A paradox that I cannot get my head around?

[cpwigan]

On days like this you often think entirely of what is happening around the event and just that. However, the more I sit back and consider everything the more I am puzzled and bemused that the paradox that is British Society and British Sport.

Wigan's international second-rower Gareth Hock is facing a two-year ban if a second sample confirms he has tested positive for cocaine.

No ifs, no buts. It is set in stone. Wigan RLFC are acting as they have to do. We can debate the rights and wrongs but the end result is always the same.

Wigan yesterday took the unusual step of issuing a statement before the outcome of that test is known. It confirmed that Hock was under provisional suspension and said that the club "joins with the RFL and UK Sport in deploring and condemning the use of drugs in sport, including so-called recreational drugs".

Perhaps people should consider the political nature of sport. Every sport depends on UK Sport for grants etc etc. He who pays the piper calls the tune. Those in high places decided that the use of drugs in sport, including so-called recreational drugs had to be discouraged at all costs. Is that right or wrong, should recreational drugs be tagged alongside peformance enhancing drugs who knows who cares. However, if the powers that be like UK Sport want something the RFL jumps and acts.

Personally I think drugs are a blight on modern society.

[cpwigan]

However, whilst deploring the use of drugs I cannot fathom why

Two Great Britain internationals, Leon Pryce and Stuart Reardon, recently avoided jail after pleading guilty to serious assault charges. Hull KR's Ben Cockayne has just returned to playing after serving a community service order for his assault conviction. In Australia, the Catalan Dragons' captain, Greg Bird, has been sentenced to 16 months for glassing his girlfriend

Merits such a limp wristed response by the RFL and the clubs concerned. The only difference seems to be that the politicians / UK Sport have not demanded action.

Which is worse Gareth Hock taking cocaine or the violent assaults by messrs Reardon, Pryce, Cockayne and Bird who bar Reardon will all be playing RL this week and for the next 2 years.

Surely that cannot be right?

[cpwigan]

Rugby League star Greg Bird has been found guilty of glassing his girlfriend Katie Milligan in the face and lying about it. Magistrate Roger Clisdellsaid it was clear Bird was lying to cover his "guilty mind". He convicted him of reckless wounding and making a false accusation afterward.

[cpwigan]

Cockayne escapes prison for assault
By Dave Hadfield
Friday, 3 April 2009
Hull KR's Ben Cockayne has been spared jail for an assault conviction, but still faces possible action from his club and the Rugby League.
The full-back was remanded in custody this week after pleading guilty and being warned that he faced a prison term. Yesterday, however, his 12-month sentence was suspended and he was ordered to do 240 hours' community service and pay £250 compensation to a victim he kicked and punched while he was on the floor. Rovers and the RFL have yet to decide what they will do about the latest high-profile case of violence involving a Super League star, a week after St Helens' Leon Pryce was told that he is likely to be jailed for assault.
"As a club, we take the court's decision and Ben's sentence very seriously," a Hull KR statement said. "We intend to meet with Ben and his representatives to discuss the outcome."
The RFL is referring the matter to its compliance department, which has the power to deregister the player.

[cpwigan]

St Helens have issued a formal warning to stand-off Leon Pryce after he admitted assault, but the club have stopped short of adding to his punishment. Both Pryce and his former Bradford team-mate Stuart Reardon walked free from court last Thursday after a judge decided not to carry out an earlier threat to impose a prison sentence. Reardon, 27, was given a 12-week suspended sentence at Bradford Magistrates' Court after last month admitting assaulting his estranged wife, Kay, after finding out she was seeing another man.
Pryce, also 27, was ordered to do 100 hours' unpaid work after he pleaded guilty to assaulting Mrs Reardon's new partner in the same incident last summer. It is the second time Pryce has escaped a custodial sentence. In 2003 he was ordered to do 120 hours of community service after being found guilty of unlawful wounding after glassing a Bradford man. Saints say the community service order was sufficient punishment after taking into account the fact that he showed genuine remorse for his actions.
"St Helens have reviewed the case and court sentence of Leon Pryce in detail," read a club statement. "The club has concluded that the sentence of 100 hours' community service is in itself sufficient punishment for his crime but have, in any event, also issued Pryce with a formal warning. In arriving at their conclusion, the club did take into account that Pryce was open, co-operative and truthful to the club when recounting the matter, has shown genuine remorse for his actions and due recognition of the embarrassment which it has brought upon himself. The club will be making no further comment on this matter."
The St Helens coach, Mick Potter, has praised Leon Pryce for his attitude and character during his recent court case, after the club decided to take no further action over his conviction for assault.
Pryce was last week sentenced to do 100 hours of community service for his involvement in an incident that also included the former Warrington full-back Stuart Reardon. "The club has concluded that the sentence of 100 hours' community service is in itself sufficient punishment for his crime but have, in any event, also issued Pryce with a formal warning," the club statement read.
"In arriving at their conclusion, the club did take into account that Pryce was open, co-operative and truthful to the club when recounting the matter, has shown genuine remorse for his actions and due recognition of the embarrassment which it has brought upon himself."
Potter added: "It's credit to his character that he hasn't allowed things to become a distraction. He's a good person by nature and he's one of the best players in Super League."

[cpwigan]

Wigan RLFC are no less puzzling

Published Date:
20 May 2008

Wigan Warriors ace Iafeta Paleaaesina has admitted a savage assault in which he broke a man's jaw outside a Wigan train station.
But the burly prop, who apologised to fans after a court hearing, may be spared jail when it comes to sentencing next month.

Paleaaesina 26, appeared before Liverpool Crown Court and pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm on bus driver James Campbell, 29, during an incident at Wigan North Western railway station in the early hours of October 6, 2007

[cpwigan]

The RFL has the power to take action but to my knowledge never has. Maybe if UK Sport were involved their reaction would be different.

The RFL is referring the matter to its compliance department, which has the power to deregister the player.

For over 12 months we have seen clubs try to bypass the visa system, willing to ignore serious illegal acts because X Y and Z are very good RL players. We have the coach of the leading club in SL praising his player for how well he handled the stress incurred before/during a court case where he was found guilty. A coach who despite this being his second conviction states

He's a good person by nature and he's one of the best players in Super League."

[primrose-n-blue]

The consequecies of drugs play far worse than an assault...not of-course to the victim of that particular crime, but because drugs effect is far more reaching.

drugs as a whole involves mob/gangland dealings, murder, death of users, broken families, money laundering, the list is almost endless.

the taking of drugs however small and recreational is a piece that keeps in place an ugly crime.

[cpwigan]

Forget Gareth Hock the RFL and all its members clubs need to take a damn good look at how they conduct their affairs because as a reasonably intelligent man I cannot square the actions of the RFl and its members clubs over the last few years and how absurd and limp wristed those actions are compared to the way it deals with drugs in RL.

[gpartin]

The consequecies of drugs play far worse than an assault...not of-course to the victim of that particular crime, but because drugs effect is far more reaching.

drugs as a whole involves mob/gangland dealings, murder, death of users, broken families, money laundering, the list is almost endless.

the taking of drugs however small and recreational is a piece that keeps in place an ugly crime.

Many of these issues are because drugs are illegal. I'm not condoning drug taking but a 2yr ban for a drug which isnt considered performance enhancing is imo harsh.