agreed but in a high impact collision sport where the adrenaline is pumping high, an incident like that would tip some players into fighting. especially the ones used as a battering ram.

see Scruton when Catalans came to town. Donaldson copped a high shot and Scruton was straight in there wanting to sort out the offender.

If it is true that he was concussed to an extent that he wasn't in control of his actions, the side issue here is that if he was treated by a doctor on the pitch and allowed to stay on, that doctor ought to be under investigation for failing in his/her duty of care. Biting is not good, and realistically the ban had to happen, but there is something very troubling about that medical testimony...

I would say Whitehead knew exactly what he was doing, a rush of blood maybe, but the medical angle is just the best excuse they could come up with.

In which case the doctor has produced misleading professional evidence.

GMC don't like that much either.

This article scared the sh it out of the tigress, even though I've not played for nearly 20 years: www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/ ... -destroyed What is equally concerning is Amercian footballers all have highly developed head protection & play far less minutes than RL players. The amount of times I saw Ronnie Gibbs knock himself out with the shear impact of his defence, refuse medical aid & stagger around the pitch for 5 minutes while he 'ran it off'.

This article scared the sh it out of the tigress, even though I've not played for nearly 20 years: www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/ ... -destroyed What is equally concerning is Amercian footballers all have highly developed head protection & play far less minutes than RL players. The amount of times I saw Ronnie Gibbs knock himself out with the shear impact of his defence, refuse medical aid & stagger around the pitch for 5 minutes while he 'ran it off'.

Quote ="tigertot"This article scared the sh it out of the tigress, even though I've not played for nearly 20 years: www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/ ... -destroyed What is equally concerning is Amercian footballers all have highly developed head protection & play far less minutes than RL players. The amount of times I saw Ronnie Gibbs knock himself out with the shear impact of his defence, refuse medical aid & stagger around the pitch for 5 minutes while he 'ran it off'.'" powerful article. I wonder how much the RFL know about this kind of thing?

Quote ="tigertot"This article scared the sh it out of the tigress, even though I've not played for nearly 20 years: www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/ ... -destroyed What is equally concerning is Amercian footballers all have highly developed head protection & play far less minutes than RL players. The amount of times I saw Ronnie Gibbs knock himself out with the shear impact of his defence, refuse medical aid & stagger around the pitch for 5 minutes while he 'ran it off'.'" powerful article. I wonder how much the RFL know about this kind of thing?

Erm scutes ran in to defend his team mate.. But different to biting! Lowest of the low biting someone always thought whitehead was brainless

The implications are almost too much to comprehend. Generally the benefits of sport to individuals & society far outweigh the negatives. But how someone can defend boxing (which I enjoy) after reading this is difficult.

Quote ="tigertot"This article scared the sh it out of the tigress, even though I've not played for nearly 20 years: www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/ ... -destroyed What is equally concerning is Amercian footballers all have highly developed head protection & play far less minutes than RL players. The amount of times I saw Ronnie Gibbs knock himself out with the shear impact of his defence, refuse medical aid & stagger around the pitch for 5 minutes while he 'ran it off'.'" My wife has being going on about this article for ages. Its a serious issue. I have not read it but somewhere it refers to the impact of a tackle being equivalent to a car crash. If you were knocked out in a car crash, would any sane doctor let you off to play rugby later? There is going to be serious long term implications for some players if things don't change. The doc running on to the pitch and saying "How many fingers? Close enough - you are fine." has to be over. Did players not used to have a mandatory two matches off after being knocked out? What happened to that? Where is the pressure coming from to make the players keep on playing? The RFL? The clubs? I wonder...

Quote ="tigertot"This article scared the sh it out of the tigress, even though I've not played for nearly 20 years: www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/ ... -destroyed What is equally concerning is Amercian footballers all have highly developed head protection & play far less minutes than RL players. The amount of times I saw Ronnie Gibbs knock himself out with the shear impact of his defence, refuse medical aid & stagger around the pitch for 5 minutes while he 'ran it off'.'" My wife has being going on about this article for ages. Its a serious issue. I have not read it but somewhere it refers to the impact of a tackle being equivalent to a car crash. If you were knocked out in a car crash, would any sane doctor let you off to play rugby later? There is going to be serious long term implications for some players if things don't change. The doc running on to the pitch and saying "How many fingers? Close enough - you are fine." has to be over. Did players not used to have a mandatory two matches off after being knocked out? What happened to that? Where is the pressure coming from to make the players keep on playing? The RFL? The clubs? I wonder...

