Very sorry to hear that. RIP

Yes it's terrible, one minute everything's fine, laughing and joking and then a few minutes later that happens

Sad to hear someone died after them game so condolences to his family and friends.

As for the game, it was a disgrace to be honest, if this is division 3 then the game isn't worth a light. The penalty count said everything, imo Keighley just came for a fight, which was disappointing as they actually played quite well at times. I'd have preferred us to have played all starting players (the ones available) as I'm pretty sure JK pretty much knows who they are going to be and then stuck to just using 17, rather than the wholesale use of subs which both sides used. Maybe Kear had a good idea how the game was going to turn out and didn't want to take the risk. I realise the ref was pretty inexperienced and I hope he's learnt from it but I sincerely hope that we have stronger referees for our league encounters if some of our opponents turn out to have an attitude more like renegade pub teams.

* with apologies to pub teams, most of whom take the game quite seriously.

I thought the pattern for the game was set early on when Keyes took an elbow to the head after kicking. It was ignored by the ref. To be fair to him he blew up an awful lot but it didn't seem to stop the ill discipline.

I was disappointed that we got dragged into it at the end with two important players getting sent off. I can understand the frustration but the punishment is worse.

Keighley showed the can play when they're not head hunting. They need to sort their discipline out. I agree it all descended into a pub team brawl by the end.

It seems weird that Keighley wanted to do nothing but fight, weren't they the ones squealing when Sharleston did it to them? Pontificating about how despicable it was?

RIP Sir. Condolences to the chaps friends and family.
Terribly sad news.

When they played rugby they looked quite decent but they gave so many penalties away for headshots and technical offences I think they got frustrated. That then put them off the good stuff and it became a bit tit for tat. I think the weather closing in didn’t help either as that put a halt to both temas spreading the ball so it became a war of attrition .

There were a couple of incidents that should have been dealt with better and I think the young ref will learn a lot from that game. I think if he’d laid the law down early things wouldn’t have got out of hand. Two incidents spring to mind. One where Liam Johnson appeared to tackle one of their players late should have resulted in a yellow card for him and the retaliator who then threw punches. Instead it wasn’t properly dealt with and it led to further incidents as players sought retribution. Then the spear tackle that the ref only blew for on the touch judge’s intervention. That only resulted in a penalty when a yellow card would’ve been more appropriate.

The incident with Samir getting red carded also warmed things up but he only had himself to blame.

Each of these incidents and other head shots and niggle just wound players up and the all in brawl had a bit of inevitability about it. Like I said I was disappointed with Ryan and Minchella for getting red carded. I can understand the frustration but Ryan in particular got sucked in big style. His Kelvin Skerrett style contribution to the last brawl was way OTT and he deserved the red card. That sort of thing is for pub rugby and I was surprised at him as he’s never even been spoken to by a ref before. I hope Minchella avoids a ban as he’s very important to us. In fact I thought our best attacking came when he combined with Keyes.

Sorry to hear about the bloke passing away. Thoughts are with his family.

Just out of interest, what are people's opinion on my lad getting himself sent off. I saw the incident very clearly and told my lad my opinion after the game. What's people's thoughts on it

I was too gobsmacked to see what he did as I was transfixed by Ethan “Skerrett” Ryan.

It looked like a few were throwing punches so if Elliott was then he can’t have any complaints about being sent off. He did look a bit bemused when he got carded so maybe he wasn’t as guilty as others?

It’s a shame he was sent off as I think we can cope more easily without Ryan than we can without Minchella. Here’s hoping he gets sending off sufficient.

Even if he does get a ban then it will probably be just one game, which would mean he misses the Skolars game.
And with all respect, if we can't beat Skolars at home without Minchella then we should just give up now tbh.

From what I saw, from the Northern Terrace side, he was at the front of the main brawl in a "splinter" group and pinged a Keighley lad on the shnozz in what looked like a completely unprovoked attack. Might not have been Minchella, but that looked liked the worst offence in that particular ding dong. Probably why I missed Ryan's involvement!

