David Pocock warned by ARU after arrest

Still trying to work out why Pocock's "trespass" on public land is considered more serious than Beale's litany of sins which include the crime of assault.

Dr Darveniza's post-rugby career certainly didn't suffer - which makes me wonder what Pocock is thinking of doing when he decides to hang up his boots

I'm with Jack. Why he wasn't up there with his boots on, a ball, some tackle Shields and his mouth guard is beyond comprehension

yep...and Terry Foreman etc.

You make your mistake in assuming that the law is always the be-all and end-all. Laws change. This is greater than sport, greater than a corporation.

not sure the comparisons with Gandhi and Mandela are appropriate but perhaps Paul Darveniza and his mates received a similar message from the then version of the ARU..never to travel again..they are remembered many years later

I'm pretty sure Australians don't need a visa for stays in the UK less than 6 months regardless of their record. Even then, something minor like this would be unlikely to matter. I'd normally assume he would apply for a spent conviction but that would require him to convince the judge that he was unlikely to re-offend, so another test of his resolve. Somewhere like the States might be a bit more hard-line though. More interesting is that, as I understand it, the Commonwealth Constitution precludes anyone convicted of an offence punishable by one year of imprisonment or more from holding a seat in Federal Parliament. That is not the actual penalty imposed, but the maximum. So it will be interesting to see what they decide to charge him with - it could turn out to have been a bigger career decision than he knew.

Now that all the sanctimonious correspondents have had their say with all the nonsense about David breaking the law let me just ask you, have you never broken the speed limit ? If you have & you have surely that is far more dangerous & worthy of censure than chaining yourself to a bit of machinery. Having already made a complete mess of the Beale scandal the ARU should stay out of it, they are completely discredited. If the ARU members had any brains they would have realised what excellent publicity it was for the game that a former Wallabies captain was prepared the have the courage of his convictions to try & stop another disasterous mine. I would much prefer to have David as a role model for my kids than most of the overpaid spoilt brats out ther playing professional sport these days thank you.

Probably won't matter as Chieka will probably pick his boy Hooper ahead of Pocock regardless...

As pointed out in the Australian today,if Pocock is convicted he will have a criminal record.Looking ahead to the RWC,the British Government has the right to withhold granting a Visa to anyone having a criminal record ( irrespective of the rights or wrong of his cause).If such a course of action was contemplated if could be bigger than Body Line.Would'nt that be interesting ??!!

LR - Gold!

You are just bitter because it wasn't Richie cheating for a change.

I wonder whether he will be charged and convicted...makes it mighty hard to go to the USA for example with a conviction. secondly he may get off if Bryce Lawrence is the judge as Lawrence missed dozens and I seriously mean dozens of instances in RWC 2011 against the harpies with pocock off his feet/lying over the ball/ entry from the wrong side..and I am a kiwi and found it embarrassing...that was the greatest game ever. played by a 7 that day he could have popped up alongside the Aussie fullback all day and Lawrence would have found reason to not penalize him...

Perhaps, but Pocock has admitted that he has not done this sort of thing previously due to concerns about how it would impact his career. Now that he has taken that step and received a formal written warning as a result, it will be interesting to see what both parties do next.

Which is what I said, although my personal feeling is that it is only on those local issues (air quality, water tables, etc) that the protest has any real credibility.

Beale was dropped for being useless at international level. Link realised this after giving him ample chances to perform, and he failed each time. The fine was paltry in the context of his previous misdemeanours - it wouldn't even cover half the ARU's legal bills and other costs as a result of the entire saga caused by Beale. And yes, Beale DID cause the entire saga. Patston and maybe even Link MAY have been contributors due to the manner in which they handled the situation, but the fact is BEALE was the one who chose to deal with the situation by sending grubby messages to teammates behind Patstons back, instead of dealing with it like an adult (e.g. make a formal complaint to RUPA or whoever was necessary to escalate whatever issues he had with Patston). That's reality.

the irony in that ABOOS is that you support many of the same people that are running the Wallabies down... Beale for example...

No. It's completely different. People are comparing human rights atrocities to a argument between environmental protection and capitalist expansion. To even compare the two shows a complete lack of any relevant knowledge, grasping at straws to protect the reputation of a political crusader. The issue is protecting the environment and surrounding farmlands versus allowing profitable business, recovering tax income and short term job growth. I'm not supporting the mining company, but any comparisons to the stolen generation, or in fact any other racial oppression is ludicrously off the mark.

TWAS you are missing my main point, which is that sometimes there is no choice but civil disobedience because the stakes are so high and the potential for irreparable harm so great. I accept that minds will differ about when that point is reached. Would you rather there had been no civil disobedience in the 1970s and the Rocks and QVB had been replaced by high rise?

Laughed out loud !