04/25/24
March 23, 2005
"I promise I never tried to maim Keith Galloway.": Disgraced NRL bully John "Fingers" Hopoate pens a letter to his fans and retires after a turbulent career that included what some called"the most vile act ever". The writing was on the wall following a 17-week ban that made Hopoate the premiership's most suspended player of the modern era. Last week his team, the Manly Sea Eagles, washed their hands and sacked the 31-year old veteran.
posted by the red terror to other at 11:48 AM - 11 comments
Sorry - Shoving fingers into the ass. There are only so many opportunities to say that on SpoFi.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 12:31 PM on March 23, 2005
How do you stand still long enough in a game of rugby league to have someone stick their finger up your arse?! And for god sake, wear some underpants!
posted by afx237vi at 04:22 PM on March 23, 2005
Scrums? How did they come up with 17 weeks, that's such an odd number, is it half the season or something?
posted by billsaysthis at 07:47 PM on March 23, 2005
The scrums in rugby league are tame, to say the least. They don't even push, and they last for about 1 second.
posted by afx237vi at 08:10 AM on March 24, 2005
bill> re: 17 game suspension... The are 26 rounds - or games - in the regular season, and four playoff rounds. I'm not sure if there are byes. The number 17 is unusual and I don't know how they arrived at it, but Hopoate was a repeat offender and I suspect they kept adding games onto each suspension to try to rehabilitate him, looks like they never did. afx> re: fingers up the arse... In rugby league they play a series of six downs. It is not like rugby where rucks and mauls keep the ball alive. In league after the tackle is made, the defenders have to retire 10 metres and the ball-carrier has to play the ball back, but a pair of defenders are permitted to "mark" the ball carrier. Several things happen because of this: 1. The attacking ball-carrier only has five opportunities, or downs, to carry the ball forward before kicking on the sixth down. So the ball carrier tries to free his arms and keep the ball alive to maximize possession. 2. To stop the down and continuity, the defending team tries to prevent the ball-carrier from releasing the ball by gang-tackling, wrapping up his arms and dropping the player to the ground to start a new down. 3. Understand, there is no time-out or huddle between downs, the attacking team tries to start the next one immediately *while the defenders are retiring their 10 metres*. Makes sense that a defending team has a tougher job making their tackles when they are running backwards. 4. Therefore, the two markers from the opposing gang-tacklers take their sweet time laying all over the tackled ball-carrier in an attempt to slow the attack down and let their defending players retire 10 metres. All this leads to countless aggro skullduggery after the tackle -- fingers pokes and heels to the face being typical nastiness. The tacklers and markers crowd and stand all over the ball-carrier, and in Hopoate's case, his impatience and frustration leads him to retaliate upon unsuspecting players with "vile acts."
posted by the red terror at 08:23 AM on March 24, 2005
afx> Agreed, the scrums in league are an embarrassing joke. Unlike union, the league scrummagers don't pack down, they don't push or contest the ball, the halfback plays it right under the feet of his props and hooker to the degree that referees don't even care. Scrums in league are simply glorified re-starts. I suspect most league forwards don't even know proper scrummaging technique, if they were thrown into a union scrum they would get dismantled.
posted by the red terror at 08:27 AM on March 24, 2005
Excellent replies. Now that I think about it, I guess it would be possible for the tackler to do it after he makes the tackle. Not that I want to think about it... Yuck. Anyway, I live in Wales, where we all deny that league actually exists. Union is king here.
posted by afx237vi at 09:00 AM on March 24, 2005
Hopoate is a fucking disgrace - the week before the head-high hit, he was caught screaming abuse at a ball boy during a match. It tells you a lot that Aussies claim he's a Kiwi, and we note he's a Samoan. Presumably Samoans point the finger about which village he comes from.
posted by rodgerd at 04:52 AM on March 25, 2005
Hopoate is Tongan, every player profile lists him as being born 16 January 1974 in Tonga.
posted by the red terror at 09:39 AM on March 25, 2005
My mistake. But I doubt anyone in Tonga is keener to claim him than anywhere else...
posted by rodgerd at 02:21 PM on March 25, 2005
Now that's some all time goonery. Showing fingers into the ass of your opponent. Someone block this server from Tie Domi. I played rugby and there was the usual assortment of attempted bag-tagging and stomach punches in the rucks, but that was pretty much the extent of it. I know ruggers is supposed to be rough, but I'd stop at invasive.