final / grand final ? Thus, giving abolustely no incentive to behave). Does anyone realistically think that someone on (one would suspect) a salary in excess of a hundred thousand per year be bothered by couple of hundred pounds 'slap on the wrist' by the RFL ? Much has been made by the booing of him at the Exiles game (and whilst I didn't partake of it myself, I can understand the reactions towards him, given his penalty-milking antics across Northern England) but it is worthwhile considering that Leeds fans seem to have been blamed for the booing, most of the regular Leeds fans were in their regular places in the South Stand and thus, you'd expect the noise to come from the regular places (e.g the back etc.) ... It didn't and from what I could see, most of the noise was coming from down the front and sides, where there were groups of (amongst others) Cas and Hull (both sets) fans. To label it a Leeds problem only is laughable. And, given the supposed respect campaign towards match officials, check out the reaction of Sam Tompkins towards Rob Hicks after the scoring of the last Ryan Hall try at Wembley ... A flurry of screaming abuse towards someone doing their job to the best of their abilities. Both these incidents of behaviour are not acceptable and should not be tolerated. Interestingly, in Aussie Rules (a game noted for its biff once-upon-a-time), they used to double the length of bans for trouble during showpiece occasions, but don't expect anything as forward thinking from the RFL. Brining me on to my main point, in a couple of weeks time, Leeds fans will be asked by the RFL to unite behind the odious Sam Tompkins and his slightly less odious brother Joel kick-a-man-on-the-ground Tompkins as if nothing has happend. Well folks, if you support this idea, things could be different this year and perhaps force the RFL's hand in to taking some serious action against these sort of antics. Do not dismiss 'fan power' and power of the pounds in Leeds fans pockets. After all, why do you think the Exiles game was played at Leeds and heavily pluged to Leeds fans in an attempt to get them to turn up ? I would estimate that at some internationals that Leeds fans make up some 20% - 25% of the fans attended. Take those levels of fans away and it going to hit the RFL in somewhere where they will finally start to take notice ... Their back pockets. I would suggest that the Four Nations runs on margins where a 20% drop in projected revenue is going to make a serious difference. So, what can you do ? I know some of you will have got tickets for the England games already and that's fair enough .... But for those of you that haven't and were thinking of going, do you really want to pay your hard earned cash towards someone that shows that level of contempt towards you ? Is Sam Tompkins worthy of representing this nation on the back of those sort of antics and abuse towards match officials ? The ball is very much in the RFL's court and if they fail to deal with this matter, then our response is to not support the 'national' team. You might also want to consider boycotting England shirts and merchandise (they don't look very good anyway) and / or withdrawing your email address and details from RFL mailing lists. Wembley is going to look very big and very empty without the thousands of Leeds fans that otherwise would be there .... And let's see the RFL try and fill it with Wigan 'bandwaggoners' and Hunslet fans etc. They need us down there far more than we need them (you could always watch the national side getting hammered on Sky, if you're that interested) Start of the trial, Judge says "lets deal with the sentence first" "we can listen to the evidence later"

Re: Tompkins - Four Nations Boycott : Sun Aug 28, 2011 9:56 am  

Rugby league is unfortunately becoming more and more like football and it is turning a lot of fans off for sure. The RFL need to fair and open minded when judging certain people for their actions or risk alienating fans that can see favouritism creeping in. The teams outside superleague already know it's "one rule for us and another rule for them" regarding the disciplinary procedure but more and more fans can see a small band of players within superleague that appear to be above the law. The more the RFL and media fawn over and protect ratboy the more people will be turned off from supporting anything to do with him, including international matches.

Re: Tompkins - Four Nations Boycott : Sun Aug 28, 2011 11:06 am  

Tomkins will be representing England because currently he is the best player in his position. Throughout the history of the game there have been players who have annoyed opposing fans. How many fans have given Tomkons gestures or abusive language, I don't hear anyone saying we should group together and confront these fans because of their lack of acknowledgement of the respect campaign.

