Don't shoot the messenger www.casforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... =3&t=25699

Don't shoot the messenger www.casforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... =3&t=25699

Are we banning players for trash-talking to the opposition now?

I love how holier-than-thou and "THINK OF THE CHILDREN, HE'S A ROLE MODEL" some fans are when NOBODY WOULD HAVE SEEN OR HEARD OF THIS if they hadn't f*cking vined it and posted it all over the internet. Do Wiganers go through tapes of SL matches like they're films of the Kennedy assassination?

Anyway. As it stands with the evidence from our amateur detectives, there's no evidence of where any comments were directed (the referee? A Warrington player? Himself? Ian Kirke?). There's also no absolute evidence of what word was used (thug?). Fair enough if the club say to Zak that, just in case he did use a certain word, then don't do it again, but to take it any further with such ambiguous evidence would be absurd.

For those who a certain they know what Hardaker is saying please watch this clip then tell me you're certain you know what he was saying.

[urlhttp://youtu.be/G-lN8vWm3m0[/url

Some anger on the VT about it......just imagine how much worst though if it was Bailey under the spotlight.

He was saying "bar...bar...bar" I am sure he did not say "black sheep" so not racial IMO. But it didn't look much like Hardaker to me - has he grown a beard?

It was towards the ref, not the opposition.

I said to the wife at the time "Hardaker has just called Childs a bucking bag"

Hey, if anyone should be able to realise what homophobic/anti-semitic/racist abuse looks like it's a bunch of Cas fans...

You know this for 100% certain how???

From what I can tell he's saying "f*cking fat git"

you just ducked with my head

Glad you've commented Gareth, could you tell us what was actually said because nobody else but you heard it at the time. Including the press box who were 50 metres closer, but hey its only Cas lets make an example.

Does Zak Smoke?

How do we know he was not saying he was desperate for a flipping cigarette, in more colloquial terms?

Maybe I'm not up with youth slang these days but last time I heard that particular word was used in that way was by Warren Oats in a 1970's Sam Peckinpah movie.

Maybe young Zak had just found out he was having [url=http://mrbrains.co.uk/these[/url for the forth time that week and wan't happy about it?

Faggots and peas! Is that still considered a traditional Sunday lunch over Castleford way?

The faggot family of the week look well pleased though

The incident is being officially investigated by the RFL.

If Hardaker has used such language, it needs to be stamped out.

Im not sure what punishment would be the correct one. The reason why we would punish him is to send out a message that the game is inclusive to everyone. Is a ban the best way to do that? I think, if Hardaker was amenable some public statements and work with the LGBT community might be a better way to address this.

May as well do both - some work with that community will help reduce his ignorance and hopefully a bit more sensitive and careful in the future. A ban will also teach him that there are consequences to doing such unacceptable things. Later on, if it happens again it will say a lot about his inability to learn.

If he'd called the ref/another player a woman what should the punishment be?

A trip to spec savers I would think

Seriously.....a public statement, AND spend some time working with the 6 percent of the UK population who are not heterosexual?

And all this, based on nothing more than supposition?

Have a word with yourself.

[url=https://vine.co/v/Md0egWOePWpI'd hardly call it supposition.[/url I think it's pretty blatant.

I think this puts the RFL in a slightly tricky position, assuming somebody has something more concrete than that video as evidence.

I'm not really a massive fan of treating match footage like CCTV, and I wonder how the complainant found it.

But, the bottom line is that it isn't language he should be using at all, and certainly not in public. The cameras are not hidden, so if he said it I couldn't bring myself to have much sympathy.

It is quite likely that he never even thought about any connotations, and it's a word that's crept into common vernacular in some circles (I used to play in a football team where it was bandied around a lot, and we had two gay players). But that used to be true of casual racism as well, and we wouldn't expect the RFL to turn a blind eye to that.

I suspect that there's some mileage to be had out of some education work here, and that might be more useful than a ban. Fine to be given to Stonewall or similar, some very public challenge to casual use of the word - which I bet a good half of SL players have in their insult bank.

All assuming there's some more substance to this than the Youtube video.

I am also assuming that the ref was content that it wasn't aimed in his direction, otherwise I would hope that the other F word being alleged would have been enough to get a red card.

Which source provided you with that stat?