Fielden : Ban for punch harsh

[C.P]

Fielden finally speaks on the incident and says what is obvious to all sane people. He should of been done on the Long hit and there was nothing in him being KOed



AAP
Mason's hit on Long was worse: Fielden
Wednesday Nov 8 18:47 AEDT
Even the victim of Willie Mason's infamous punch believes the Kangaroos enforcer's Tri-Nations punishment was "a bit harsh".

However, that has still not stopped the Brits from whingeing about the banned Australian forward.

Injured Great Britain captain Paul Sculthorpe - who missed the Tri-Nations due to a knee injury - said it was "outrageous" that Mason's hit on British halfback Sean Long last Saturday night went unpunished.

Mason was suspended for one match and fined $5000 for punching British prop Stuart Fielden, an incident which preceded the Australian forward's hit on Long.

Mason's punishment earned the ire of Kangaroos coach Ricky Stuart who believed his charge got a "raw deal".

But Great Britain coach Brian Noble said "you could bet your house" on Mason getting a week for the right hit to Fielden's jaw.

However, Fielden contradicted his coach by coming to Mason's defence over the punch.

"I thought the one-match ban was a bit harsh," he told The Independent newspaper.

"I thought the tackle on Sean Long was far more serious."

Sculthorpe agreed Mason should have been hauled in front of the Tri-Nations judiciary for the late tackle on the British match-winner, not the punch.

"I think the worse incident went unpunished," Sculthorpe told Sky News Sport UK.

"I think the 'off the ball' on Sean Long was far worse than the punch.

"I think you expect a few fireworks in Test matches.

"But you don't expect elbows on kickers off the ball and to escape a ban for that was outrageous."

Meanwhile, Fielden did not agree with Mason's account of their verbal clash that led to the punch.

Mason told the Tri-Nations judiciary he was acting in self defence and tried to put their confrontation in perspective by detailing their verbal exchange.

Mason told the judiciary: "He said 'come on, you f**king Aussie merkin', I said 'f**k you f***ing Pommie.' He was saying 'let's go, let's go ... I'll belt you, you Aussie twat'."

But Fielden countered: "It's very hard to fit a 10-minute conversation into five seconds.

"It sounds like we've been pen pals."

 

[Hannibal Machin]

Well it looks like Fielden has won the war of words then!!

Although having a battle of wits with an unarmed knobend like Mason is not tough is it.

 

[St.John]

"It sounds like we've been pen pals."

:lol:

Like it.

 

[simon says]

Well it looks like Fielden has won the war of words then!!

.

He obviously talks better than he can fight.

 

[fourplay]

There was no fight because Mason cheap shotted him not expecting it.

Peacock vs Mason was a fight and mason got dropped fair and square.

 

[Papa_smurf]

There was no fight because Mason cheap shotted him not expecting it.

Peacock vs Mason was a fight and mason got dropped fair and square.

how was it a cheap shot?

fielden was faced up and pushing him?

 

[Stewie Griffin]

There was no fight because Mason cheap shotted him not expecting it.

Peacock vs Mason was a fight and mason got dropped fair and square.

hahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahhaha

that is all.. you just made my day.

 

[Balmain_Boy]

Little ridiculous to call it a fight. If sthrows the first that well, it's never going to be a fight.

 

[adamkungl]

Mason made sure there wasnt a fight lol

 

[Geordie]

Fielden pushed Mason on the left shoulder and was in the act of turning away when Mason struck. That in my book is not a fight it is sheer a sh*thouse cheap shot. Peacock came in and fronted up to Mason and both threw punches but Mason was the one to go down - now that was a fight.

How come nearly everyone who has seen the Long hit by Mason, more or less agree that he should have been punished for that and yet McCallum made the decision that he had no case to answer??? If anything stinks that does it but it has now made it open season for that sort of rough play to go ahead unpunished for the remainder of the Tri-Nations.

 

[Phillips]

Mason made sure there wasnt a fight lol

he also made sure that GB won by dropping the ball with the line wide open lol

 

[WJ]

He obviously talks better than he can fight.

Unfortunatley, rugby league is about winning the game, noT who knocked who out.

Gb won the game.

So errr

UP YOURS!!!!!!!!!!!

:crazy:

 

[Fairleigh Good!]

Scully's comments are absolutely correct.

They should have banned him for the elbow on Sean Long. I think the one thing stopping him being banned was the need for him being there to talk up the Final during the week before. He can either talk big about how he is going to smash Kidwell or Fielden and they think that will sell tickets.

