Give the Bulldogs a break

The Good Friday clash between the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and the South Sydney Rabbitohs was indeed a black eye to the game of rugby league.

I completely concur that the way in which captain James Graham and fellow bookend David Klemmer treated the on-field referees was out of line, not to mention the disgusting behaviour of the Bulldogs ‘fans’ at the conclusion of the match.

As coach Des Hasler stated in the post-match press conference, that is not what the club is about, and no matter what they thought of the refereeing decisions, it is no excuse to throw projectiles onto the field.

This minority of supporters has given the entire club a terrible reputation that hasn’t been seen since the false rape allegations at the beginning of the 2004 season. In just one afternoon, the hard work of improving the image of the club by past and present CEOs including Todd Greenberg and Raelene Castle, has been undone.

However, as a passionate Bulldogs fan, I’d like to voice my opinion in defence of this prestigious, if at times controversy-plagued, club.

I feel deeply disappointed by the way certain people in the media have treated the club, particularly one article published as Fine the Dirty Bulldogs in the well-respected Rugby League Week.

The author claiming that “the Canterbury club hasn’t done enough to eradicate this” and “it is far from the first time they have disgraced themselves” did not sit well with me to say the least.

As mentioned above, the Canterbury hierarchy has worked tirelessly to improve the culture of the club, with the Bulldogs now one of the leading clubs in the NRL in terms of off-field community and charity events as a result.

Trent Hodkinson’s winning of the coveted Ken Stephens medal for his outstanding service to the community in 2014 is the perfect example of this.

Surely the club and its players deserve some credit for these magnificent efforts.

The comment published concerning the past behaviour of Canterbury fans is similarly ludicrous. Not only were these actions undertaken by a minority of fans, I am certain that supporters of any other club would have reacted in the exact same fashion considering the circumstances.

Take the game between the Bulldogs and the Manly Sea Eagles in June of 2013, for example.

This too was a heated exchange by two strong and proud football clubs with a long rivalry between them. Again, a highly contentious refereeing call in the dying stages of the game allowed the Bulldogs to take a shot at goal, with Hodkinson making no mistake in slotting the ball between the posts to win the match 32-30 in golden point extra-time.

As the two teams exited Brookvale Oval, bottles and various other projectiles were thrown onto the field in disgust by Manly fans, and the Bulldogs’ Ben Barba and Dene Halatau were racially vilified and even spat on by certain members of the crowd.

Greenberg, who was CEO of the Canterbury club at the time, lodged a complaint to the NRL in order to catch the culprits while slamming them for a lack of security.

This behaviour was unacceptable from Manly fans, just as it was from the Bulldogs’ fans of Friday afternoon, yet it seems it was swept under the rug along with a number of issues these days.

There was no further investigation, no threatening of stripping points, and it certainly wasn’t dubbed as one of the darkest days in the NRL with article after article published to do little more than give the Bulldogs a bad name.

As far as the refereeing decisions themselves go, I tend to agree with the general consensus that the penalty called against Graham was in fact correct and warranted.

It was unintentional and he was only attempting a charge-down, so I do feel sorry for the reported 4-5 month injury incurred by Adam Reynolds. In saying this, should Graham have just sat back and not attempted a charge down, letting Reynolds simply do as he pleased?

In my view, if Reynolds is game enough to stand that close to the defensive line in order to increase his chances of slotting the ball between the uprights, he is putting his own safety on the line. The onus is not completely on the defender – he could have stood further back to escape the line of fire.

I’m expecting a sizeable backlash from this article, although I stand by my above points and although I am a Canterbury fan, still believe the club has been treated somewhat unfairly by the media and some supporters of others clubs too.

I can only hope that despite the unacceptable events that occurred at the conclusion of the game, NRL fans and the media will refrain from painting all Bulldogs supporters with the same brush and spare the Bulldogs’ reputation.