Re: Ben Flower : Tue Oct 14, 2014 7:47 am  

To paraphrase this morning's article in The Times by CI, the sport and disciplinary board are on trial today. I therefore think punishment will be harsh - at least one season but I fear it may be more. Whatever, these are grim days for the sport.

Re: Ben Flower : Tue Oct 14, 2014 8:05 am  

As long as the rfl dont take there lead from the lunatics on these forums then an 8 or 10 game ban, a big fine, and few sessions on an anger management course are more than enough

Re: Ben Flower : Tue Oct 14, 2014 8:08 am  

j.c wrote:

As long as the rfl dont take there lead from the lunatics on these forums then an 8 or 10 game ban, a big fine, and few sessions on an anger management course are more than enough

There's only one lunatic in this situation and unfortunately he's going to get a punishment to reflect the severity of his actions and the nationwide outrage it sparked.

Also - 'their'.

Re: Ben Flower : Tue Oct 14, 2014 8:31 am  

j.c wrote:

As long as the rfl dont take there lead from the lunatics on these forums then an 8 or 10 game ban, a big fine, and few sessions on an anger management course are more than enough

Unfortunately I don't think 8-10 is sufficient. Flower has done massive damage to the image of RL. If the RFL hand out a weak punishment, the knives really will be out for the sport. 15 game minimum I reckon.

Re: Ben Flower : Tue Oct 14, 2014 8:44 am  

Bull Mania wrote:

Unfortunately I don't think 8-10 is sufficient. Flower has done massive damage to the image of RL. If the RFL hand out a weak punishment, the knives really will be out for the sport. 15 game minimum I reckon.

15 weeks is fine by me, but calm down with the 'massive damage'. Bad stuff happens from time to time in all sports, you'll never stop moments of madness, doesn't matter what the rules are. I won't start listing them in RU, NRL, Soccer, etc., plenty others have. It's how you deal with it, and the sport's dealt with it just fine so far, and I'm confident they'll continue to do so. Let the 'knives come out' if they must - at least we get a platform to talk about and defend the sport, which plenty RL people have done so eloquently already. The fact that the RL community, Wigan included, has come out and made it absolutely clear that this is totally unacceptable gives the message that this is an unusual incident.

Re: Ben Flower : Tue Oct 14, 2014 8:52 am  

Cronus wrote:

Translation: you got me, I can't argue.

#prayforben

Re: Ben Flower : Tue Oct 14, 2014 9:00 am  

RLBandit wrote:

15 weeks is fine by me, but calm down with the 'massive damage'. Bad stuff happens from time to time in all sports, you'll never stop moments of madness, doesn't matter what the rules are. I won't start listing them in RU, NRL, Soccer, etc., plenty others have. It's how you deal with it, and the sport's dealt with it just fine so far, and I'm confident they'll continue to do so. Let the 'knives come out' if they must - at least we get a platform to talk about and defend the sport, which plenty RL people have done so eloquently already. The fact that the RL community, Wigan included, has come out and made it absolutely clear that this is totally unacceptable gives the message that this is an unusual incident.

You better believe the 'massive damage'. I have never known a rugby league video on YouTube have over 1 million hits in a couple of days and judging by peoples comments on there and across twitter, of course it has been detrimental to the image of the sport.

Re: Ben Flower : Tue Oct 14, 2014 9:06 am  

The Magic Rat wrote:

I just hope tonights disciplinary committee consisting of ex Wigan players Sculthorpe and Turley reach a fair and reasonable decision.

Not true, surely?

Re: Ben Flower : Tue Oct 14, 2014 9:09 am  

Channel Islander wrote:

You better believe the 'massive damage'. I have never known a rugby league video on YouTube have over 1 million hits in a couple of days and judging by peoples comments on there and across twitter, of course it has been detrimental to the image of the sport.

What do think the consequences of this 'massive' damage will be. 'Massive' fall in playing numbers? 'massive' fall in crowds? 'massive' fall in TV viewers? Something else?

Re: Ben Flower : Tue Oct 14, 2014 9:13 am  

Channel Islander wrote:

You better believe the 'massive damage'. I have never known a rugby league video on YouTube have over 1 million hits in a couple of days and judging by peoples comments on there and across twitter, of course it has been detrimental to the image of the sport.

Agree. One YouTube video had 1.3 million views and another is closing in on the million mark. It was the second news item on the news here on Sunday night and I'm on the other side of the world. People who don't even follow league were talking about it at work today. It's done massive damage.