No

? Why can't it be discussed, when the statement is actually form Hull FC?

Hull fans will be gutted as the bloke is still a class act. It is no coincidence that their form started picking up after he went there. I'm a little gutted myself as i had them e/w for the challenge cup at 16/1.

Discuss what is within the bounds of fact and not speculating that could potentially cause trouble for RLFANS, i've no problem with that.

What speculation could cause trouble for RLFans? When it's in the public domain that he's suffering from stress, surely speculation delving deeper into that is commonplace?

does this really need clarifying?

Again?


you know what you can talk about, you can talk about this. dont be filling in gaps with stuff with the stuff every man and his dog reckons he knows about.

I think this situation must be what Sean Long was ranting and raving about the other day on twitter.

whewwwwww, all I said he should relaaaaaax
You know, nice milky Horlicks, comfy cardigan, maybe get his box set of Heartbeat out, and a bit of Matt Monro in the background, and people are talking about super-injunctions and libel.
What a nasty world we live in...tut tut

My dog knows nothing.
Me on the other hand knows plenty.

The problem with the internet is that people like to shoot their mouths off and peddle rumours and speculation when they don't know what is going on in reality, and sometimes it ends up being a cause for embarassment when they find the truth later.

I remember when Marcus Trescothick disappeared from cricket a few years ago with a "stress-related illness" and the buzz on the internet was that Michael Vaughan was having an affair with his wife, that was a great rumour, went all over the forums, got hinted at in the tabloids. When the truth came out about how seriously ill he'd been with depression and anxiety (which is carrying on today even though he still plays and is the best batsman in England) it made those rumours look quite sick especially when you read his book which is a haunting read.

The same thing happened on here when Paul Cullen was absent for personal reasons during the 2007 season, we can all remember the rumours that were peddled on here along those same lines. I wonder how the people who were peddling those rumours felt when they found out the truth of why Cullen had been absent? As usual its a case of people knowing f- all and wanting to spread gossip thinking its harmless but you never know what the truth is and the effect on the people involved or especially their family members who end up reading it.

I think if we are honest all 99.99% of us know about Gleeson is just what has come from Twitter, people just repeat and recycle (and embellish) what rumours are already out there. People will just believe what they want to believe. If some random Wiganer posts on Twitter that he's heard King is signing for Wigan, the average Warrington fan will think 'deluded pie-eater'. If that same random Wiganer posts a story about Gleeson involving illegal activities, the average Warrington fan will think 'no smoke without fire'.

Who knows the real truth about what has happened to Gleeson but it is obviously serious and I wish him all the best. He was a Wire player and a professional RL player and that is worthy of respect. The last year has seen two ex pros pass away who we have all discussed a lot on here, often negatively, and I am sure a lot of us would regret with hindsight some of the views we expressed...?

This ending is surely contradictory to a pretty good post.

You wish him all the best and he is worthy of respect just because he played rugby?

His stress related illness may have been caused by some highly illegal activity or have a victim who is in serious danger.

On the flip side, and to what your post is saying (or so I interpret), I agree that unless we have facts it's best not to speculate. Cullen's absence is a PERFECT example.

I love how people are so dismissive of stress as an illness.

If someone said X player had Cancer, there'd be a 30 page thread of well wishers but say stress and all of a sudden it's different.

Well can i add 'stress' killed my father so i'm not as quick to dismiss it as 'something that will pass'.

The old saying you can bandage a broken arm but you can't banadge a broken mind springs to mind.

Very true, mental illness still has a stigma which is MASSIVLY unfair.

Yed I think some are actually questioning the statement that he is suffering a 'stress related' illness.
Its a very broad range, if its stress just say stress. Stress related could be one of many illnesses or health concerns.

Can't blame some people for finding it hard to sympathise with him when at various times in his career he has been nothing short of a disgrace.

The fact that he cannot play the sport he is very good at because of a clearly congested/troubled personal life is sad for all lovers of sport to see, but his past indiscrepancies mean many people will just look at another incident in his career.

I wish Martin well and hope he can overcome his illness

One of the two best centres in the league(along with Carmont) is this predicament is sad to see.

Whenever I associate something with stress, I automatically think of the most common outcome; lazy people who use the excuse to get two weeks off work, people who wouldn't know stress if it kicked them in the grapefruits.