WRT Joel, he shouldn't be responding like that but is continually happenning with leeds players as bad as others. IMO the RFL needs to clampdown on this visibly, they need to vociferously back their officials based on the respect campaign, players should be given a warning if their "bleating" is in ther officials face. If they continue then a yellow card should be issued. Thius needs to be consistent within the officials and there should be meetings with coaches and players to confirm what is acceptable.

Re: Tompkins - Four Nations Boycott : Sun Aug 28, 2011 11:07 am  

AdmiralHanson wrote: At least the incident is being 'invetigated' : http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 695413.stm But frankly folks, we all know what the standards of an RFL investigation are and increasingly, Red Hall has been acting like some Third World Banana Republic (after all, when was any player of any colour last suspended for a cup final / grand final ? Thus, giving abolustely no incentive to behave). Does anyone realistically think that someone on (one would suspect) a salary in excess of a hundred thousand per year be bothered by couple of hundred pounds 'slap on the wrist' by the RFL ? Much has been made by the booing of him at the Exiles game (and whilst I didn't partake of it myself, I can understand the reactions towards him, given his penalty-milking antics across Northern England) but it is worthwhile considering that Leeds fans seem to have been blamed for the booing, most of the regular Leeds fans were in their regular places in the South Stand and thus, you'd expect the noise to come from the regular places (e.g the back etc.) ... It didn't and from what I could see, most of the noise was coming from down the front and sides, where there were groups of (amongst others) Cas and Hull (both sets) fans. To label it a Leeds problem only is laughable. And, given the supposed respect campaign towards match officials, check out the reaction of Sam Tompkins towards Rob Hicks after the scoring of the last Ryan Hall try at Wembley ... A flurry of screaming abuse towards someone doing their job to the best of their abilities. Both these incidents of behaviour are not acceptable and should not be tolerated. Interestingly, in Aussie Rules (a game noted for its biff once-upon-a-time), they used to double the length of bans for trouble during showpiece occasions, but don't expect anything as forward thinking from the RFL. Brining me on to my main point, in a couple of weeks time, Leeds fans will be asked by the RFL to unite behind the odious Sam Tompkins and his slightly less odious brother Joel kick-a-man-on-the-ground Tompkins as if nothing has happend. Well folks, if you support this idea, things could be different this year and perhaps force the RFL's hand in to taking some serious action against these sort of antics. Do not dismiss 'fan power' and power of the pounds in Leeds fans pockets. After all, why do you think the Exiles game was played at Leeds and heavily pluged to Leeds fans in an attempt to get them to turn up ? I would estimate that at some internationals that Leeds fans make up some 20% - 25% of the fans attended. Take those levels of fans away and it going to hit the RFL in somewhere where they will finally start to take notice ... Their back pockets. I would suggest that the Four Nations runs on margins where a 20% drop in projected revenue is going to make a serious difference. So, what can you do ? I know some of you will have got tickets for the England games already and that's fair enough .... But for those of you that haven't and were thinking of going, do you really want to pay your hard earned cash towards someone that shows that level of contempt towards you ? Is Sam Tompkins worthy of representing this nation on the back of those sort of antics and abuse towards match officials ? The ball is very much in the RFL's court and if they fail to deal with this matter, then our response is to not support the 'national' team. You might also want to consider boycotting England shirts and merchandise (they don't look very good anyway) and / or withdrawing your email address and details from RFL mailing lists. Wembley is going to look very big and very empty without the thousands of Leeds fans that otherwise would be there .... And let's see the RFL try and fill it with Wigan 'bandwaggoners' and Hunslet fans etc. They need us down there far more than we need them (you could always watch the national side getting hammered on Sky, if you're that interested) Absolutely pathetic , how on earth is boycotting international games going to do our game any favours ? There have been many players who have represented GB / England over the years who personally I couldn't stand but I have got 100% behind when they pull on a national shirt . Whilst I accept Tomkins behaved like a knob yesterday , that is not reason enough to withdraw support for the national team IMO . The RFL will do what they deem appropriate in terms of punishment , thats how it should be . I will continue supporting the national game whoever is picked to play for it .

