Timana Tahu out, Joel Monaghan in for State of Origin II

[Runaround Man]

Its rampant amougnst the league[/QUOTE]

League just reflects the wider community

 

[Poupou Escobar]

League just reflects the wider community

Are you kidding?

League players are bigger, stronger, richer, more famous and more confident than most people in society.

They're also less educated.

 

[Suitman]

Are you kidding?

League players are bigger, stronger, richer, more famous and more confident than most people in society.

They're also less educated.

Please don't tar them all with the same brush, but generally, you make a valid point.
In saying that, it's not just league players.......it's society in general.
It's pathetic.

Suity

PS. Anyone who listens to or believes the vitriol that comes out of 2GB, A Current Affair or Today Tonight should be ashamed of themselves. They are just as bad as Johns.

 

[parra pete]

lol at pete.

Having a go at Stagger for making a statement for claiming the CRL think pete is annoying without any facts, yet in the same thread, says Tahu needs to harden up without knowing what was said.

Hypocrite.

Stagger knew EXACTLY what I was getting at..and he has been man enough to apologise for the misunderstanding ------ and I have accepted his apology.
End of matter as far as I am concerned.

 

[Suitman]

Stagger knew EXACTLY what I was getting at..and he has been man enough to apologise for the misunderstanding ------ and I have accepted his apology.
End of matter as far as I am concerned.

From my perspective I can understand why you had concerns though.

Suity

 

[junior009]

Truth is none of us know exactly what went on and it's probably slightly magnified for alot of us because there is "one of our own involved" but personally it makes me feel slightly less inclined to cheer fir the blues on Wednesday. I like to think of myself as being more passionate than most when it comes to origin but I have always been and always will be loyal to the club I support 365 days a year first, and that extends to any individual that plays there guts out for us.

Without knowing the facts this whole saga just leaves a sour taste. I can only imagine how those directly involved (both T and Joey) must feel.

 

[guruminga]

Timana has the courage of his convictions and that is something to be admired

i'm sure this wasn't an easy decision for him to make......

Couldn't agree more!

 

[guruminga]

Being White Anglo Saxon, I don't pretend to put myself in a minority's shoes so to be able to categorically state that what Tahu did was "soft" or "precious", as I don't know what it feels like to be called that.

If anything, good on him for taking a stance in my opinion.

Putting himself in a position to cop so much flak (which has begun) by taking the action he took, arguably shows far more ticker than playing a State of Origin match.

He would also have foregone his match fee no doubt - 5 or 6K isn't it?

I don't blame the man for taking a stance against something he is passionate about.

Great post

It is actions like this that will probably be the most productive in changing the "ugly" culture of Rugby Leauge, that sees it ending up on the front of National Newspapers for the wrong reasons.

 

[DeanPay98]

Bullcrap. People face racism all day long. It is a part of life. That fact he quit on the team means he let johns get the better of him.

I was the 1 of 3 ethnics growing up at school out of 600 kids. I used to get called everythjing under the sun. I still went to school & gave as good as i got. But i did not let them get the better of me. I held my head up high.

There are otherways to take a stand & this is not 1 of them because he is letting down 16 other players for a drug addict

Dean widders was called a black merkin on the field. Why didnt he walk off & say i refuse to play against red necks like fletcher. HE played on than took a stand after the game. He didnt quit. I luv tahu as a player but in my opinion he should have taken action with nswrl & coaching staff. Give them them a ultimatem either they take action against johns or then he walks. Not just walk.

I totally agree with you. I mean I support Timana Tahu and if walking away is what he wants to do then so be it. But being a non-Anglo in a majority Anglo-Saxon society you need to find a way of dealing with the racism that you do encounter in ways that doesn't disadvantage yourself. He's given up a SOO jersey. I don't want to be harsh but there's going to be a lot of Aboriginal kids watching on Wednesday night and I think they'd be better served if they saw Timana playing on the wing.

When you hear the respect that people in league have for Timana Tahu, Dean Widders, Inglis etc that must do a lot for the pride of Indigenous youth.

I do think that the Johns thing cold have been dealt with behind closed doors and if Bellamy is half as smart as I think he is he'd have told Johns to never say it again. Given how racially mixed league teams are its just so daft to be racist against anybody.

 

[Runaround Man]

If you think about it, there haven't been too many Aboriginal players play for NSW over the years.

Can anybody name a few?

NSW is a pretty 'white' team...I could be wrong, but that is what it seems to me. I stand to be corrected.

 

[Suitman]

But being a non-Anglo in a majority Anglo-Saxon society you need to find a way of dealing with the racism that you do encounter in ways that doesn't disadvantage yourself. He's given up a SOO jersey. I don't want to be harsh but there's going to be a lot of Aboriginal kids watching on Wednesday night and I think they'd be better served if they saw Timana playing on the wing.

