I have two mad moments in sport from John Hopoate which make up a very large "Mad Moments in Sport" story.
During a 2001 clash against the Nth Qld Cowboys, Hopoate decided that to unsettle his opponent he would stick his finger up their dates. The lucky recipients were Glenn Morrison, Peter Jones and Paul Bowman. The matter was referred straight to the judiciary where Hoppa stated he was only trying to give the players a wedgie with his fingers and "what happens on the field should stay on the field". This incident led to his nickname "Stink Finger" and later "Stink Fist"
March 19 2005 in a game against Cronulla, John Hopoate lost his mind in what would lead to the end of his career. In what is later described as a "shooter tackle" where the player rushes out the line to put pressure on the ball receiver, Hopoate jumped and led with the elbow striking 19 year old giant Keith Galloway in the head knocking him out cold. Hoppa was sent off and Galloway was left with facial cuts and bleeding from the ear. Hopoate claimed he was simply going for a shoulder charge and lifted his arm to protect his ribs. The judiciary panel didn't see it that way and Hopoate was given a 17 match ban. This was the end for his career when Manly terminated his contract.
I think the attached photo tells the story of how much of a grub A Watmough is as he is clapping the cheap, high hit.
We watched this moment of madness at a dusty pub in Camden on the way home from Dazzler's bucks. An absolute dog act. Good to see Watmough showing his true colours in the background too. Apparently Tigers coach in '01 Terry "grub" Lamb knew of Hoppa's tactics when he saw it studying the tape, and thought it was ok!!!
ReplyDeleteP.S I've had a long term dislike of Terry Lamb after his high shot on Ellery Hanley in the 88 GF....... I know it was 21 years ago!!
Check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gYSyu9juDs
It was a beauty of a high shot that didnt get noticed and won Canterbury the game. Would be sent off for that these days
ReplyDeleteLamb got his just desserts 6 years later Rob. Fast forward 2 mins 30, and enjoy the hit Meninga puts on him "for Ellery"
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9zeMJSDYLA
Thanks mate I feel better after seeing that. What a monster hit! Lamb's eyes were rolling around like a poker machine.
ReplyDeletePawd and Rob W...I remember this game very clearly. The entire team on the field (not just Watmough) went over and patted Hoppa on the back for what they thought was a massive hit. It just looked like body on body contact in real time. It seemed as though no one realised Hoppa got him high till the reply was shown on the big screen. Then you could see all the boys collectively think/say "aww shit..he is gone !" Fair enough Watmough is a grub but he wasn't clapping a high shot, he was just clapping a team mate for what he thought was a good hit.
ReplyDeleteHoppa is the stereotype of which the current islander league boys are based on. I am pretty sure they are working hard to lose the tag of massive dumb units with short tempers. Its taken Hoppa about 40 years to reach the mental age of 18 and now he is about to loose any remaining brain cells he has taking up boxing. Maybe if he could pretend it was his team mate that he was fighting in the ring, then he would have a chance of winning.
See below
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hetZB9n7neA
Make that 35 years for Hoppa to reach the mental age of an 18 year old. He was actually born in 1974. He had his first son young.
ReplyDeleteHe also had his 9th son very young.
ReplyDeleteNo excuses for Watmough. I have never seen emptier shell on a pair of shoulders in my life