My lad and another Bulls player had just been penalised for holding down. When the Keighley player got up off the ground he punched my lad twice and that started it all off. Rightly or wrongly my lad then retaliated and punched him back a couple of times. I didn't see Ethan come running in as I was trying to keep an eye on Elliot. After the sendings off the ref then changed his original decision and gave a penalty to the Bulls. I guess retaliation will usually result in a red card but I can't blame him for defending himself once he had been punched twice

You know what, good on him i say. The Dewsbury game last year is still fresh in the memory. One of our players ended up in hospital with severe concussion and Oscar Thomas got launched in the railings that day. Nothing came of it by the weak official or disciplinary ( i think Walshaw got a 1 game ban, the same time Keyes was out due to the concussion which is criminal IMO)

Im absolute fed up of teams coming just for fights with us. There's trying to rough us up, and then just looking for fights all the time. If Minchella and Ryan get suspended, then so what. One of the reasons we went on that poor run last year was because teams knew they could get away with thuggish tactics and we weren't strong enough to defend ourselves and the refs certainly weren't strong enough to deal with it. Its going to be no better this year with even younger refs and a division lower. The lads have a right to defend themselves and if some billy big bollox wants to start a fight every tackle, then I've no problem with us clocking them a few back. They won't do it again. We have a right to defend ourselves as i really believe the referees and disciplinary are incapable. Our players aren't canon fodder!

I think we turned a corner the last game of the season last year when Rochdale tried the same. Keyes got taken out late and about 3 of our players went in to defend him. Looks like we've toughened up!


On the ref, i didn't think he had the worst game. Keighley Obviously decided how they were going to play and there's only so much he can do (i was surprised he showed a red to Samir as 90% of refs would have bottled that) agree with Bullseye, he should have sent Johnson to the sin-bin and he should have produced a card for the spear tackle as it became clear what Keighley were trying to do at that point.

Just this - every word!

I think us having such a young side last year was an issue and caused many opponents to go overboard roughing us up. The Dewsbury game being a particular low point. If it takes a few games with us fighting back to show we're prepared to give it back then fair enough.

However while that's fine we shouldn't let inferior teams use it to put us off our game and to get influential players binned. It's more important to win the game than the fight.

I still think the addition of an experienced tough forward would help us.

I've played against your lad once I think when I was on scholarship at Cougars. We played against West Bowling at Cougar Park and we sent one of our lads to wind up Elliot as we knew he had a bit of temper when it came to the niggly things. Gave us a few penalties if I remember rightly. So when he signed for the Bulls I was concerned that this may go against us with League 1 being a rough sort of league and that oppositions may target him (didn't really see much of him at Sheffield so didn't know if this part of his game had been ironed out).

However in the games so far he's been fantastic and erased that little doubt and yesterday proved that further. The Keighley lad and Elliot had grabbed each other which happens every game but then the Cougars lad laid one or two clear smacks to Elliot's face. I don't know about anyone else, but that happens you smack them back. I thought the instigator should have got a red, and Minchella, in my opinion, a yellow for retaliation. However you can't really complain about the red for punching back. To be honest I'm glad he gave some back and the lads backed him as well.

As for Ryan. I have to admit I laughed at first when he jumped over the brawl

It was like one of his famous dives for the try line. Then realised he'd run in from a distance and smacked someone. That's always been a red really.

I think most of us won't be critical of your lad Roger, and what we all must bear in mind, there will be plenty going on off the ball in terms of niggle and sledging.

We might see the end result when a punch is thrown, but to be fair, in all my years of watching them - the Bradford team has always been up for playing the game and not the grubby side. (I'm not biased of course

)

And do tell us - what was your opion?

(NB Terrible news re your mate - condolences to all involved)

I don't disagree with any of that premise, although I didn't go to the game so didn't see this particular incident. Whilst it isn't in the best interests of the team to get yourself sent off, it's human nature. Where it's wrong (IMO) is the disciplinary treating people who react as strongly (or worse) as those who instigate the trouble. Sure, you don't want everyone taking the law into their own hands, but there aren't many people on the planet that are happy to get struck and just stand there and nod politely. If someone hits you, you hit them back. If the Referee and Disciplinary had the balls to deal with the people who start the trouble properly, then people wouldn't feel like they have to stop it happening themselves.

Ethan's inspiration? https://youtu.be/rUMgwZLFUgw

Ethan's inspiration? https://youtu.be/rUMgwZLFUgw

I do find it very hypocritical that Keighley were complaining last season that all Fryston wanted to do in the Challenge Cup was fight. Although I accept that Fryston took it way too far, Keighley had pretty much the same tactics yesterday. I hope we embarass them at Cougar Park.

I told him I thought he was right to defend himself. If he had thrown the first punch my opinion would of been different and I would of told him that, but in this instance I thought he was right to defend himself

And thanks about my friend, still in shock. Can't believe literally 5 minutes after he said goodbye to us all he collapsed and died. He died in the ground, I thought he had got to hospital and died later but never got that far

Strange how retaliation has almost always been treated the same as instigation. As hard as it's gonna be week in week out we need to avoid getting dragged down.

Agree with Bullseye above, a tough forward, not a headcase who goes around looking for trouble, but one who can put a legal hard shot on would soon calm a lot of opposition "hardmen" down.

Young lads misbehaving.........I blame the parents.

Ha, yes I agree