"Carl Ablett of Leeds Rhinos has been charged with Grade C kicking on Warrington Wolves player Joel Monaghan in the 72nd minute of a match played at The Halliwell Jones Stadium on Friday May 30".

"An allegation that Zak Hardaker of Leeds Rhinos made homophobic comments during the same fixture has been referred to the RFL Compliance Department, which has begun a formal investigation".


Did anyone know about the Hardaker allegation ?


You were correct Cat, Ratchford seems to have escaped his tackle on Ablett. Although it did look as though he had found a wooden doll and was trying to unscrew the head from the neck.

Re. Hardaker - I know nothing, other than a 10 page thread on the Virtual Terrace.

There's a ten page thread on the virtual terrace about it Chad, its been locked now due to some questionable defence comments.

I was having a nosey at what range ablett was liable for (2-3) and had a gander at what hardaker could get. 4 to 8 games if found guilty

Bugger, so I have missed all the fun then ?

It'd still there, go have a nosey, some comments on the Leeds board as well

Ratch hasn't even got an advisory letter.

Looks like he was calling the ref a "loving cigarette" https://vine.co/v/Md0egWOePWp

Looks like he was calling the ref a "loving cigarette" https://vine.co/v/Md0egWOePWp

All you need to know is that Hardaker made a homophobic comment towards the referee. It's shown on the footage. However Leeds fans are disputing this, saying he didn't say the word "fag" and it wasn't towards the referee.

So basically, Leeds fans are condoning homophobic behaviour. But that doesn't surprise me with some of them, considering for years they have been condoning the poophouse actions of Peacock, Bailey and Ablett.

He said "f***ing f*g" and it appeared to be aimed at the ref as we had just been given a penalty.

The Leeds fans' defence on their board is "it wasn't aimed at the ref" and "every player swears".

They seem unable to comprehend that homophobic abuse is inexcusable.

Ratchford did absolutely nothing. The irony of Ablett whining about it as well.

Any attack on the ref whether verbal or physical should be a sine die ban. The referee has to be seen to be in charge whether or not players agree with his decisions & the disciplinary system needs to support the referees.

Irrespective of any disciplinary action from the RFL, he could possibly face a criminal investigation for those (alleged) comments.

The accusation levelled at Hardaker is slightly different, but the amount of moaning and talking back the Leeds players were doing during the match should have resulted in a sin-binning. Peacock is a fine player and a great servant to the game but he really deserved to get a cooling off.

As for Hardaker, we're about to see how many b*lls the RFL have. Hardaker is a cracking player, but he's got a nasty side to him, and if found guilt they should ban him for at least the rest of the season with a heavy fine.

Finally, am I the only one baffled by the Ratchford-Ablett incident? It wasn't a crush tackle, he wasn't twisting or contorting his neck in a way likely to cause damage, it all looked bit innocuous to me.

Precedent set is 2 match ban in Oz.

I'm hoping we are better than that, we can't talk about inclusion for all and link up with gay organisations and then send a weak response out.

6 minimum should be set and that is minimum.

F**ling hell this thread is embarrassing.

Leeds fans aren't saying for SURE it wasn't at the ref, more that it isn't certain to prove him guilty.

Leeds fans aren't saying for SURE he didn't say "F@g", but it's not 100% certain he did.

(Personally I think he did say "fu**ing f@g" but I'm not convinced as to whom it was directed).

That some then say the Ratchford tackle was nothing but Ablett whining is pathetic.

And as a final note, are you or 95% of the people claiming to be bothered by Hardaker ACTUALLY bothered by homophobic abuse? Or do you just want a rival player banned for your own clubs advantage? Whose treating homophobia lightly then in that case?

Me personally have been an advocate for gay rights for years, I've actually done plenty of work for gay charities and have many close friends and my cousin (who got me started on the charity) who are gay.

I don't care who he directed it at and he'll be back for the playoffs of which you'll be in 100% anyway so I don't buy the weakening argument.

He said it, he should be punished and if it was a Wire player my stance would be the same if not more vehement.

I think that Hardaker is going to be made an example of. The word that Hardaker used is undoubtedly a homophobic slur and he should be well advised to refrain from using it at all, not just while playing RL. He should also face a fine and a ban for abusing a match official.

That said: the word that Hardaker used is part of the common lexicon of insults* and is very much divorced from the actual meaning/sentiment when uttered by most. I do not think that (based purely on this evidence) that Hardaker is a homophobe; just ignorant to what could be considered offensive the the homosexual community.

He is guilty of being ignorant and insensitive, but the idea that there needs to be a 'homophobia enquiry' is, to me, a asinine.

*Something which is a much deeper social issue and isn't going to be resolved either in society or RL by an RFL enquiry.

You have just hit the nail on the head!

Where was this outrage from those post BS now regarding Mich Moses a few weeks ago?

6 games please. Just to see the Leeds fans up in arms about it.

My brother is gay and so is my sister, in this day and age homophobic abuse is unacceptable and against the law. He should be banned for a long time by the RFL if found guilty as we need to stamp this out!

Quote ="morleys_deckchair"6 games please. Just to see the Leeds fans up in arms about it.'" That's really what it's about for most. m.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league ... zr50w.html For all those super concerned! I'm shocked you missed this with pretty much Zero reaction.

Quote ="morleys_deckchair"6 games please. Just to see the Leeds fans up in arms about it.'" That's really what it's about for most. m.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league ... zr50w.html For all those super concerned! I'm shocked you missed this with pretty much Zero reaction.

Well, I don't follow the nrl, I certainly don't follow under 20s Australian rugby, and it wasn't on a televised match involving us so it's not really been in my line of view, which is why I've not commented on it.


That said, I'm glad he's been suspended, and it probably should have been a bit more, it's fortunate that it wasn't to a match official, like with hardaker. Otherwise he'd be in a much worse position and liable to cop a worse ban.

You weren't angry about this thing you didn't know about so you can't be bothered by this?

Terrible argument.

Just out of interest, is there anything else I'm not allowed to comment on, based on the fact you don't know if I've spoken about it on the internet previously?

I'd just like a heads up.

Oh for a return to simpler times when gay meant happy & a fag was a cigarette . Maybe Hardaker was just asking if the ref had any cigs , problem solved.