As I'm sure you'll remember, in March, Gareth Hock was banned for one game for 'foul and abusive language'. No doubt this is a very cheap ban and Betts was clearly annoyed at this decision. However, I remember reading on SSN that he believed that the decision was 'a joke', that a player should not be 'sent off for swearing' and questioned if we were playing in a 'schoolyard'.

Personally I thought these were very poor comments from a man such as Betts. Yes, in the heat of a game emotions get overcharged and things are said. However, at what point is it ever acceptable to swear at an official like that? The fact that Betts not only supported Hock (well, what else would you expect him to do?) but that he actually verbally attacked Mr Hicks himself in the media showed a total disregard for the work the RFL have done for many years to promote RL as a family game suitable for all.

With that in mind it was interesting to see the recent decision in RU to ban Dylan Hartley for 11 games for the similar offence of 'verbally abusing a referee'. To be clear, there are differences as Hartley accused the referee of cheating as he swore at him. However, nobody in the sport, not even his own coach, came out to defend him. They all knew what he did was wrong and should be punished.

As a parent with young children I am happy for them to see the physical nature of our sport because it shows how fit and how competitive these guys are. I also prefer the atmosphere to that of football and know that RL is much much safer in terms of crowd trouble and general antisocial behaviour. What I am not happy is for me kids to think that swearing at someone in authority is acceptable.

RL is not blessed with legions of fans around the world like other sports and we need to concentrate on keeping those we have, If we were to start losing whole families that would be a serious issue for the sport.

So to Mr Betts and those who think like him I ask you to think about the long-term implications of your words.

To play devils advocate do you think families are turned off from soccer due to the ridiculous antics of soccer players towards refs?

There are many reasons families may not follow RL, a commentator disagreeing with a ruling bodies decision is hardly one of them!

Yes.

All parts of the sport of RL have a responsibility to show respect to all the other parts of the game, be that the RFL, club owners/administrators,Coaches,players and fans

It is that simple

Agreed.

Whilst I'd immediately accept the majority would prefer it not to happen, the evidence suggests it has little, or no, effect on that sport's ability to attract customers or sponsors.

Coaching a junior RL team and running the junior section, it was frequently mentioned by parents and even kids as a reason they were not involved in soccer.

you have to take the hock thing into context mr hicks has previous of this from the championship days he allways batters widnes in the penelty count in that game he did the same thing and hock lost it with him as he came from pies he is not used to it so yes we do need to respect the refs but in the same vain the refs have to be impartial and some of them are better than others at doing it
p.s hicks does ref us better on tv due to more scrutany from the pundits

So you are blaming the refs?

I assume I'm being trolled, but seriously? He was top 5 for giving away penalties in the league last year with Wigan too, it's part of his game...

So it's Hicks fault that Hock swore???

I think you'll find that our Gaz has a fair bit of previous with several refs and is quite used to being penalised.

i am not defending hock i am defending what betts said and he was right to say it. mr hicks and childs are complete tools as far as i can see they have their fav teams and ref the games accordingly there is a BIG difference in giving a pen on the first in your own half to giving one to the other side on the last in there own 40 on paper they balance out but on the pitch they give yards plus another full set to defend and they do it time and time again which fustrates players hence when you have one like hock will result in a rush of blood. respect goes both ways that is why the likes of silverwood and bentham get the best games as they are fair and most importantly the are seen to be fair where the other 2 just do which ever team they feel they want to on that day.