what about the rugby player, who did this.....
Hopoat banned for "interference"
Hopoate gets 12 weeks for unsportsmanlike interference
John Hopoate was last night suspended for 12 matches for a "disgraceful act" that his legal counsel said would cause the Wests Tigers international "disgrace and embarrassment".
In possibly the most bizarre judiciary case ever, the National Rugby League tribunal imposed the heaviest ban in four seasons after hearing more than three hours of evidence about players grabbing opponents by "the nuts", "the stork" and "the arse" in order to intimidate them. North Queensland players Peter Jones and Glenn Morrison testified that Hopoate had inserted his fingers in their anuses after they had been tackled during the match at Townsville last Saturday night.
Cowboys captain Paul Bowman accused Hopoate of doing the same thing to him after he had completed a tackle.
"I felt fingers. He was pushing up my arse," Bowman said. "I was disgusted, I couldn't believe it. If he was a man, he wouldn't do it." Morrison said: "
It was dreadful, I had pain. It was like someone was trying to put pressure up there."
In response to suggestions from Hopoate's counsel, Bernard Gross QC, that his client had been administering "a wedgie", Jones said: "It was in the anal area. I think I know the difference between a wedgie and someone putting their fingers up my bum." Hopoate did not shy away from the allegations completely, telling the panel that his prodding of Bowman was "between his arse and his nuts". But he denied putting his hand under any of the player's underwear.
"I've reached out to try and pull his undies and shorts up his arse to try and make it as uncomfortable as I can," Hopoate said of the seventh-minute Jones incident. After watching video footage of the Morrison tackle in the 71st minute, Hopoate said: "I was trying to do the same thing - give him a wedgie."
In the case of Bowman, Gross pointed out that a Cowboys player appeared to have hold of Hopoate "in the forbidden area", before he was turned over on his back. Hopoate said he had "jabbed" Bowman in order to move him so that he could get up and complete a quick play-the-ball.
On the other occasions, he said he was trying to slow the Cowboys' play-the-ball. "It happens all the time," Hopoate said. "You get wedgies all the time, and jabbed in the stork. I'm a great believer that what happens on the field should stay on the field."
The verdict may have opened a Pandora's box for the NRL, with Wests coach Terry Lamb estimating that such incidents occur up to 10 times per game.
Lamb, who played a record 349 first-grade games between 1980 and 1996, said he had never committed such acts but had been on the receiving end of similar tactics. "There's all types of niggling tactics - wedgies, biting, gouging, grabbing blokes by the nuts," Lamb said. "I'm no expert but I've had wedgies. I'm sure the panel has as well. The game goes on." But not until round 18 for Hopoate after Royce Ayliffe, Mal Cochrane and Jeff Hardy decided his actions were comparable with previous gouging charges or the high tackle which earned Josh Stuart a 12-match suspension in 1998.
Before they deliberated on the verdict, NRL commissioner Jim Hall told the panel: "In 45 years of involvement with rugby league I've never come across a more disgusting allegation." After the three-man panel returned a guilty finding on all three allegations, judiciary chairman Greg Woods advised its three members not to be swayed by their "revulsion or distaste" when deciding the penalty.
Tigers officials gasped when Hall asked that Hopoate be suspended for 25 matches.
Wests prop Shane Walker escaped suspension after beating one high-tackle charge and having another one downgraded.
And Newcastle winger Adam MacDougall also escaped suspension after having his high-tackle charge reduced. Meanwhile, Northern Eagles props Mark O'Meley and Paul Stringer face fines of about $10,000 each after being ordered to appear before the club's internal disciplinary committee over a fight outside a Central Coast pub last weekend.