It was an absolute non incident. He shouldnt have been charged with anything let alone a 3 game ban! What is he supposed to do. It was just the same as when you brush past somebody walking down the street. The person who should have been charged was Silverwood for incompetent refereeing. Also why was Westwood not banned for a cheap shot on Webb that bizarrely ended up in a penalty to Wire!

Think it was very harsh to ban Bails for an incident like this. Although it is setting a standard now.

Main problem is, we see this week in, week out. So will we see consistency, or just every incident similar to this dismissed?

I expect it to be the latter.

The standard for pushing referees was set ages ago. There have been other bans for interfering with the ref. I think it has its own minimum ban doesn't it? They are the officials and whether we hate them or despise them, they are to be respected and Bailey wouldn't recognise the word 'respect' if it hit him around the ears.

I think the word 'petulance' used in the quote taken from the Panel feedback was interesting. Petulance is usually used to describe childish behaviour. That about sums up Bailey. He got what he deserved. He knows the rules and he knows that referees are untouchable, as they should be. The game will be 100% better without him in it.

Nail on head

I have no problem with the ban. You can't deliberately push a ref, even if they are stopping you from tackling someone. If Bailey's attitude post incident added to his ban, sobeit.

As for the rest, the anti Bailey hysteria is indeed classic Bailey. Probably the funniest are those posts that start out attempting to sound rational, then simply fall into the "Why I hate Bailey" tosh. SaintsFan above being a classic example.

BTW another game Bailey did very well in was the 2009 GF against Sts - he and Burgess did a fantastic job from the bench that day. Would I swap him for James Graham? In an instant. Would I swap him for any 2nd/3rd/4th choice prop at any other SL side? Never.

I wonder what it is abvout Ryan Bailey that makes people dislike him so much?

I've never understood why Saints fans make this comparison. Is Bailey there to compete with Graham? No. It'd be like comparing Paul Clough to Jamie Peacock.

I consider Bailey's well decorated career at Leeds to be a bit of an anomaly. It's in the same bracket as Leroy Rivett winning the Lance Todd Trophy.

After being at the 2009 GF I don't remember Bailey's game being that impressive. I do remember Maguire and Sinfield having a storming game, anyone can "do a job" from the bench. What I mentioned is he hardly puts in massive performances in my opinion.

It's well documented that Bailey is not liked outside of Leeds, again no different to I suppose Roy Keane was hated everywhere outside of Manchester United.

Back on Topica there seems to few complaints about the Ban, again his childish behaviour towards the official seems to have made it worse for himself.

A quick check on his disciplinary record for the last three years says he's been in front of the disciplinary panel 25 times. Compare this to Peacocks 4, Kylie's 12 and JJB's 10 and perhaps we start seeing the trend.

As an ref at amateur level I really don't want players thinking they can push me and get away with it. The pro game has to set those standards.

We all know what it is.

It's the elephant in the room that nobody likes to talk about. A big dark elephant.

Bailey in a different team would have the Leeds fans frothing at the mouth judging by their reactions to Ben Westwood

Or just the fact he is a niggly, dirty player. I can't stand him and ben cockayne in equal measures.

Utter. Rubbish.

Perilously close to Godwin's law, this.

I don't like him because he's a sh*thouse thug who picks on the youngest/smallest member of the team he plays against. The fact he is black has no bearing on whether I like him.

For instance,

I have no issue with JJB, Watkins, Jones-Bishop, all who play for leads, and all are black also. To cry racism is, to be honest, asinine.

I agree that his colour has no bearing on almost everybody who dislikes Bailey, if that was the case everyone would have hated Fleary. What does, however, seem to impact very heavily is this received wisdom that he's a bully and a coward, I say received wisdom because more often than not people struggle to actually come up with any evidence to support the idea.

So, all you haters out there, can we have five clear cut examples (one for each of his GF wins) of where, during a game Bailey, has been a thug and/or a coward. It shouldn't be too difficult seeing as that's clearly all he's ever done during his career.

A good example of thuggery would be an experienced pro (Sculthorpe) picking a young prop (Bailey) off the floor and punching him in the face, or a former boxing champ (Radford) punching someone who can't defend themselves (errm, who was that again?) but then they can't be the acts of thugs because they're widely applauded on here, so maybe I don't know the definition.

He's a panto villain who does no more dodgy stuff during a game than the likes of Ben 'lead with the elbow' Westwood, and I think people hate him because he's a winner.

I'd also point out that players like Barrie McDermott could be capable of some pretty thuggish stuff on a rugby field during their time and yet, he's merely a "loveable rogue".

Since when are/were the likes of Luke O'Donnell, Fa'asavalu, Morley and Lauaki the youngest/smallest players at their respective clubs? Another Bailey myth.

