Friends, Britons, rugbymen ... lend me your ears. : Wed Feb 18, 2009 11:29 pm  

l played professional rugby league, fought in WW2, was at Normandy D-Day and worked on the docks all my life. l used to go to rugy until ill health made it impossible for me to continue. l had the priviledge of watching such great players as Peter Sterling, Brett Kenny and the like grace our rugby grounds. l am an advocate of home grown talent but believe 'star imports' are a benefit to our game although l also think the limit should be 3 per club.

l used to believe that l fought for freedom but day by day this belief has diminished. We are now branded criminals for such 'crimes' as overfilling the wheelie bin or dropping litter in the city centre or speeding and so on. Whilst one can understand being fined for such things (except wheely bin) one should not have to be branded a criminal.

Now l find that my sport is also being targeted. Aussie players are being refused work visas because of their 'criminal' record. At first l thought what have they done? ... armed robbery? fraud? murder? GBH? ABH? NO! none of these, what we have is speeding offences, charged with assault (not convicted, just charged) and affray. Affray? we see that virtually every rugby match. lt is just above breach of the peace and is in reality just 'handbags'. Any altrication on the streets, in pubs, at home, at work, at matches etc etc the police can charge you with affray.

Upon further investigation l could find no reference to any foreign rugby union players being refused work visas or, god forbid, a Pakistani, or the like, cricket player being refused. ls it because these sports have influence and power? ... or like the cricketers, would result in mass demonstrations by the Muslim community. l say this for the Muslim community, they stand up for themselves and make their voice heardand for that they have my respect ... whether l believe in their cause or not.

But what does the working class sport of Rugby League and their supporters do? ... sweet FA! Except ofcourse slag off and gloat the clubs who have lost the services of these players. How narrow-minded and petty can you get? The RLHQ do nothing, the club boards do nothing and the supporters do nothing. Yet you have all the supporters at what ground or another so how hard would it be for all supporters to band together? You are in touch with all the clubs here anyway! Petitions, demonstrations etc may shame the club boards into coming onboard and maybe just maybe the RLHQ. Flood the Canberra British Consulate with e-mails ... and your MP's ... and the papers. Get media coverage ... hell, SKY is owned by Rupert Murdoch alone.

lf it carries on, what will happen to our sport? the lnternationals? ... depleted teams? Rugby League won't become 3rd rate ... it'll be lower!

l've fought my battles ... on the battleground, work, bureaucracy ... anything that l deemed injust or wrong. Some l won and some l lost but atleast l tried. l didn't cry in my beer and do nothing. Apathy seems endemic throughout the majority of citizens hence the minority always have the say ... especially the mandarins in Government. The one club that would speak out, Won't ... because they are French and wouldn't stand for it. God, that grates saying that but it's true.

What is happening to Rugby League is injust and wrong but it won't change unless the clubs, RLHQ and supporters speak out against it ... but ... the silence is deafening!

: Thu Feb 19, 2009 11:41 am  

That post is indeed slightly contradicting.

Re: Friends, Britons, rugbymen ... lend me your ears. : Thu Feb 19, 2009 12:38 pm  

devilsadvocate wrote:

l played professional rugby league, fought in WW2, was at Normandy D-Day and worked on the docks all my life. l used to go to rugy until ill health made it impossible for me to continue. l had the priviledge of watching such great players as Peter Sterling, Brett Kenny and the like grace our rugby grounds. l am an advocate of home grown talent but believe 'star imports' are a benefit to our game although l also think the limit should be 3 per club.

l used to believe that l fought for freedom but day by day this belief has diminished. We are now branded criminals for such 'crimes' as overfilling the wheelie bin or dropping litter in the city centre or speeding and so on. Whilst one can understand being fined for such things (except wheely bin) one should not have to be branded a criminal.

Now l find that my sport is also being targeted. Aussie players are being refused work visas because of their 'criminal' record. At first l thought what have they done? ... armed robbery? fraud? murder? GBH? ABH? NO! none of these, what we have is speeding offences, charged with assault (not convicted, just charged) and affray. Affray? we see that virtually every rugby match. lt is just above breach of the peace and is in reality just 'handbags'. Any altrication on the streets, in pubs, at home, at work, at matches etc etc the police can charge you with affray.

