Four players sin binned. Two punches thrown. It was something you would see in an U14s rugby league game, but instead it has occurred in the toughest game on the rugby league calendar: State of Origin.
The brawl started when Billy Slater elbowed Mitchell Pearce in the face.
Considering if the biff rules weren’t in place there would be no doubt that Pearce would be retaliating with his fists.
Instead what happened was a couple of jersey grabs and some threats before the game moved on.
However the aggression was still there. And you don’t have to be a psychic to realise that there was going to be another blue moments later.
And there was. Brent Tate, after pushing Gallen off the tackled player (which was acceptable as Gallen was taking his time) was punched twice on the chin by Trent Merrin.
Tate then tried to wrestle Merrin in order to protect himself while Hodges came in over the top on Merrin to back up his team mate. Neither Tate nor Hodges had thrown a punch; they were just trying to defend themselves from the enraged Merrin.
Greg Bird was the next man to charge in on the brawl and all he did was jump in the air to stop another brawl breaking out from Merrin and Tate.
As soon as the blue finally came to the stop, it was a surprise to see Brent Tate and Justin Hodges be the first players to be sin-binned.
Then Trent Merrin was sent for 10, which was expected, and then shockingly Greg Bird was on his way as well.
Soon enough, the toughest match in the State of Origin calendar turned into a soccer match with both sides left with 11 players each.
Aside from Trent Merrin, who was the only one to throw a punch, Tate, Hodges and Bird should have remained on the field.
However the new biff rules, that were included into the game just recently, shows that this is what is to be expected for the future of rugby league; even on the toughest stage that is State of Origin.
But according to the overall criticism to my last article, this is what some people wanted.
They wanted a rugby league culture without aggression. Meaning that they should be very happy with the result of four players going to the sin bin when only one player actually threw the punches.
That is why I believed that rugby league was fine the way it was. People love the occasional biff.
I’m not talking about an entire game of punching but just two players going at it for one minute until the refs finally send them off for disobeying a rule where they know what their fate is.
This is one of example of many more to come, that shows why banning the biff was a bad decision.
Bring back the biff, I say.
Brendon
Guest
I'm a QLD fan mate, I read what you wrote last week, why do you think they over reacted? Could it be you and the minority of the people that view sports as a skill based past time only whinged so hard that it caused the knee jerk reaction we saw on Wednesday? There's more to sport than JUST skill base, there's courage, passion, bravado, bluff, style and sometimes stupidity, pretty soon there'll be none of this and you lot will have nothing to whinge about, what then? Take all the kick boxing out of MMA in the fear that mothers won't let their kids be cage fighters? Stop parachuters jumping out of planes for fear of injury......Give me a break. Rugby League was like this long before you existed mate, who are you to say that it's wrong? Who are you to force change on a Rugby loving public that doesn't want the biff completely gone? What gives you the ego to think that you are right when so many people disagree with you? I dunno, but the old adage of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" applies here. The sport is fine, leave it alone.
Floyd Calhoun
Guest
Something good has come out of all this. A new word for the dictionary heard on ABC radio last night : 'sinbinnable'.
oikee
Guest
Dont laugh, light beers are more popular today than ever before, and they keep dropping the drink driving test , so everything is getting softer. League is following suit. They wont change back to bring back the biff, the refs got it wrong again, they will persevere and yes Grannie will get the kids watching as they do in AFL. The game will continue to grow and the dinosaurs will be left to graise on a shrinking pasture. Then one day we will awake and the dinosaurs will be extinct. Queenslanders loved Origin, up 4-5 % on last game. Poor little NSW turned off, boohoo. Even Perth got a 70% spike, Queenslanders over there getting it live, i did mention that live into Perth. World-first, we finally live into our own country. hehe Dinosaurs still walking amounst us.
oikee
Guest
Yes yes yes, everyone would have binned Gallen in the first match, the point is they didn't, and end result is sanitised reaction. The game has evolved over the last 100 years to a lessor voilent sport, no cauliflower ears, no spear tackles , no clotheslines, this is just part of the future evolution, stop trying to blame everyone else for your whinging. Your getting as bad as Gallen. You can always get into lawn bowls, i heard they had a stouch the other day, handbags at 30 paces. hehe.
oikee
Guest
Your just a sore loser like NSW team. Dont blame me the refs dont know who to send off, all along i said Gallen gets 10 in the bin, none of this happens. Go cry on baby Gallens shoulder. And take your 3 mates cheering leading with ya. What are you lot, the four muskateers, Gallen ruined it for everyone, that is why he is wearing a nice pigbag now, knitted for him by Papalii, haha. .
Clark
Guest
Only merrin and hodges should have gone. Im just surprised someone actually bet Thaiday into being the third man in
Cameron
Roar Guru
"Oh, captain down. What I do, FIGHT!"