I have watched the replays . He appears to deliberately place his mouth on the arm . He even appears to have a little think about wether or not to do it . BUT . It really does not look as if he actually started chomping . The intent was there , and it was deliberate . It looks to me like that was all it was .. Intent to bite .
And the concussion excuse is feeble . He wasnt so badly concussed that he couldn't catch a pass and run with the ball in hand . I will allow that doing so could be down to a natural instinct .
Watch the replays closely though . The look in his eyes as he goes for a nibble . He does look like he is away with the fairies . Just my opinion , but he looks like really didn't know what he was doing .
A few weeks suspension on medical grounds would be fairer than a ban of any length .

Quote ="tigertot"This article scared the sh it out of the tigress, even though I've not played for nearly 20 years: www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/ ... -destroyed What is equally concerning is Amercian footballers all have highly developed head protection & play far less minutes than RL players. The amount of times I saw Ronnie Gibbs knock himself out with the shear impact of his defence, refuse medical aid & stagger around the pitch for 5 minutes while he 'ran it off'.'" I wonder if Chris Benoit's family have read that article?

Quote ="tigertot"This article scared the sh it out of the tigress, even though I've not played for nearly 20 years: www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/ ... -destroyed What is equally concerning is Amercian footballers all have highly developed head protection & play far less minutes than RL players. The amount of times I saw Ronnie Gibbs knock himself out with the shear impact of his defence, refuse medical aid & stagger around the pitch for 5 minutes while he 'ran it off'.'" I wonder if Chris Benoit's family have read that article?

Too Soon....Too Soon.

Really?

The repeated concussions he suffered (having a diving headbutt from the top rope as a finisher doesn't help) have been linked with his cognitive state but the evidence was dismissed off-hand by many.

Right or wrong, it doesn't matter, everything that contributed to Benoit's mental state needs to be taken seriously, as it seems it is according to that article's description of the Brain Bank, and the readiness of other athletes to donate their brains.

Believe me, there's no defence for his actions, and I'm not trying to defend them, but any contributing factors have to given due consideration.

Drugs were a contributing factor to his Death (and his murders), but what you are saying is true, the repeated knocks Sportsmen take without having an extended break or having injury properly assessed often leads to long term problems and/or death. Medicine which may seem like it helps in the short term more often than not cements the long term effects of a problem. The dangers of Concussion are very real especially in our Game.

Look no further than Eddie Guerrero who overdosed on Prescription Painkillers because he gave his body to Sports Entertainment rather than his own personal welfare. Sad but True reality in Sport

I remember something about that. A player had to have a medical to prove he was fit to play or something like that?

It's a really serious issue and one player that stands out recently is Adrian Morley. He's out with long term concussion and it's not the first time anything like that has happened to him.

If he was genuinely concussed then the club doctor and physio should both be sacked.
Allowing a player to continue playing, could have resulted in something much worse than a ban.

If this defence is true. Then something is really wrong with this game.

So then, where is the link between Wrestling and contact sports? What a stupid point to raise.

Erm... Wrestling is a contact event?

They're still athletes, just because they only pretend to beat the living snot out of each other doesn't mean they don't take a lot of bumps to the head and they don't suffer injury for the sake of entertainment.

Well there'll be a lot of doctors and physios looking for a job, then, as the type of incident which Whitehead suffered is seen to happen regularly and players regularly play on.

Probably needs looking at though doesn't it? Not just in this incident but game-wide. If there are doctors on the field involved in such decisions (and we have to be clear about whether this actually happens, so it is an 'if' at this point) then it is something the GMC ought to be interested in.

Its obvious to any neutral that the Bulls lacked any "bite" in defence last night !!

Only thing they contributed was 'textbook' tackles - no bite, no tenacity.

I remember 2nd half when Burgess lined up Goulding and could of wiped him out, but didn't...

We have too many 'nice' forwards.

Sykes's hit on Tomkins was the only aggression given to a tackle - it's amazing how he's wrapped in cotton wool by all in the game - I didn't even think it was a bad tackle? I was surprised to hear Stevo say Sykes ended up in his face when he was no-where near.

Think it was reference to Whitehead.

Poor effort though. There is already a thread set up for the crap biting jokes. Hardly warrants a thread of its own.

lol - I've been 'owned'!

Even the trolling on our board is going downhill