www.therfl.co.uk/~therflc/superl ... p?id=19155 Obviously the Death Of Terry Newton has hit a nerve for a lot of people and many feel sorry for his family and friends despite that i do think that the RFL have made a mistake here. A minutes silence at the RsL Show piece event is likely to backfire spectacularly, the drunken part time supporters who will turn up to a final are hardly likely to keep quiet with the net result that the minutes silence will not be respected. This will only give a negative view of RL on telly. Secondly despite his long career and success as a player he was only recently banned for taking performance enhancing drugs so hardly can be a role model for players or the game. All the press are talking about is the salacious aspects of his death and career. If he had died at some point in the future it would have been fair to judge his career as a whole but not now. I feel that the RFl have being drawn into making a rash decision due to the tragic circumstances of his death It would have been much better for Wigan to to make atribute to him and then to have had apre season frindly as a tribute with money goin g to his family say Wigan vs Bradford. just think this is going to backfire on the RFL.

www.therfl.co.uk/~therflc/superl ... p?id=19155 Obviously the Death Of Terry Newton has hit a nerve for a lot of people and many feel sorry for his family and friends despite that i do think that the RFL have made a mistake here. A minutes silence at the RsL Show piece event is likely to backfire spectacularly, the drunken part time supporters who will turn up to a final are hardly likely to keep quiet with the net result that the minutes silence will not be respected. This will only give a negative view of RL on telly. Secondly despite his long career and success as a player he was only recently banned for taking performance enhancing drugs so hardly can be a role model for players or the game. All the press are talking about is the salacious aspects of his death and career. If he had died at some point in the future it would have been fair to judge his career as a whole but not now. I feel that the RFl have being drawn into making a rash decision due to the tragic circumstances of his death It would have been much better for Wigan to to make atribute to him and then to have had apre season frindly as a tribute with money goin g to his family say Wigan vs Bradford. just think this is going to backfire on the RFL.

It could go that way. On the other hand it could be seen as an opportunity to show the world that rugby league is a community and despite it being the biggest game of the season, despite an evening kick off and despite Terry Newton being the type of player some fans loved to hate the minutes silence could be impeccably observed.

An inclusive sport with a family feel and where there is no need for fans to be segregated is what RL is about for me. I don't know any true RL fan who would disrespect the silence and I hope that if any drunk morons do disrespect it the true RL fans drown them out with applause instead of boos and show them that they won't shame our sport on it's biggest night of the year.

That would be rather ironic then dealing with boos in a minutes silence by cheering

It's more respectful to have a minutes applause than a minutes booing. To me the RFL obviously think that RL fans are respectful enough not to have to resort to a minutes applause instead of a silence; if the idiots try to spoil it the true fans should drown them out by resorting the the type of minutes respect other sports have already resorted too.

I hate the idea of applause at a memorial, its an admission that you have failed in your respect - after all, its easier to keep quiet than to stand and applause.

And yes, we all know why (for instance but not exclusively) the practice of a minutes applause takes place in football grounds now, lets not try and pretend that its out of any respect or appreciation, its because some aspects of the crowd cannot restrain themselves from booing or chanting.

I always thought that RL was better than that - lets have the minutes silence and see if we have succumbed to the morons in our sport too.

100% agree with you.

In the silence we had at our opening game vs Saints, some from our lot started shouting "Come on FC".

He was quickly told to shut-up, though.

Let's all show a little more faith in humanity and more specifically the rugby league community - it's times like these that our sport shows it's true strength and spirit, and I have no doubt that, for sixty seconds, 76,000 people at Old Trafford and however many thousands watching on TV will pause and silently think of this tragic loss, before the players of each side show the ultimate tribute and come up with a cracker of a game in Terry's memory.

I don't think the Grand Final is an appropriate event for a minute's silence.

I don't think Terry Newton is an appropriate person to receive a minute's silence.

Why?
I have no felings either way, but a player, who put his body on the line for our enjoyment, who took a wrong turn and tried to prop his battered body up by taking performance enhancing drugs should still receive our respect as fans of the game that we (most of us) wish we could have played at the highest level but in the main (all of us) would have fallen way short.

He should not be applauded for his misguided act......or even acts.....but as a player, he was a very capable Rugby League Player and the Grand Final is about Rugby League...unless i have missed something.

Have to agree. Don't want to speak ill of the dead but he was known for his dog acts on the field and his drug cheating at the end. He was hardly a bastion of shining light for the sport.

It is a reaction to the way he died, not the great things he did for the game.

Having said all that now the decision is made I hope it is respected and it should be.

You're quite entitled to your own opinion and I would respect your right to hold that opinion.

All you would have to do at the Grand Final is to stay seated and do nothing.

Aside from that, is this something you need to "applaud"?

A 31 year old man has took his own life. I appreciate the sentiment that we should celebrate his career but here we have a life that has been cut short by depression. That's not something to applaud in my view. If we were talking about a legend of the game that died well into his later years, an applause may be more appropriate, but not here.