FWIW I've valued Bailey's contribution to the Leeds team long before phrases such as 'TMFMISL' and 'Classic Bailey' started doing the rounds, which has seen many of the less knowledgeable Leeds fans swing from massively under appreciating his contribution (because he doesn't make yards with gusto like a Barrie Mac type-player) to over-rating it. The reality is somewhere in between. Bailey makes a strong contribution as a prop who can play longer spells, and does a good job in winning penalties by winding up opposing forwards (although admittedly this sometimes backfires). He's generally good defensively, makes few mistakes, and has a good turn of pace for a front-rower. Contrary to the popular opinion of opposition fans, he doesn't shirk mixing it with the big boys when needed.

TBH I think the reason why most opposition fans dislike Bailey is because he's the archetypal RL pantomime villain, much like Sam Tomkins, Shaun Edwards etc. This isn't to say that racism doesn't come into it as well in some cases, although I don't think this is the major motivating factor.

Leeds fans make you laugh, when cas had Dean Sampson he was a thug same as Ben Westwood to the one eyed loiners but Ryan Bailey is an angel, never done anything illegal on or off the rugby pitch...... Infact I think I may nominate him for a pride of Britain award

Did Sampson get the same reaction from opposition fans?

Does Westwood get the same reaction from opposition fans?

Rather than laughing so heartily why not take this opportunity to provide a bit of evidence to back up your argument? It's easy to go throwing these statements about if you never have to back them up, and at the minute it seems like us Loiners might be one eyed but we're kings in the land of the blind...

This theory always provokes a passionate reaction. It's a theory I've genuinely held for quite some time. I hope we can discuss it like grown ups but I doubt we can. I'm sure the reactions will be defensive. We've already had "but I like other black players" which might as well have been "some of my best friends are black".

Prior to last season Ryan Bailey had, for a front line prop forward of his experience, a squeaky clean disciplinary record. Only 1 yellow card in several seasons, despite supporters misconceptions about him.

Does he play the game hard? Yes. Does he engage with opposition players in a manner that is dis-similar from any other front rowers playing the game today? Well, if you believed what you read on these forums or heard from supporters on any terrace in the league you would think so. But the reality is, he doesn't He's no better or worse than any single forward playing in the league today and his disciplinary record is better than most.

Earlier in this thread the OP linked to some youtube footage from a game against Huddersfield and was aghast at Bailey's late challenge on Kevin Brown. Yet the same footage begins with an identical challenge on Brown by Kylie Leuluai. Not a murmur. The poster was unhappy at Bailey's fisticuffs in the ensuing melee. But not, it seems, unhappy at the part played by the Australian Caucasian in the same melee who was also given a red card.

We even had a post on Southstander from an opposition fan last year that said Bailey was a criminal who should not get near an England shirt unlike good honest players like Morley and Chris Bridge. It must have escaped that posters attention that Morley and Bridge are nice white boys with criminal records.

Players like Sculthorpe, lauded in this thread for an attack on Bailey, Barrie McDermott, Lee Radford, Adrian Morley and Jamie Peacock are held in high esteem league wide for their hard man enforcer image in the minds of supporters of all clubs. Bailey is only trying to do the same job as them.

I'm not suggesting posters are card carrying members of the BNP but I am certain that there IS an element of racism, whether it be sub conscious or not, in the fact that people really do not like it that one of the very few ethnic front rowers in the game plays the game violently, yet just on the right side of the line, as his disciplinary record would suggest, whatever posters lazy assumptions and misconceptions may be.

I watch Bailey each week. He's an excellent front rower. His offensive work rate could improve but he shows that in flashes. He actually wins Leeds more penalties than he concedes and is one of the most discipline forwards I've seen in the game. Look at the Radford incident in the game against Hull in 2010. Little occurred in the ruck that doesn't occur in every single ruck in a league game but Radford launched an assault on a prone Bailey. Bailey's reaction? Cover up, do not retaliate and win the penalty. Not to mention Radford was dismissed in a game crucial to both team. This is a perfect example of Bailey's conduct and the reaction a perfect example of my theory.Radford, who acted like a thug and an idiot in the incident, was lauded on here for "putting Bailey in his place". Hmmmm. Just pause for a second and imagine your view if the players roles were reversed. If it had been Bailey punching a prone Radford several times and being dismissed for it. Now think back to how you viewed Radford at the time. Food for thought?

I'm sure I will have upset a few people. I'm sure my opinion will be dismissed. But perhaps one or two people might just pause and think about why Bailey, specifically, provokes such a reaction in them, unlike other prop forwards in the league.

And accuse me of drifting towards Godwin's law by all means but isn't such an accusation really an example of the accuser drifting towards Godwin's law rather than discussing the issue itself?

And, btw, I fully support the RFLs decision. Players should never place hands on a match official.

Great post.

And cue one-eyed opposition fan bringing up his court case in 5,4....

If only Ryan stuck to breaking into people's hotel rooms and assaulting them while they were still half asleep like some front rowers lauded on this very thread eh?