It's not clear what he says from the video clip posted or to those who have the game recorded. If you state you 'know' he said 'Puff', you're a) lying, or b) allowing team or player bias to cloud your judgement, even subconciously. The same goes for those who 'know' he didn't say 'puff', but rather something else.

If the RFL feel an investigation is necessary, that's fine. An investigation is just that - they want to find out the truth of what's happened, and realistically there's nothing wrong with that. I'm sure we all want to know the truth, and I'm sure the RFL have access to many more angles and recordings of the incident than we do, so it's hopeful they will find out the truth moreso than any of us guessing.

I am interested in how this came to their attention - a complaint from the referee or another player is understandable, but if it was people complaining on social media, whilst I'm not complaining about that exactly, I do wonder if it only counts for verbal abuse fans believe they saw, or if it could be anything in the frame of a game. How many times have we shouted that a tackle was high, or dangerous, that someone has committed a professional foul, yet the referee hasn't seen it? If we make enough threads about it on RLFans, or complain on Twitter, will that also lead to the player in question being 'under investigation'? I'd not being sarcastic, I genuinely wonder if this is something that would happen. If not, why?

so as swearing at other players is classed as foul and abusive language, should no action be taken by the referee can we, as fans, ask for it to be investigated?
or foul play? or anything we don't like?

Think it was Flanagan bending his leg right back, Hardaker effectively responding, "is that the best you can do?"

it only says that if you can't read.

what does your lawyer say on the matter?

you know, the one that said he was ok last time and there was no case to answer?

Do you know for certain that no player reported it or that it wasn't in the ref's report?

Even if that was the case, the RFL review every game anyway so it could have been picked up then.

This suggestion that he is being investigated purely because of what has been said on the Internet is ridiculous.

If the RFL charge hardaker again Id like to see this dragged to the court of arbitration for sport. He has been subjected to trial by twitter and our clueless administrators have just jumped on a PC bandwagon. If he charged for calling a player thats just tried to injure him a prick the RFL will need to ban any player caught swearing in any game. No one would be able to put a team out within a fortnight.

The RFL have proved just how clueless they are tonight by clearing Liam Farrell of a shocking high late challenge.

Quote ="salford1970"I know the other thread is now locked but it seems the RFL may yet take action; www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/29030926'" Why has Hardakers got his tongue out while Wellens is kissing his arm in the OP,s link.

Quote ="salford1970"I know the other thread is now locked but it seems the RFL may yet take action; www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/29030926'" Why has Hardakers got his tongue out while Wellens is kissing his arm in the OP,s link.

Lol at the Leeds fans in this thread

Regards

King james

He's not being investigated for swearing or calling someone a pri**. He's being investigated if he made homophobic comments.

Leeds wouldn't have a case if they took it to court. He's not had a trial, so how is it trial by twitter? If he's charged by the RFL THEN he gets a trial.

Although I agree on Liam Farrell incident, no idea how he's escaped that.

You are talking about criminal proceedings which has already been proven otherwise.

I was talking about none criminal decision making, were similar fact evidence has been used for a long time.

I used to use it myself. But like I said this was not in a criminal setting.

It’s been a while since I visited this thread, I found it highly amusing on the night, but then it became a tad tedious.

To be honest I became bored of the pseudo disgust & blind loyalty. What next, the illegitimate lobby getting on someone’s back when some player’s called a B@std, or maybe the female genitalia crew being outraged.

However on revisiting, am I led to believe that some people are of the opinion that the ranting’s of certain posters on here are responsible for Hardaker being investigated

Whether it's responsible or not isn't actually the key point.

Because I'm a Leeds fan, people dismiss me not being offended/shocked/disgusted at Hardaker's possible actions.

