Quote ="AdmiralHanson"At least the incident is being 'invetigated' : 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)'" RL is a mans game, grow a dick you puff.

Quote ="AdmiralHanson"At least the incident is being 'invetigated' : 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)'" RL is a mans game, grow a dick you puff.

I smell a ban coming.

So you're saying that the crux of the issue is that he gave the TJ a gob full (not something I condone by the way)?

If that requires harsh action from the RFL, then Graham, Briers and Wellens may have played their last games of rugby league!

Most fans boycott the international fixtures anyway. 25K in Wembley will make the international game a laughing stock. Television viewers will compare the attendances at the autumn Rugby Union World Cup games with our bonfire night "double header" and giggle. Get real.

Its a letter from the RFL and a word in his ear from his coach and thats all that is needed

Great thread guys.

Bailey will no doubt go to prison for taking on some of our academy lads, much worse than what Tomkins did... but hey ho...

Great rumour that one, not substantiated in any way mind, but great rumour anyway.

Funny how the person made the claim on twitter then swifly deleted the tweet

Check out the tantrum Mathers threw last week when cas had a try chalked off for a forward pass. Looks like there will be some long bans handed out pretty soon.

come off it, that was Mathers. He carries on if anyone dares has a different opinion to his on Twitter

Call me old school, but I remember :

- Players in the top flight copping eight game bans for the sorts of things that get a couple of matches these days

- A least one top flight (prior to joining Leeds ?) copping a Sine Die ban, which in reality put them out of the game for about 6 or 9 months ?

And for a few of you that know me outside of these boards ... Massively incorrect on a number of levels

Hanson

I long ago gave up on these forums, but your original post has tempted me out of retirement.

It's probably the most childish, bitter post I've ever seen on RL Fans, and that's going some.

Just what exactly do you hope to achieve by a boycott of England RL matches?

And I'm not defending Tomkins behaviour; it was nearly as immature as your reaction to it.

I was on the tube back to Baker Street after the game with a lot of very knowledgeable Leeds fans, and in discussion there wasn't mention of that incident; there was some (in my opinion) justified comment that Wigan got the "rub of the green" overall, but they showed an appreciation of perspective that you seem to lack.

An unbelievable thread.



Who is this Sam Tompkins anyway?

We've had this discussion on several occasions and a conclusion has been drawn that fans from nearly every team frequently misspells his name along with Mcguire and Burrows so an amnesty has been called on such spellings.

More often than not, it's usually by the "could of", "should of" and "would of" brigade.

I agree the RFL should censure Tomkins for gesturing at the crowd and that the respect the referees get is just not good enough, Tomkins should not be grabbing the referee for example

The attitude of Wigan fans to this is typical of a "my club is more important than the game" a spreading disease (it was an attitude invented in Wigan after all), it is why attendances from neutrals at cup finals and anyone at internationals have fallen because there is no community to the game, there is more joy in others failure than in their own success

i will be at all of england's internationals this year, i didnt attend the non international farce where players wore england shirts earlier this year - i hope tomkins turns out to be the messiah that wigan fans believe him to be rather than a player playing in a position for his club to hide his defensive frailties and because he couldnt oust a NRL reject from his preferred position who looks good in a winning team and barely registers at the highest level

Welcome back ... How was Gerry Rafferty ?

What's all this about?
No one by the name of Tompkins played in the C Cup Final!

Damm, I wish I'd have thought about putting it like that ...

When was this?

and there was no player called maguire either.weve been through this before

Because he's thick.

and there was no player called maguire either.weve been through this before