Macca
Guest
You'll have to forgive my ignorance as I don't really follow league but weren't the new rules brought in as a response to the outcry at Gallens ridiculously light 1 week ban for throwing a flurry of punches? And if so how deos the league explain giving Merrin one week for callously lining up a bloke and punching him in the head while he was looking at the ground?
therookie
Roar Pro
Well said Brendon haha
Brendon
Guest
Don't get me wrong, I would have binned Gallen in the first match and Merrin in the second, but that's it, no weeks, no hyperbole, no over reaction. My problem is with people that jump up and down causing ridiculously cautious big wigs to over react, the sort of reactions we've seen over the past three weeks have been grossly over zealous. reactions like this will sterilize the game to the point that's it's unrecognizable. I also think that if you completely remove that type of physicality that it removes on field consequences, you can pretty much say or do anything you want without fear of reprisals, the fear is gone, and this is a game for tough guys, if it wasn't tough, we'd all do it and succeed. No one, I repeat, no one has ever been sent to hospital through a SOO punch up....NO ONE! So why then if we are doing this in the name of player safety do we not ban the more dangerous part of league.....playing the game itself? This shows it's got nothing to do with player safety. Not everyone believes that a bit of fisty cuffs is bad for the game, yet we've been forced to endure the farce that was game 2 with 4 sin bins, why should I have to see the game I love change? I don't want it to change, yet due to the PC police and there mums, the majority of the public have to watch the game change against their wishes. Why should a minority have the ability to do this and how is that even fair? It's always the same, something good happens and then the wowser's try to take ownership, not for the sake of the game but for the sake of themselves, selfish.
maximillian
Guest
Brendon, the rules have always been quite straight forward about fighting but they just havent been enforced at Origin level unitl now. I love league & if it never changed I would be a happy man, but if you were to throw a punch in NRL/Over 50s/Under 10s etc you will be sinbinned. These are the rules & mandates of Rugby League, but then we are more than happy to move the proverbial goalposts & make different allowances for Origin? I cant think of any other sport that is happy to completely disregard the rulebook to satisfy a certain level of the game like RL does with Origin & to me that is somewhat farcical. If you take the mindset that the "no biff" rules are being applied more consistently in Origin, & in accordance with the way the game is policed at every level, then it seems to make a lot of sense - well it does to me anyway. With that in mind I think a universal refereeing stance across the game on violent acts is a step in the right direction.
Steve
Guest
Yes Von Neumann, I'll take a holiday in a Hockey demographic area, say Minnesota or perhaps Toronto, and you can take a holiday in a Basketball demographic area, like South Central LA or inner city Washington, and we'll compare notes on how your logic holds up.
maximillian
Guest
+1 Boz
maximillian
Guest
cmon Kim, Hodges threw a couple & everyone knew the rules about fighting before the match, so he was rightly binned along with Merrin.
maximillian
Guest
I saw them Darren! Hodges threw 2 sneaky ones so he deserved to be binned along with Merrin. Bird & Tate should feel hard done by.
jayson
Guest
Is everybody blind why couldn't anyone see hodges throw a punch? We are talking about juatin hodges aren't we?
Brendon
Guest
Rugby has not changed, it's always been like this in SOO, the only thing that changes is the people that watch it. You say rugby isn't for fighting, it's not for little blokes wrapped in cotton wool either, I'm not saying there should be a punch up in every game, but given the nature of the sport and the history of the competition, this change is not something that had to be done, it was done to appease the PC police and over protective mothers in society. These blokes are grown men, when the players and ex rugby greats themselves are saying that it's no good, that's it's to sterile and it made the game a laughing stock, then who are you to say they are wrong? What gives you and people like you, the right to change something we love? Again, if you don't like the game as it is, don't ruin it for people that do like it and try and change it, it's not your right to do so. If you don't like it, then you don't have to watch it, Soccer and Netball are two non contact, non combative forms of sport that you can watch every weekend.
Arthur Fonzarelli
Guest
Ha ha yes nice. Maybe Tom Waterhouse could introduce Monopoly money betting too. The people could gamble much more responsibly and guilt free.
Johnno
Guest
Exactly, funny how women now make up 45% of all rugby league fans in Australia. But know women would rather do knitting than watch rugby league than watch or play contact sports. Funny how women's rugby is booming, and the Australian women's rugby league team the Jillaroos are now goon go to rugby league world cup soon, with more funding than ever before. But no wait women mothers and grannies and teenage girls would rather do knitting than heaven forbid, play or watch hard strong contact sport like rugby league, rugby union or ice hockey which is also booming in Canada and USA. I love watching women's ice hockey ,loved the 2010 Olympic gold medal women's match in ice hockey Canada VS USA. But no wait women have a desire to do more knitting(sarcasm intended), not play or watch contact sports. Seriously some of these fans on here who are about making the game soft, and fear it won't appeal to women , mothers and teenage girls, need to stoop living in the 1950's. it's the year 2013 if you haven't notice. Set your alarm, get out of bed, and Wake Up. Take the rose tined glasses off some of you.
Steve
Guest
No, no, the geniuses of the last couple of weeks will be vindicated- the more gentle League becomes, the MORE people will watch it because herds of mothers and grannies who were watching 'Packed to the Rafters' or knitting will now turn onto League and get really, really into it, because there's going to be no more punching. Parents who were afraid of letting their kids play League because of injury will now develop enthusiasm for League too, and you will have a groundswell of new players at junior level. Apparently the Carlton and Castlemaine breweries are going to follow the same logic and make all their beers non-alcoholic now, so people who don't drink alcohol will switch from water and soda to their new 'soft-beer'. It'll work just as well