At long last.......... www.superleague.co.uk/article.php?id=15170 Ban ends 23rd June 2011 Seems the delay confirming has been to allow an appeal which hasn't been launched. Also suggests the club will keep him on or they'd have dumped him by now surely?

At long last.......... www.superleague.co.uk/article.php?id=15170 Ban ends 23rd June 2011 Seems the delay confirming has been to allow an appeal which hasn't been launched. Also suggests the club will keep him on or they'd have dumped him by now surely?

Hmmm, it only says that he is banned from competition. Hope that this means he can have another role within the club. Its not very clear is it.

See you in 2011, Gaz.

Quote ="Bilko"At long last.......... www.superleague.co.uk/article.php?id=15170 Ban ends 23rd June 2011 Seems the delay confirming has been to allow an appeal which hasn't been launched. Also suggests the club will keep him on or they'd have dumped him by now surely?'" For once the Evening Post gets there first!! Was in a couple of days ago.

Quote ="Bilko"At long last.......... www.superleague.co.uk/article.php?id=15170 Ban ends 23rd June 2011 Seems the delay confirming has been to allow an appeal which hasn't been launched. Also suggests the club will keep him on or they'd have dumped him by now surely?'" For once the Evening Post gets there first!! Was in a couple of days ago.

Not surprised really, he didn't have any course for an appeal so this was the only option open to him.

Good luck to the lad I hope he can comeback from this better for the experience.

Report on Sporting Life says he cannot have any formal role with the club until his ban is served.

I'm not familiar with the case and i'm only making this judgement / comment on what i have read, but i am suprised that you would want such an indiviudal in and around your club still!

Why? are you suggesting we bin off the best second rower in the league after he has served his punishment! So a person or player is deemed useless after they have served a punishment breaking a rule of the sport, if he gets himself sorted and sees out his 2 yr ban then why should he not carry on playing rugby league???

His brother in law and ex team Kevin Brown has been commenting.....

He's just got to take it on the chin, and do his suspension.

Hopefully a lesson learned - the hard way !

Hopefully he does learn from his mistakes and manages to turn things around, least that way he can take something positive from the fact he was caught.

I think you'd be surprised how many people who've been convicted of relatively minor offences still participate in the day-to-day life of the nation, without anyone really objecting.

I'm not a liberal when it comes to crime and punishment, but I'm baffled by this notion that Gareth Hock should not only be banned from playing for two years, but should also be reviled, cast out, marginalised, separated from his livelihood for the rest of his days, abhorred, exiled, treated like a leper, call it what you will. Why not go the whole hog and have him flogged, hobbled and branded as well so that, from now on, everyone will know he's an outsider and demand that he be forced to live on the fringe of society?

I can only assume that Gareth Hock being a Wigan player has clouded the thinking of several who've posted on here regarding this matter.

if Gaz Hock had been an average player would you still want him at the club.

he broke the rules and has to suffer the consequences......maybe being away from the club will sort him out properly this time

He is suffering the consequences, that doesn't mean at end of his punishment period he has to carry on being punished.

And as for the "if he was an average player" well thats the nature of sport and clubs will understandably do what is best for the club overall and keeping a good player is often the best option.

Give over talking sense.

There was a very long thread on this before, but IIRC the majority on here would have him back in two years. OK, he broke a rule, and he'll pay for it, but it was 'only' cocaine. If he does the right thing while he's away, and the PR machine kicks in, I don't think there should be a problem with him coming back.

Was going to Post roughly the same thing!

Well said!

I haven't quoted on the whole Hock saga as it unfolded, I was and still am quite upset about the whole thing, not because he was caught but because he was daft enough to be involved in the whole coke scene in the first place.

As a professional working with young people, I believe that Gaz does have a vital role in educating young people around the dangers and consequences of drug use.

Listening to Looby Loony Lou spouting about the pitfalls of drug use won't by any stretch of the imagination have the same effect as imput from a professional sportsperson who is actually sitting out a 2 year ban and have to rebuild their life as they know it, would.

I do hope that the club can use his experience through the CHAMPS project or a community education project as I genuinely do believe that the community would benefit from his imput.

Agreed. There is such a thing as taking a principled stand too far. Eventually it becomes cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Ok Gaz knows he has done wrong he understands it and accepts it, so pointless going on about if`s and but`s. He has got Two years to reflect on what he has done. If he is truely sorry and comes back clean with still a passion for the game I would cheer him again as a Wigan Player.

P.S. We all make mistakes.

I don't think their is any value in Hock educating young people until he has proved he is clean, which will be in two years time.

If he manages to stay clean and return to the sport then he will have some worthwhile experience to pass on. At the moment he is just someone who got caught, was banned and regrets it so what else has he got to say but that? He has said all there is to say at the moment in the press.

Dave

Just a thought, but does anyone know what happens now?

Does he get tested periodically to make sure he is clean, or is he just cut loose and then will go back to the normal testing routine if he returns to the field?

If he wants to come back he must subject himself to regular testing during the two years. If he gets caught again it is a life time ban.

Dave

Ahh fair enough. Thanks