AdmiralHanson wrote: At least the incident is being 'invetigated' : http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 695413.stm But frankly folks, we all know what the standards of an RFL investigation are and increasingly, Red Hall has been acting like some Third World Banana Republic (after all, when was any player of any colour last suspended for a cup final / grand final ? Thus, giving abolustely no incentive to behave). Does anyone realistically think that someone on (one would suspect) a salary in excess of a hundred thousand per year be bothered by couple of hundred pounds 'slap on the wrist' by the RFL ? Much has been made by the booing of him at the Exiles game (and whilst I didn't partake of it myself, I can understand the reactions towards him, given his penalty-milking antics across Northern England) but it is worthwhile considering that Leeds fans seem to have been blamed for the booing, most of the regular Leeds fans were in their regular places in the South Stand and thus, you'd expect the noise to come from the regular places (e.g the back etc.) ... It didn't and from what I could see, most of the noise was coming from down the front and sides, where there were groups of (amongst others) Cas and Hull (both sets) fans. To label it a Leeds problem only is laughable. And, given the supposed respect campaign towards match officials, check out the reaction of Sam Tompkins towards Rob Hicks after the scoring of the last Ryan Hall try at Wembley ... A flurry of screaming abuse towards someone doing their job to the best of their abilities. Both these incidents of behaviour are not acceptable and should not be tolerated. Interestingly, in Aussie Rules (a game noted for its biff once-upon-a-time), they used to double the length of bans for trouble during showpiece occasions, but don't expect anything as forward thinking from the RFL. Brining me on to my main point, in a couple of weeks time, Leeds fans will be asked by the RFL to unite behind the odious Sam Tompkins and his slightly less odious brother Joel kick-a-man-on-the-ground Tompkins as if nothing has happend. Well folks, if you support this idea, things could be different this year and perhaps force the RFL's hand in to taking some serious action against these sort of antics. Do not dismiss 'fan power' and power of the pounds in Leeds fans pockets. After all, why do you think the Exiles game was played at Leeds and heavily pluged to Leeds fans in an attempt to get them to turn up ? I would estimate that at some internationals that Leeds fans make up some 20% - 25% of the fans attended. Take those levels of fans away and it going to hit the RFL in somewhere where they will finally start to take notice ... Their back pockets. I would suggest that the Four Nations runs on margins where a 20% drop in projected revenue is going to make a serious difference. So, what can you do ? I know some of you will have got tickets for the England games already and that's fair enough .... But for those of you that haven't and were thinking of going, do you really want to pay your hard earned cash towards someone that shows that level of contempt towards you ? Is Sam Tompkins worthy of representing this nation on the back of those sort of antics and abuse towards match officials ? The ball is very much in the RFL's court and if they fail to deal with this matter, then our response is to not support the 'national' team. You might also want to consider boycotting England shirts and merchandise (they don't look very good anyway) and / or withdrawing your email address and details from RFL mailing lists. Wembley is going to look very big and very empty without the thousands of Leeds fans that otherwise would be there .... And let's see the RFL try and fill it with Wigan 'bandwaggoners' and Hunslet fans etc. They need us down there far more than we need them (you could always watch the national side getting hammered on Sky, if you're that interested) Absolutely pathetic , how on earth is boycotting international games going to do our game any favours ? There have been many players who have represented GB / England over the years who personally I couldn't stand but I have got 100% behind when they pull on a national shirt . Whilst I accept Tomkins behaved like a knob yesterday , that is not reason enough to withdraw support for the national team IMO . The RFL will do what they deem appropriate in terms of punishment , thats how it should be . I will continue supporting the national game whoever is picked to play for it .

Re: Tompkins - Four Nations Boycott : Sun Aug 28, 2011 11:11 am  

You've got your own naughty person who thinks its okay to go around headbutting under 20s players! Maybe hayemaker16 should rename himself coward16!