Before Leeds fans get on this yes Leeds did something similar last year (www.therhinos.co.uk/news/14368.php) hopefully more will be done for our troops within our great game.

Before Leeds fans get on this yes Leeds did something similar last year (www.therhinos.co.uk/news/14368.php) hopefully more will be done for our troops within our great game.

This is a great initiative.

One note jars a bit with me, though.



Cockayne holds his head up proudly alongside those brave servicemen. I wonder if they've any inkling about how [url=http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/rugby/2007/03/10/barmy-army-115875-18733115/loyally and honestly[/url Ben played his part in the army.

I knew one of you lot would bring that up.
Can't you just give it a break now and then and just actually say well done to the club?

I did. I said it was a great initiative. It's using Cockayne as the Rovers' ambassador on this occasion that doesn't ring quite true. Perhaps the club aren't aware of his hypocrisy in this matter.

I know you did but why couldn't you just leave it at that?

This is the very kind of thing Rovers wanted Cockayne to get involved in when they gave him another chance.

Maybe Rovers & Cockayne should use his second chance the way Hull FC & Raynor did?

I'm not blaming Hull FC for Raynor's crimes but maybe if Hull had taken a more proactive role in Raynor's rehabilitation - like Rovers have with Cockayne - it might all have ended more happily.

Well done Rovers well done Ben Cockayne. It's great to see Ben in such a positive role.

No matter how many times I read that my response is the same......

Quite. Oneupmanship knows no bounds obviously!

Great cause by HKR nevertheless.

Pathetic how he can even stand there and not be utterly ashamed.
Read the report before anyone bothers even thinking it has anything to do with any misdemeanour.

I can appreciate why Hull fans are jumping on the thread and to be honest i think it was a bit daft by Rovers having Ben in the photograph.
However, this is a thread about the initiative and NOT Ben Cockayne. Anything else posted about him and not the initiative will be binned.


Great initiative by Rovers and i hope other clubs follow suit.

I think all sporting clubs should do more like this and not just for the troops but wider. I know that most clubs do lots that goes un noticed and they give players annual community awards etc but there's something bigger needed imo. Most top professional businesses for example now report to the analysts as part of their end of year accounts how much charity work theyve done or how much theyve given to charity or their environmental committment etc. May be it's something that SL should start to include in their franchise criteria... number of charity events ran or number of days that your players spend fund raising or something like that. They are role models too.

I think that part of the franchise criteria is to run an effective Community department.
As far as charity goes, much of the fund-raising that clubs get involved in will go to their own Sport and Education Trusts i would imagine in order to pay for the Community projects.

I've read the report and I've seen many young people not suited to the forces been made to serve 3+ years.

If the forces had better systems in place people wouldn't have to mis behave to be released.

NOt arguing with that. BUt they don't then stand beside them lauding it.

He isn't, hkr are promoting a new scheme.

As a former member of the armed forces Cockayne is hkr's link to them.

Cockayne had his day in court and was punished.
Yes he has to live with his actions on that evening forever but FFS move on.
It was 3- 4 years ago and he hasnt been in trouble since.

Great idea by the club, very forward thinking.

?

Nowt to do with 'that' incident.

The underlying reason is as it gets raised every time Cockayne's name appears on this forum.
As for his reasons for leaving the Army, well he will have been a young kid at the time.
Many people go into the Army, Navy etc and realise its not for them.

Quite correct and to leave the services requires an 18 month notice period, or it did when I was in the Navy.

Which is why it was not uncommon for those who desperately wanted out (for whatever reason) to become persistent offenders or, at the time, declare sexual feelings for men (it was a dischargeable offence then to be gay). 18 months is a long time to wait when you've decided that you don't like your job, but in the forces it's not simply your job, it's your whole life, especially if you are posted abroad.

The route Cockayne took to leave the Army is one that hundreds before and since have taken.

Pvr is a year, giving your notice is 18 months.

At least you can't buy yourself out anymore.

I knew a few lads who started smoking pot to get out but never got tested!

Just as I was leaving the Royal Navy they brought your notice down to 12 months. That was back in 2002. Sure that would have being for ALL the forces.

The pvr (a form of notice without the entitlements) is a year, your notice is 18 months.

We were going to do similar, but dont you think our troops have been thorugh enough already

Both incorrect - and never been the case for at least the last 3 decades. I can give you the current Terms & Conditions for the Army.

'Open Engagement' now means you must give 12 months NTT (Notice to Terminate) your employment. You can apply for early release with good reason and not pay a penny. You can also PVR and get out with less than 12 months notice, but this is rare and negates any entitlement to resettlement etc.

As for a system to let young soldiers leave the Army with reduced notice if it doesn't suit them. That's fine but the Army spends a fair bit of cash training us up initially so expects a return of service. Mine was a minimum of 6 years because of my trade, but it's generally a minimum of 3 years now. The MoD is wasting too much money as it is without throwing more down the drain.

My initial feelings (and without looking back probably reflected in some of my posts at the time) about Ben Cockayne been found guilty in court were to get rid. But actually I might have been a tad hypocritical, as would many of us. My thoughts are that he has had his day in court and hopefully learnt his lesson. And as for going out of his way to get discharged from the Army in the manner he did (I think I also posted the facts regarding this back then), then maybe if he was to be handed a professional contract in Rugby League he had no other option. Sometimes it can be a chain-of-command failing - if someone excels in a sport then their career can be shaped to suit both parties.

I presumed the army had the same ways to cease your employment as the air force through pay 2000 and the terms of employment that came from that.

It was that case for the RAF in 2007.