John Hopoate gives Legends of League tournament the finger
It was meant to be a match celebrating some of the NRL’s greatest legends. But today’s Legends of League tournament descended into farce with former league bad boy John Hopoate poking fun at one the grubbiest incidents in the game’s history.
The Legends of League tournament has descended into farce on the Central Coast with John Hopoate re-enacting one of the grubbiest incidents in rugby league history.
Wearing a white glove onto the field, the old Manly Sea Eagles winger Hopoate finger-poked opponents in today’s match against the Newcastle Knights.
He was banned for 12 weeks in 2001 for the same revolting act on a Cowboys player which judiciary chairman Jim Hall described as the most disgusting incident he had dealt with in 45 years.
RELATED NEWS
WILL HOPOATE ON GROWING UP AS THE SON OF A BUM POKER
Sure this time it was light hearted but still repulsive.
More recently the 44-year-old was banned for 10 years (five of them suspended) for three code of conduct charges following his send-off in a match playing for Narraweena Hawks.
NSWRL CEO David Trodden said at the time: “Every governing body has an obligation to the participants who play our game to ensure they can play in a safe and enjoyable environment.”
Yet Hopoate took the field with his old Manly teammates yesterday and the governing body could do nothing about it.
“The tournament is not sanctioned by any official rugby league body,” Trodden said.
“The NSWRL has no jurisdiction over the competition.”
Hopoate’s son Will, the Bulldogs’ fullback, spoke about the infamous incident back in 2001 on Players’ Voice last week.
“The bum-poking incident turned out to be a great example of John’s resilience,” he said.
“I didn’t realise it at the time but, looking back, I do now.
“His old teammates have since told me the whole thing was supposed to be a prank to watch in team video sessions. It ended up costing him his personal brand for life, pretty much.
“It was a difficult time for our family. I was eight years old — my other siblings were six, three, two and a newborn — and I’d wake up to dozens of media people camped outside our home every day.”
‘TRIED TO PUT IT ON ME’: Sam Kerr’s bombshell statement in police trial
Sam Kerr has made a bombshell statement while giving evidence in her UK trial while defending a charge of racially-aggravated harrassment.
Former Formula 1 star set to race in Australia
A Formula 1 legend is heading to Australia to compete in the Race of Champions, with a month until some of the biggest names in motorsport line up on the grid at Accor Stadium.