When you hear the respect that people in league have for Timana Tahu, Dean Widders, Inglis etc that must do a lot for the pride of Indigenous youth.

I do think that the Johns thing cold have been dealt with behind closed doors and if Bellamy is half as smart as I think he is he'd have told Johns to never say it again. Given how racially mixed league teams are its just so daft to be racist against anybody.

So, after the quote in red, cannot you understand why he has done exactly what you stated in blue? I don't think Timana thinks he is disadvantaging himself.
In fact, quite the opposite.


Suity

 

[DeanPay98]

This has been my thinking. I think Tahu was scarred by his experience in rugby union which is an environment where he was probably never subject to racist language but instead shown a world where social class pervades everything, and race is a major part of that.

I very much agree. I moved from a working class part of NSW to the North Shore of Sydney when in high school and went from a poor school to a very elite private school. Almost everybody was great but the racism that was there from some people was never presented as direct racist remarks always as very indirect but persistent and cutting slights. It was very, very different to anything I'd encountered before. It takes a while to get the hang of that and to see it for the pathetic nonsense that it is but maybe Tahu didn't have enough time to work it out leaving him a bit angry and sensitive.

Still if the NSW team allowed comments like that then they're just dumb. But I remember when Petero got insulted at Parra, Hindy came out and made the point that racism like that would've made all the non-white players at Parramatta feel marginalised. Which shows that (a) Hindmarsh is a legend and (b) not all league players are dumb.

 

[Runaround Man]

Hindy to Captain the Blues and DA for the coach

 

[DeanPay98]

So, after the quote in red, cannot you understand why he has done exactly what you stated in blue? I don't think Timana thinks he is disadvantaging himself.
In fact, quite the opposite.


Suity

At the end of the day he's given up a SOO jersey. They are hard-earned. I don't think that the NSWRL should have had to learn to be non-racist, that lesson should have been learned decades ago.

I don't think anybody will respect Timana any less. I certainly don't. But I think he could have handled the matter differently. Even if what he wanted was to publicize the issue he could have achieved the same thing by giving an interview to the Telegraph or whoever. Johns would then have been forced to respond etc. Timana could have done that whilst staying in the team. Same exposure, same embarrassment for Johns (well deserved) and Tahu keeps his jersey. The players are more likely to side with Tahu, a teammate, anyway or at least be neutral. Its not like what Johns said could be defended.

 

[guruminga]

What he should have done is approach nswrl. Force there hand make johns quit. The fact he walked well have people saying he is a quitter.

Could you imagin NSWRL telling him we will keep it in house. They would have forced johns to quit & by doing that they would have had to explain why & if they did not tell us the reason then tahu can reveal to us all why he forced there hand.

This way he still plays for his state johns quits & gets oousted for the grub we all know he is & racism is bought to the forefront.

That's a lot of assumptions to make. They would have mediated and conflict managed his butt off till he gave in and accepted an apology from Joey.

He made a strong stand and I totally applaud him. Like Parra Pete's sig says: PLEADING IGNORANCE DOESN'T CHANGE THE FACTS that what he said was wrong and in this day and age he should have known better. Especially in the year that the Indigenous All stars game sparked the beginning of steps towards improving Indigenous and Non-Indigenous relations.

G

 

[junior009]

I agree deano, my initial thought was he could have handled it differently perhaps better. However, upon reflection maybe he couldn't or didn't feel like he could. We don't know what was or wasn't done or said behind closed doors. To be fair to all involved there is just a huge amount of speculation involved in all of this and tbh I doubt if the hole truth will ever be told "publicly" at least.

 

[fish eel]

Who is anyone to tell Tahu how he should have handled it?

He did what he thought was right, has made a stand and good on him.

If more people made a stand and personal sacrafices for things they believe in the world would be a better place

 

[bartman]

So Joey's a f**king racist... they should punt the clown out of any league sanctioned position he holds.

Those Johns brothers seem to have turned out to be real merkins.

 

[guruminga]

Sorry but comparing Indigenous Aussies with other ethnic communities doesn't brush in my opinion.

White Australia has a long history of not just demeaning indigenous Aussies but oppressing them to the point of eroding their culture and in many cases actually killing it off.

For T to react like this the talk has obviously got too much. My GUESS is that he received little support from the coach and team mates and decided to walk.

Good on him....like i said earlier...

'if you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything'

Buuut we are all still guessing and making assumptions.

Nicely said bro,

If he made his stand 'in house' and they didn't respond, there would have been no team unity. Unfortunately when you stand up, it does make it hard to keep on keeping on.

G

 

[ShaunC]

To say that Timana is "soft" or needs to "harden up" is simply ridiculous. Sometimes enough is enough and what he did required tremendous strength and conviction.

Glad he is an Eel.