You wouldn't for example, get a minutes applause in remembrance of the Valley Parade fire or the Hillsborough Disaster. A minutes silence is much more appropriate.

Yes: sad news for Terry's family - but his actions tainted the sport of Rugby League, and he should be remembered for what he was (a cheat) not some sort of hero at the biggest game of the year.

Why not honour some more deserving former rugby league players who have died this year? Or have a general minute of silence for all former players who have died.

Given most Saints fans feelings to him when he was alive, it is inevitable that there will be some disruption to the minutes silence, which will reflect badly on the game as a whole.

I take into account how his fellow professionals view him. They know the man... and they know how hard the game is to play. Half the people on here probably haven't played the game... nor had to put up with the things in his personal life... The guy was in trouble and he felt he had nowhere to turn.

I for one think he deserves the respect. He played tough and made some bad decisions both on and off the field... but they were mistakes of which we are all guilty of... but that doesn't mean we don't deserve respect when our times come.

Given that one of Newton's ex team's is playing maybe they could get "Terry Newton 9 Always Remembered" engraved under Wigan's emblem

Some people on here are talking about Terry as if he was the baddest man in RL.

He was no more a dirty player than a lot of people. I would go as far as to say that there are plenty of people out there who were far worse.

Some of you need to stop using this horrible, horrible situation as an excuse to voice your own self important pontificating.

Jesus Christ, it is a sport. Nothing more. Anyone you don’t like is no more than a pantomime villain.

Anyone who boo’s during a minutes silence should be booted from the ground. I don’t care who it is for.

Some of the comments on this and other posts have sickened me.

People spout off about the Rugby league family, well it is one heck of a dysfunctional family if this is how we behave.

The reaction on here helps me understand why the bloke felt so alone. He made mistakes, we all do, but he shouldn't now be treated like one of the biggest villains that has ever walked the earth.

He deserves a minutes silence because rugby league was his life and it was probably watching Wigan get to the GF and thinking he'd never be part of it again that sent him over the edge.

Whether a Saint, a Pie or a neutral we should all be respectful on Saturday and show that for all his flaws Terry Newton will be remembered by the game of rugby league.

And he will be, the idiots are definitely in the minority, it just seems they are a minority that have broadband and Facebook accounts.

I have been in a fairly "dark" place myself recently, and I cannot begin to imagine the thought process that lead Terry to leave his wife and children behind, I suggest anyone being critical takes a good long look at their life, and realises how lucky they are to have the support mechanisms they have.

Spot on. Loads of players down the years have had a "reputation" - my first memories of watching Widnes include Jim Mills. Hindsight tells us he was a 'hard man' - many of his actions were just thuggish, but he was on my team and he was a winner and I loved him. More recently I've been watching Toa Kohe Love in a Widnes shirt - never averse to a 'cheap shot', but again, a great player to have in your team. I dare say a look back at Barrie Mac's career involves some shockers - but a nicer man off the field it would be hard to meet.

Tez made a huge mistake with the drugs thing, but he got caught and was serving his punishment as per the worldwide code on drugs. There's a few others around the game who have come back from a ban and got on with it, it's a crying shame Tez couldn't do the same.

So, I think it's right that the RL family show's it's respect for his career and him as a human being. Anyone who disturbs a minutes silence for him should not be welcome at an RL game. If you are strongly moralistic around drugs and don't agree with the silence then fine, but during it is not the time to make your point. Tez's wife and kids may even be watching - or will certainly get to hear about it. Before you boo or make a noise, think of them and how they would feel. Show some respect - it costs nothing, even if you hated him in life.

thats the real risk - the reaction of the Saints fans. and i agree, it will reflect badly on the game as a whole.

The decision is just pure stupidity from the RFL. There will be thousands of drunken young lads at the game. It's just a receipe for disaster.

If the minutes silence is disrupted on mass the atmosphere is going to become VERY nasty. The whole event could be ruined by it. The family and friends of Newton will be upset and angered by it, the Wigan fans will react badly and those decent Saints fans around those who do abuse the minutes silence will be put in a bad position as well.

Why not respectfully put a note in the programme and leave it at that?

I just hope they don't dwell on his passing and that our fans can behave in a respectful manner and that especially there is no chanting Saints fans' favourite ditty about Newton.

Very well said

I do question the minute silence before this match, but I do so for the players that are about to play. A lot of Saints and Wigan players have played and trained with Terry and a lot considered him to be a friend. Considering the circumstances and manner of his death I think a minute's silence in front of 80k could be a bit much for those players.

Nevertheless, though many did not like Terry on the field, he is, with Lowes and Cunningham, one of the three best British Hookers of the Super League era. It is this, the thoughts of his family and the tragic situation that very much involved our sport that we remember at Old Trafford.

Well said bud!