have you forgotten about his jail sentence and being caught taking banned substances?

Oh silly me, you wouldnt know about that as you only started supporting Leeds when Leeds united became rubbish

Oh dear me, is it half term already?

Kicking off with kids after the CC Final?

Oh sorry, in "Bails Is Innocent LaLa Land" it was all made up for some inexplicable reason. Out of the blue. No, really.

Feel free to provide some facts....names of the people involved.....record of complaint...Wigan/Redhalls response.....that sort of thing. As has been pointed out, Urban Myth doesn't cut it.

Or is your anti Leeds bile all you can bring to the table?

As I said, RL players - even kids - are made of sterner stuff, unlike you, clearly. Crying to the authorities over an altercation off the pitch is a no-no. I know who the Wigan lad involved was - and it's nothing google won't reveal.

Still, you're probably right. They plucked the name 'Ryan Bailey' out of thin air and concocted a story about him headbutting one lad and kicking off with a few more. Complete fabrication, obviously. Vivid imaginations, kids these days.

Good lad, Ryan Bailey. Butter wouldn't melt.

Ah, disappointment, thy name is Cronus.

You met the wife then?

Banned substances? Wasn't your very own Team Captain fined £2500 and handed a suspended one year ban for taking banned substances.....and they've built a bloody statue to him! The words "sticky" and "wicket" spring to mind when any Saints fan starts down that road.

In Ryan's case, both him and Keith Senior took medication that contained the banned substance ephedrine, in response to a flu like virus which swept through the camp at the Tri Nations.The lack of a ban and a £1500 pound fine was recognition by the powers that be, that it was stupidity in not reading the small print that listed the contents, rather than a deliberate attempt to boost their performances. Whilst stupidity is not really any sort of a defence, it's a million miles from the Columbian marching powder favoured by others.

As for the Court case. Some facts. There were 4 Rugby players involved. Bailey, Chev Walker and a lad called Barker. They came out of a nightclub to see another Rochdale Hornet player Paul Owen involved in a violent altercation with a young women. They intervened on the woman's behalf and Owen then punched Barker to the ground and knocked him out by booting him in the head.

Ryan(19) and Chevvy(20) reacted as most young men would have done, and steamed into Paul Owen. Unfortunately for them, they were all arrested and the trial judge took great exception to professional sportsmen brawling in the street.

Barker received 150 hours community service.
Ryan got 9 months
Paul Owen 15 months
Chev Walker 18 months.....

and yet in this tale of wanton thuggery, it is only Big Bad Bailey's name which is ever mentioned! One wonders what ever happened to the guy whose actions caused it all to kick off.

Ryan has since represented both Great Britain and England at International level, been a regular in, and collected 5 GF rings with the Leeds Rhinos, is happily married with 3 kids......but still the gormless few are happy to endlessly keep regurgitating any old crap about him if it suits their particular agenda.

As a wind up merchant out there on the pitch, he must expect some grief, but there are times, when I genuinely wonder if he was not a black guy, and had done everything the same in his life, would he still be receiving so much ignorant and negative comments?

in their defence, the statue of cunningham is tucked away next to a multi story car park.

Which is going to be moved quite soon near the new stadium.

Do you mean this quote from the media

"The independent inquiry into Cunningham's case concluded that "there was reason to believe Mike Sutherland had administered the drug to the player without his knowledge".

Sutherland was a fitness adviser employed by the RFL immediately before, and then during, both the 2001 and 2002 Test series against Australia and New Zealand. Sutherland had a similar role with St Helens until an article in the Australian rugby league magazine, Big League, alerted both teams that he did not have the qualifications he had claimed and he was sacked. Sutherland was unavailable for comment yesterday."

The RFL should have fined themselves £2500 and awarded compensation to Cunningham, maybe they funded some of the statue costs.

I reckon Bailey could possible be on "post match Bully Pills", why did he Big Up to the young saints players AFTER the game had finished. Was it because the bigger older guys might have dished out some retribution...C...O...W...A...R...D.

Good. Always struck me as strange, sticking it out of the way like that, especially given the fuss that was made over it.

why let reality ruin a good story. saddened also insists on refering to bailey's shoulder charge as a high shot-a little poetic licence always helps a story.

Can see Tony Tonks ripping the coward Bailey a new one next season.

I don't think it's appropriate to rake up an old case where only the people involved know what really happened, it's very dangerous and unfair to start apportioning blame based on hearsay. My understanding of the incident is very different from the above and i think it's best left alone on a forum like this.

Apparently Bailey spends entire games running away from any confrontations with opposition props, who are all ready to sort him out. Bizarre that he should even get a game for Leeds if he really did that. That's not exactly what a coach looks for is it? Yet Daryl Powell, Tony Smith, Brian McClennan and Brian McDermott have seen fit to pick him regularly for Leeds (not to mention Noble and McNamara at international level). Honestly, I don't know what these coaches are thinking - can't they see what's obvious to the fans?

If Australia and NZ are half as touchy as fans on here (and Wilkin), Bailey ought to be first choice prop for England, never mind likely 5th choice. No wonder McNamara wants him in the squad.

Such white knighting from the Leeds damage control crew.

Loved Fosters comments about him too.

Bailey is a bully and nothing else. Sparked out by Scully. Leathered by radford. Ran 20 meters to get away from carvell. Such a cracking record for a supposed hardman! Oh, sorry my bad. He did try a pathetic headbutt on sean long that longy laughed at

His selection in the squad is bizarre. Australia's back line would tear him to pieces. If he was actually selected against them you would see nothing of the winding up and none of the chest banging. He'd be like a kid on debut, hiding on the bench and in the centres.

His selection in the squad is far from bizarre, he is one of the form props in the competition.

Wilkins selection in the other hand ...

I'd be surprised if he played one minute in the series. He's so far behind Graham, Peacock, Carvell and Morley it's unreal.

Are you suggesting Bailey is better than the likes of Lynch, Scrutton, Mossop, LMS?

Really? That's a very naive and presumptive viewpoint. Nelson must be spinning in his grave, if we simply dismiss Trafalgar on the grounds that anyone involved must be long dead!

With the greatest of respect, hearsay and your understanding mean diddly when the facts regarding the incident are in the public domain, and are easily verifiable.

To be honest, if you can't be bothered to check your facts, then you'll be tarred with the same brush as the other muppets who constantly barf up hearsay as fact.

thats exactly what I'm saying, take away your somewhat strange irrational blinkers off and you will see Bailey has had his best season in a Rhinos shirt and fully deserves his call up. Yes I would say he isn't the first choice prop and is behind those you mention (peacock et al) in the pecking order but worthy of a place never the less.

Got to agree. He's a decent prop and does his job well. He won't be first choice for England but he'll do what's required if called upon.

It's just that other aspects of his character on and off the pitch are less than desirable. He's not the only player to be a bit of a cock, but he's getting a reputation for kicking off with kids, and never the hard men.

I'd ask Luke O'Donnell about that if I were you, providing he's still got some memory of the incident left.

I love how the Radford incident keeps getting brought up as evidence of both his supposed thuggery and cowardice.

He was face down, on the floor having been tackled, when Radford punched him from above and behind in retaliation to what he believed to be a deliberate elbow. By the time he regains his feet it's all kicked off in a mass brawl around him, and various of his team mates are trying to pull him away from getting involved (watch Brett Delaney in particular get himself between Bailey and the Hull FC players).

And yet it's Bailey that gets called all sorts for the incident, while Radford escapes any sort of criticism for a cowardly, thuggish assault on a fellow professional.