How many rugby league fans secretly yearn to bring back the biff? The Manly-Melbourne storm indicates a decent chunk – how many is impossible to say – not only tolerate the odd brawl but love it.
Many fans were disgusted by the Brookvale donnybrook, which resulted in $100,000 worth of fines and action against 10 players.
But some took the distinctly un-PC view that it was terrific.
NRL boss David Gallop is doing his earnest best to protect the game’s image.
But what exactly is that image?
And for whom is he protecting it?
Even one of the players at the centre of all the fisticuffs came out and said how much he enjoyed the match.
Manly front rower Darcy Lussick, elbowed by an opponent but banned for three matches over a retaliatory head slap, called it “the best day of my life”.
“I knew all my team-mates had my back so we loved it out there,” he told Rugby League Week.
“We prepared all week for it to be that intense but you don’t really know until you get out there. But I loved it. It was good.”
Gallop commented tersely: “To now be boasting about it is up there with the silliest things I’ve heard said this week.”
Some might condemn Lussick for oafishly compounding his original sin.
Others might applaud his honesty, and thank him for saying what others are thinking.
Especially when one of those others proves to be one of the greatest players ever.
“Seeing grown men throw punches at each other in the heat of the moment has always been part of the game,” Andrew Johns commented on the ninemsn website.
“If we are going to be honest, the majority of rugby league people, including myself, absolutely love it.
“What Manly and Melbourne got up to the other night was no worse than what I saw every weekend running the sidelines in Cessnock back in the ’80s.”
Players might be forgiven for wondering who they should listen to.
They are trained as gladiators, promoted as gladiators, then expected to behave like sugar plum fairies when passions become inflamed.
Media outlets seem to have a dollar each way, criticising their appalling behaviour at the same time as they re-hash the brawl over and over again.
It’s just as well the punches thrown in these stoushes usually miss.
The whirlwind of flying fists at Brookvale exposed the players to as much risk of pneumonia as broken noses.
But all it would take is one punch, of the sort with which Nick D’Arcy broke fellow swimmer Simon Cowley’s face, to make the biff brigade think twice.
Assuming, that is, they had already thought once.
Charles
Guest
RebelRanger - if you are going to make a comment at least know what you are talking about. The four mates that jumped in is not the responsibility of Glenn, he was too busy fighting! That is their responsibility. I deemed Blair responsible through many years of experience, he wanted to fight, simple as that! I will not comment further on it, you have your view I have mine!
RebelRanger
Guest
Charles you failed miserably in that you didnt counter any of DBs points. Your insistence that Blair was the culprit when video footage shows G. Stewart provoked the encounter reeks of bling ignorance. Blairs no saint but Glenn failed to showcase any 'break up' skills when 4 of his mates jumped on AB before throwing their own cheap shots. I for one love the biff.. I remember watching Campion deck loads of chumps and it rubbed out some of the other dirty stuff in the game (your less likely to grind a forearm in someones face if he'll get up and thump you'. We should regulate it like ice hockey
Charles
Guest
db swannie - with deep respect you do not understand when a fight is on and when it is not! Blair, in what he said and through his actions, by crowding his space, indicated he wanted to fight and Stewart obliged. End of story!
db swannie
Guest
No, Blair got extra for the 1st fight . Yet people maintain he started the 2nd fight when clearly GS instigated it..
Charles
Guest
db swannie - The penealties handed out, although more severe, indicates that Blair was the worse offender of the two! Therefore no debate, case closed!
db swannie
Guest
Great reply Charles ...care to debate any of the above points...
Charles
Guest
db swannie-keep dreaming!
db swannie
Guest
Charles & David...How on gods Earth anyone who has two eyes ,one eye or limited vision can claim that AB started the 2nd fight is mind boggling.. Watch the footage.. GS walking off slowly,looking over his shoulder waiting for AB AB jogging off at a slightly different angle to where GS was walking..was going to pass about 2 mtrs behind GS. GS takes 4 steps to the right to be directly in front of AB.. AB changes direction to miss him,GS takes a step to the left so they end up shoulder to shoulder. Words exchanged,jerseys grabbed ,& GS throws the 1st punch...yet you maintain AB started it.. You must be Manly supporters..
David Heidelberg
Guest
Blair was by far the worst in that brawl, with his cheap shots in the initial fight and starting another as he left the field, but it was nothing compared tot he routine cheap shots Sam Thaiday makes every Origin match when he runs in and belts someone from behind.
Anakin
Guest
> "make a T-shirt “Biff Happens”. - Love it Oinkee!! If someone doesn't make these in the next few weeks - I'm going to. LOL
Charles
Guest
Anakin- You must be joking if you feel Stewart was as least equal to Blair. Stewart did not throw a punch in the first instance, he was trying to stop it, therefore he should never have been sent off in the first place! In the meantime Blair was throwing uppercuts. Then he wanted to go on with it comming off the field! It is you that is ludicrous
Cugel
Roar Rookie
I don't really care for it, but I'm old enough to remember - there'd be a bit of a punch on, the game would go on and the combatants would break up and return to their respective sides. Forgotten by the end of the game. I could live with that.
robert
Guest
i'm a rugby union fan and love the biff..shame it hardly happens in union anymore..
Epiquin
Guest
There's definately two types of fighting on a league field. I'm not ashamed to admit that I love the state of origin type of fight where two guys go face to face, grabbing each other by the cuff and maybe exchanging a few blows before their team mates pull them apart. I believe this type of stuff gets fans' hearts racing and is one of the few sports where we can get it. But theres a difference between what I just described and what happened at Brookvale: brawling or, what I've heard described as a bashing. There's still room in our game for 2 blokes sizing each other up, but brawling is not a good look and it makes conservative mums recoil at the idea of their kids playing a 'thugs game'. Everyone loves to see the passions spilling over, but not thuggery.
JVGO
Guest
Biff is great to watch but it does set an example for the juniors. I remember as 10 year old kids we used to do spear tackles which were in vogue in the big league before they were banned. I remember a mother running on and abusing us after we had hurt her son. We really had no idea what we had done wrong. We viewed it as part of the game, even did it to each other at lunch time. Things definitely need to be managed at the top level.
BigAl
Guest
Ian - pretty much agree with your list of exceptions, but would add a couple such as . . . racial slurs & nasty comments about any players mother...
BigAl
Guest
The thing with this episode was that it was totally out of control, and by definition, when things are out of control no-one can be sure what will happen next. Serious player injury ?; crowd invasion?; mass crowd panic ?; stops as soon as it starts ? And the irony of it all was that the guy 'in control' was there !
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
As long as its big man on big man, or little man on little man, or if the little man started the fight with the bigger man, and as long as there are no king hits, eye gouging or other "dirty fighting" techniques, then Im fine with it. Sure, you send off players, and suspend them afterwards, but Im fundamentally fine with it.
oikee
Guest
You can sum it up in two words and make a T-shirt "Biff Happens". :)
Anakin
Guest
Charles - "I would have given Stewart one week and Blair three weeks withfines attached." I think it's you that needs to give yourself an uppercut champ. To suggest Stewart didn't deserve at least equal to Blair is ludicrous!