The (Southern) Lions Don't Sleep At Night

[fulvio sammut]

It seems that down in the Southern Lions neighbourhood they attract some pretty strange fellows to official positions.

Let me tell you a true story. It happened this week

On Saturday, the Lions' big opening day at Success (and congratulations by the way), Palmyra under 18s turned up to do battle with their Lion peers.

It turned out to be a fairly depressing affair for the Lions as they were beaten by a substantial margin. But that's the way it goes, and no doubt they'll win next time, or the time after that.

However the Lions' official didn't see it that way. This was not in accordance with the script he had written himself, and he had to put things to right.

So he went home with his copy of the Palmyra teamsheet and trawled the net.

He trawled and trawled, googling all the names of the Palmyra players and looking up each of their Facebook pages, and no doubt Bebo, Twitter, Myspace, and other personal sites as well. His detective work was more thorough than that of a Pedo looking for prey.

And then Bingo! he stuck gold! One of the Pally boys stated on his site he was born in 1991! 1991! He was overage!

Breathlessly the Lions official penned off a missive to RugbyWA, bemoaning the injustice, bewailing the unfairness, and demanding that Palmyra be stripped of its competition points from the game and that they be awarded to the Lions. Not forgetting, of course, the bonus point.

It never occured to the official that anything on Facebook could possibly be untrue, that kids might exaggerate their age to impress their mates and the chicks, or that people simply don't want to give correct personal details of themselves on public sites.

Or that kids might be a little smarter than he, in seeking to protect themselves from potential predators and others trawling their site uninvited.

RugbyWA naturally took his complaint with the utmost seriousness (yes, truly) and sent off a please explain letter to Palmyra, who responded by referring RugbyWA to the Western Australian birth certificate RugbyWA had on file indicating the lad was in fact born in 1992.

RugbyWA however apparently are not satisfied with what passes for proof in any Court of Law.They apparently believe in inverting the burden of proof. It is the accused who must prove his innocence, not the accuser who must prove his case.

Does he have any other identification , they ask? How can we accept his parents' word and an official Birth Certificate in the face of the irrefutable evidence of a random Facebook post?

Heavens to Murgatroyd, this has legs, a scandal worthy of a Glenn Milne article in a News Limited tabloid!

I'll keep you posted of the results of the Lions' equivalent of the breaking of Watergate, and the Union's version of Much Ado About Nothing.

[pruc]

and this said player had also played at southern lions back in juniors...

[vortextua]

And your worried about the Lions hamming it up..............have a long hard look at yourself tiger!

[Burgs]

I just find it hard to believe that people born in 1991 are adults

[fulvio sammut]

Geez, you mean I was that obvious? I'll try to be more subtle.

[Darren]

is ham like spam, only it tastes better?

[Darkness]

Southern Lions, Leeming whatever you want to call them really seem to have a chip on each shoulder about Palmyra.

What's the history of this?

Is it just a small brother / big brother, poor cousin/rich cousin thing or are there other factors at play here? ie has someone slept with someone else's wife? Now that would be a scandle worth reporting!

Keep digging Fulvio. Can't wait for the results.

Suggest you contact Today Tonight and let them flush the molerats out.

[travelling_gerry]

Today Tonight have better chestnuts to fry tonight.

[Darkness]

Southern Lions do seem to have an "attitude". Their club website lead in to the above-mentioned game reads"

"The U18s have a fitting start and face the old enemy, Palmyra at 1.00pm."

The Match Report reads:


"The U18s lost out in the opening home game of the season.
It was a memorable day at Success, but for the U18s it was one to forget. The team started well , but the first score went to Paly. The forwards were dominating at the scrummage however as they have done in all of their games this year. Paly scored again and the decisions seem to start going against South's. John Plowman was given a yellow just before half time for a dubious raised arm. Paly scored whilst we were down to 14 men , but when John returned to the field he crashed over to make it 15-5. Then Luke Napier saw yellow for dumping and the referee lost the plot completely and gave Harricash Raveenthran a straight red for abuse. With the game now an uneven contest 13 playing 15 and with Michael Clifton playing with a broken hand, Paly put on the rest of their points. The referee had a very poor game, and influenced the final outcome with his seemed favoritism. That of course is my opinion !"


Make your own mind up but Fulvio seems to have stumbled upon something. Perhaps someone who was actually at the game can elabobrate - is the above a fair report?

[James]

Pretty sure Jonathan Kaplan reffed that game. He's never fair when he refs the Lions.

[Burgs]

Do we expect a "Gits" next time they are booked to have that Ref?

[Darren]

If I were a Lion's supporter, I'd say it looks like a fair report.

[palitu]

must have been some good abuse for a red...

[GIGS20]

Looks like a pretty normal report from clubland, tinted with the rose coloured glasses of a clubman. I don't think the red for abuse is too surprising, if I remember correctly they were cracking down on that in local clubland and this is probably an outcome of that.

It sounds like the turning point of the match was the 'dubious swinging arm' which seemed to evoke the abuse, which lead to the Red. Like so many games, the team who thought they were unfairly penalised for the swinging arm, also thought the comments of the guy sent off were justified. They probably got a bee in their bonnets about it and discipline went to shit.........the game would have been over right there.

I'm not trying to make a comment either way. I am not a Lions supporter, neither am I a Paly man, I didn't see the match, I'm just trying to interpret a match report with scant information.

Please leave your flames at the door.

[zimeric]

this was circulated pre-season and although its focussed on specators and administrators its also clear that on field bad sportsmanship will not be tolerated..

This is a reminder prior to the grading games and season start, to ensure that your coaches, managers and particularly players are all aware of the level of behaviour expected by Rugby WA during matches at all times.
Please remember that verbal abuse towards anyone participating in any match, from anybystander or other participant in any capacity is strictly not tolerated. If you could also please remind your players that red cards have a consequence; and that is fronting the judiciary to have any case heard from red card incidents. Please ensure that your players are all aware that negative actions are also strictly not tolerated.
Playing in the spirit of rugby is a fundamental aspect of our sport and is what sets us apart; we are all part of a vision to encourage our kids to participate and enjoy rugby each time they play and to hold a high level of respect
for their sport and club. It would be very disappointing to see any red cards or Code of Conduct arise from the grading games, or indeed from the season itself. I am hoping we can improve upon our record from the last
couple of years and avoid as many incidents as possible.

Junior Competition Coordinator
RugbyWA