He may very well have a genuine reason why he is "stressed", then again he may not. What I do believe is that I don't think he'll be seen playing RL for a long while.

On the other hand, it is not good when stress, which is a genuine problem for many people, is used as a smokscreen.

i have asked Robbie Fowler for a retweet for Martin to see if that will help him out

No. From a legal standpoint, adding the word allegedly makes no difference whatsoever.

Unfortunately though stress can quite easily be used to gain time off work. Do YOU believe Gleeson has stress ?

I admit to being very sceptical about it all. Whatever his troubles they are his own doing. I think this is a smokescreen for something.

That puts me in Sally's "you could regret your comments "group I'm afraid but I'm not a fan of the man. (Gleeson not Sally !)

In one respect, I think of Glesson as a disgrace to rugby league and he doesn't deserve the level of respect that people like Sally have given him (no offence Sally) just because he played well and/or for Warrinton.

But having been in a mind set where stress plays such a massive part in life, I can see that many of the things he has done may have been due to a mental condition.

There is a shocking amount of people in the UK that suffer from depression and anxiety; some obviously more than others. I also think that it is plausable that this is amplified within the sports and entertainment industry, as there is a more acute spotlight placed the actions taken and there is more accountability for the life led in those industries.

If we look to people like Robbie Williams. He went from being in a boy band at a young age to being a hell raiser drinker and drug taker; ultimately getting himself in a lot of bother. We know now he is a pretty severe Manic Depressive (or has a bipolar mental condition.)

We must remember that Gleeson has been one of the super stars of the super league era and is one of the most naturally gifted centres I have ever seen. His track record in the sport speaks to that.

However, although we can source a root for his behaviour and the reason he has taken a sick leave at Hull now, I know from my own experience that just cause there is a condition in the mind, there is not an excuse for someone to go off the rails. I am sure there are many people in the public eye and people I have met in my time that speak to this. For that reason I have no real sympathy for the place that Gleeson is in. However I am not surprised at the thought a mental condition could be at the root of his poor behaviour.

I know that it is a difficult ground I am covering and it may seem that I have not made a firm decision either way for the piece released from Hull. In summary, I think I would say that I don't excuse the things he has done (or allegedly done) however I am not surprised that they are the result of self medication or a chemical imbalance in the brain.

I certainly hope he can find his feet again, as I was hoping a fresh start in Hull would reawaken past talents.

Come on Gleese, just a hangover! You've probably had worse.

How is he a disgrace to rugby league?

He's done one thing which brought the game into disgrace, bet on it when he was at Saints. Warrington took advantage of that situation and signed him. There were no protests about him being a disgrace back then?

Les Boyd got banned from Aussie RL for eye gouging and we signed him on the back of that! I bet there were no protests in Warrington against getting a disgraced eye gouger over here!

Also I don't want to bring it up explicitly because he gets enough crap on here from our fans but one of our current squad served time inside for assault, again when we signed him there were no protests against getting a disgraced ex con?

OK Gleeson was done for drink driving....so were Morley and Briers, I am sure they all regret it, how many of us really hold that against Morley or Briers.

Now I am not saying we should be moralising about all those players, I'm just saying look if we want to hold the moral microscope against Gleeson there are a lot of our other players who will come up with more muck on them than Gleeson did.

The stuff people judge Gleeson for is just stuff that they've read on the internet and you can tell how reliable that is by how edgy people are about being sued, they know deep down its just hearsay and gossip that they are repeating to be mischievous about a player they don't like.

I bet your argument for Gleeson being a disgrace is based around
- you've read on the internet that he likes his beer (remember what Paul Cullen said at one of his early fans forums when he took over when asked about the 'drinking culture'....if you want to see a drinking culture you should have seen the 1980s. Read Mike Gregory's book and you will see the players back then who we remember fondly, enjoyed themselves off the pitch and played well on the pitch...like Gleeson)

- you've read on the internet that he does other 'substances'....he's a SL player so gets subject to testing for drugs. If he was caught doing illegal drugs he would have been banned like Hock or Sailor were. But he has never failed a drugs test

- you've read on the internet that 'he's a bit of a c0ck'....yes probably because some pie-eating fool from Wigan went over annoying him in a pub and he told him to get lost, just like we all would!