Had the Long incident happened in a club game he'd be running water bottle duty for at least 3 games in Super League and I suspect a lot more in the NRL.

 

[Azkatro]

I actually thought the hit on Long would have otherwise been good for a month on the sideline - especially with the way the 2006 NRL season went on late tackles on the kicker.

 

[ShadesOfTheSun]

The judiciary, which would have looked at the incident closely, did not reject Mason's claim of self defense - they only questioned the proportionality of the response. The video footage shows with reasonable clarity that Fielden had his fist raised prior to being knocked out - any sane person confronted in such a manner, having been pushed and insulted, would expect to be attacked.

Like I said, I dislike Mason immensely, but I can see little to justify the proposition that he caught Fielden in the process of the GB player backing down.

I also find it somewhat amusing that this issue is still a controversial one. If all that matters is who won the game, as you GB fans have repeatedly claimed, why are you still so hell bent on giving your man excuses for being knocked out?

 

[Fairleigh Good!]

The judiciary, which would have looked at the incident closely, did not reject Mason's claim of self defense - they only questioned the proportionality of the response. The video footage shows with reasonable clarity that Fielden had his fist raised prior to being knocked out - any sane person confronted in such a manner, having been pushed and insulted, would expect to be attacked.

Like I said, I dislike Mason immensely, but I can see little to justify the proposition that he caught Fielden in the process of the GB player backing down.

I also find it somewhat amusing that this issue is still a controversial one. If all that matters is who won the game, as you GB fans have repeatedly claimed, why are you still so hell bent on giving your man excuses for being knocked out?

Any dog can throw a lucky punch. I've seen people almost killed through people throwing lucky punches like that. Mason proved his cowardice just minutes later with the assault on Sean Long.

Which is what most people are bothered about. GB only cited Mason for the punch because of the ridiculous and insulting decision to rule he had no case to answer for the elbow. Even Fielden himself has come out in the press to say he didn't deserve a ban for the punch, but everyone bar the disciplinary panel (Who have ticket sales for the final in that hell hole league backwater Sydney to worry about) and a few geniused Australian's like that fat fu$k Gould and Ricky Stuart can see he should be banned for the Long elbow.

It also amazes me that Mason hasn't appologised for that incident.

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

Fielden makes Andrew Johns look like Mike Tyson.

 

[JJ]

Fielden pushed Mason on the left shoulder and was in the act of turning away when Mason struck. That in my book is not a fight it is sheer a sh*thouse cheap shot. Peacock came in and fronted up to Mason and both threw punches but Mason was the one to go down - now that was a fight.

.

1. To be fair, the way I saw it Mason didn't "go down" because of anything Peacock did.
2. Not so sure Fielden was turning away, I'd have to watch again. But seriously, after all the sh*t between the two of them through the media, did Fielden serioulsy believe that Mason wasn't going to have a crack at him? While I think Mason's defence was pretty silly, I don't blame him if he thought Fielden was going to swing.
3. In the end the ban is ridiculous, there have been punches thrown in every game, was Mason unlucky because he did some damage.
4. The hit on Long is another matter, if the ban is some token gesture to make up for letting hium get away with that, then things are stupider than we think

 

[Fairleigh Good!]

4. The hit on Long is another batter, if the ban is some token gesture to make up for letting hium get away with that, then things are stupider than we think

That is precisely the situation we have. They hand the one match ban to Mason as a token gesture to GB for them conveniently ignoring the Long incident.

They are not stupid, they know the big ticket seller is Willie Mason and his feuds with David Kidwell and Stuart Fielden and are willing to go to any length to ensure that the week before the Final is talked up to the hilt.

 

[JJ]

Any dog can throw a lucky punch. I've seen people almost killed through people throwing lucky punches like that. Mason proved his cowardice just minutes later with the assault on Sean Long.

Which is what most people are bothered about. GB only cited Mason for the punch because of the ridiculous and insulting decision to rule he had no case to answer for the elbow. Even Fielden himself has come out in the press to say he didn't deserve a ban for the punch, but everyone bar the disciplinary panel (Who have ticket sales for the final in that hell hole league backwater Sydney to worry about) and a few geniused Australian's like that fat fu$k Gould and Ricky Stuart can see he should be banned for the Long elbow.

It also amazes me that Mason hasn't appologised for that incident.

you say elbow like it was one - do you have a link to footage?

As a Kiwi I'm hadn't become so engrossed in it, to be honest it didn't look like that big of a deal to me at the time