Upon further investigation l could find no reference to any foreign rugby union players being refused work visas or, god forbid, a Pakistani, or the like, cricket player being refused. ls it because these sports have influence and power? ... or like the cricketers, would result in mass demonstrations by the Muslim community. l say this for the Muslim community, they stand up for themselves and make their voice heardand for that they have my respect ... whether l believe in their cause or not.

But what does the working class sport of Rugby League and their supporters do? ... sweet FA! Except ofcourse slag off and gloat the clubs who have lost the services of these players. How narrow-minded and petty can you get? The RLHQ do nothing, the club boards do nothing and the supporters do nothing. Yet you have all the supporters at what ground or another so how hard would it be for all supporters to band together? You are in touch with all the clubs here anyway! Petitions, demonstrations etc may shame the club boards into coming onboard and maybe just maybe the RLHQ. Flood the Canberra British Consulate with e-mails ... and your MP's ... and the papers. Get media coverage ... hell, SKY is owned by Rupert Murdoch alone.

lf it carries on, what will happen to our sport? the lnternationals? ... depleted teams? Rugby League won't become 3rd rate ... it'll be lower!

l've fought my battles ... on the battleground, work, bureaucracy ... anything that l deemed injust or wrong. Some l won and some l lost but atleast l tried. l didn't cry in my beer and do nothing. Apathy seems endemic throughout the majority of citizens hence the minority always have the say ... especially the mandarins in Government. The one club that would speak out, Won't ... because they are French and wouldn't stand for it. God, that grates saying that but it's true.

What is happening to Rugby League is injust and wrong but it won't change unless the clubs, RLHQ and supporters speak out against it ... but ... the silence is deafening!

The above statement is unfortunately a sad reflection of society in this country today, we have probably lost more rights including certain aspects of free speech in the last 10 years than at any previous time in my life.
Unemployment is rising and yet we still allow tens of thousands of workers from outside the EU to come and work here, (skilled and unskilled), we have allowed Muslim cleriks to openly spout their anti western rhetoric while at the same time prosecuting an ordinary member of the public for taking a picture of a police car going the wrong way up a street, all in the name of anti terrorism, we allow convicted extremists who threaten our national security to oppose extradition because of the complex human rights laws brought in by this Govermentand even claiming compensation in some cases, while at the same time we deny loyal hard working brave fighting men like the Ghurkas the right to live here because they were deemed by our Goverment not to have spent enough time in this country.
I agree with the above persons opinion in as much as, we have become too tolerant as a society. It is about time we started to stand up for ourselves a great deal more than we do at present and instill some commmon sense and sanity back into our lives.
And here endeth this sermon.

: Fri Feb 20, 2009 9:45 am  

There may be trouble ahead, but now is the time to Unite and make a stance against Visa / Passport control - I have a plan, I need you help, which I hope will get some reaction.

Ten years ago, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. We now have a problem, if no one else can help, and if we can find them, maybe we can hire... The Homer-Team.

[/quote]

: Fri Feb 20, 2009 12:31 pm  

Its always the same though, if you dont go to school you get to go on trips and get special treats just to keep you off the streets. If you go to school that is indeed a reward to be entitled to an education but I never "twagged" off school yet I sit here unemployed because my ex-boss wanted to go into liquidation so he could clear his debts then set up again under a different director while those kids that got special treats are probably playing pro-sport because they were given days at clubs training grounds...etc

Unfortunately the UK is ran backwards and there isn't a great deal we can do about it! There is no wonder there are reccord numbers emigrating all over the world just to get better treatment even if it means moving from where our grandparents faught for our "freedom".

: Fri Feb 20, 2009 12:44 pm  

I find it strange that the poster lists some "serious" offences that may have been the reason for Crocker not to be allowed in to the UK. He must realise that actually "affray" is a more serious charge than all of them!

: Fri Feb 20, 2009 12:45 pm  

Sorry I should have said more serious than ABH or GBH, not murder etc.

: Fri Feb 20, 2009 1:22 pm  

Vicenzo wrote:

Sorry I should have said more serious than ABH or GBH, not murder etc.

Do you ever get anything right? Ever?