Couldn't be further from the truth. Truth is on this board you'll struggle to find many more individuals who are more supportive of gay rights than myself. This is a large part of the reason I find the overwhelming outrage and 'support' of gay rights so cringeworthy/laughable/insincere.
As someone who genuinely cares about gay rights it's frustrating to know deep down (even though people will deny it) that the very same posters on here who are full of condemnation for Hardaker for blowing a kiss and possibly saying puff will barely bat an eyelid/care when a story appears on the news or in the papers about gay marriage, gay hate crimes, gay adoption, etc. Real serious issues about what effects gay peoples lives in terms of being truly treated equal.

But the moment a RL player possibly says an inappropriate word, fans of rivals clubs jump over it like they've been the strongest supporter of gay rights that have ever lived.

If the people on here gave the same energy/anger/fight-for-justice approach to all homophobic causes then the fight against it would be so much better off........but seems the true concern is how it effects their RL clubs chances/knobbles a club they don't like chances in the playoffs.

And no that isn't just a "jealous of Leeds" post.

It's the truth no matter how much you try and tell us and yourself that it isn't.

...is that like "some of my friends are gay"?

The Leeds fans are reminding me very much of the majority of Liverpool fans during the Suarez/Evra episode (although hopefully the Leeds club has more class than to have the players wear special shirts in support of him in advance of any outcome!)

There's even a thread on their board with a load of them talking about giving up on RL if he's found guilty. Think about that - if one of their players is twice found guilty of homophobic abuse in live tv, they will give up watching RL rather than say "perhaps he should know better after the first ban". Incredible.

Thanks for your worthwhile contribution to this thread which just consist of a homophobic stereotype.

I agree some Leeds fans have gone too far with Thierry I give up on the sport line. If he's found guilty based on something more than lip reading an unclear word then fair do's.

But let's not pretend for every Leeds fan their has been more opposition fans who have already determined guilt and had him hung drawn and quartered already in their minds.

Leeds fans shouldn't back him to the hill until we have a decision.
But neither should others be so nailed on with his guilt already.

No idea what definition of "race" the RFL works to, but the legal definition of race definitely covers national origin. If you sack someone for being Australian, call them a "pommie idiot" at work, refuse service because they are Irish etc you could sued for race discrimination and you would lose. Consistency would seem to me to require an insult based on nationality to be treated in the same way as any other, but as I say, no idea what the RFL rules say on this. You're right about different counties though.

I can read fine. It is you who is too arrogant to provide cohesive words that seem to hint at unsavoury principles.

Anyone who offers a crumb of support to Hardaker really doesn't deserve a right to reply.

I can read fine. It is you who is too arrogant to provide cohesive words that seem to hint at unsavoury principles.

Anyone who offers a crumb of support to Hardaker really doesn't deserve a right to reply.

how's the view up there on your high horse?

This idiot was claiming Hardaker couldn't tackle last season, despite his defence being excellent.

Just ignore him. He was happy to support the likes of Jon Clarke and Chris Bridge, who've both previously been charged with assault, with at least one of them doing a stretch in prison.

Absolutely no club bias shown whatsoever.

You are doing a very good job of convincing me otherwise.

Why would i want to do that in the first place?

What you've said is ridiculous. Offering support to Hardaker doesn't mean you condone using homophobic language. I've seen the footage numerous times now and believe the word Zak used was "prick". Unless some evidence is produced proving that this is wrong I will continue to support him. If you have such evidence, by all means disclose it. If not, Zak should be considered innocent until someone else has proved him guilty.

Do people really go on about it.

I've made a couple of posts on it, but far less than on the likelihood of Wheeler ever wearing a Saints shirt again.
However the Wheeler conundrum only really interests us Saints fans, were as Hardaker appearing to say something similiar to what he got a ban for previously on TV will obviously attract interest from more than just Leeds fans.

Those posting the case for the defense have been far more frequent on this and other threads than any odd poster who may assume he said something else. So it's not people having a go, it's the odd post here or there, but some feel the need to respond to each and every one of those. If people just stated their opinion and did not feel the need to take on each and every poster whose view runs counter to their own the threads would have been half their size.

But to put it into perspective, look at the size of the Widnes thread. Far more interest from a far wider range of fans. And it was not everyone having a pop at Widnes.