Richard Johnson- 6 months in jail

Of course everyone makes mistakes but not only did he break the law, he could have killed someone and he deserves to be punished.

im suprised it got media coverage in NZ seeing as he plays a sport where the ball wasnt oval/being bowled/put through a hoop

It got media coverage because its bad news. Bad news for football always gets covered. Its the conspiracy.

It will bet a dam shame that we could lose him , one of the stand out players last year , I hope that his lawyer can find someway he could keep him out of jail

Well, look on the bright side. We have another spot open...yay!

None of you lot seem to be seeing the big picture here.

The Phoenix are a start-up club and this is a one-off opportunity to send a signal about the type of club it is going to be and the standards that will be expected of the players.

The opinions of the those who are already football fans and are already taking an interest in the Phoenix don't really matter. It's the opinions of those mums and dads who don't know much about football but are maybe picking up that something interesting is going on that really count. The massive fringe element who the Phoenix should be hoping to convert a modest precentage of into full-time football fans.

This is a great opportunity for the Phoenix (and football) to differentiate themselves from the macho rugby culture that is prepared to tolerate behaviour such as drink-driving and wife-beating from it's players.

Johnson should already be gone. As much as a marketing exercise as anything else. He is simply not good enough or going to be around long enough to justify the negative publicity and some good publicity could be generated by exiting him swiftly.

The fact that opinion on this forum is already pretty evenly split proves the point. Who needs a player when even some of your hardcore fans already consider him a liability and an embarassment?

For me, Brown can do Johnson's job, which gives Christie more game time off the bench.  Nothing negative, And, a version 1 Newcastle reject & a version 2 wooden spoon stand-out does NOT mean he will be EXCELLENT for version 3 of the A-league.  Maybe there is chance for Webster or someone else.  From the image of the club prospective he has to be punished and released! Safire2007-05-26 13:21:11

why are we going on about a player who is past his best. we need youth and talent, not druken old men.

It's not a big conspiricy against football - if this happened in rugby it would be on the news straight away.


valeo2007-05-26 16:46:06

valeo nice to see you edited the last part of your post, would have fired a few people up

We need youth, but we also need experience from sober veterans.

Guys you have no idea about the personal issues Johnno is going thru that made him make a bad decision under the influence.

What has he been going through?

He'll have been going through the same kinds of problems that many others go through - life is sometimes very hard.  In his case, he's unfortunate that he's in the public eye due to this rediculous notion that somehow sportsmen should be able to cope with the pressures of life better than 'regular' people.

I heard his mother was ill?

What a load of crap.

Drink drivers kill people. They ruin other people's lives. And they ALL have great excuses.

I have sympathy for Richard Johnson if he has personal issues but drink driving is not the way to deal with it. Nor is taking a high public profile job like being a professional footballer. Especially when your employer not only relies on your footballing ability but your image as a professional.

Professional sportsmen (and women) ARE expected to cope with the pressures of life better than "regular" people because that's exactly what having a job in the public eye is about. And there are plenty of "regular" jobs for those who prefer to conduct their affairs more privately.

As this weekend's blitz on the roads has shown drink driving is still a major problem in this country and some of the moronic comments posted in this thread show just how far away we are from solving it.

Sizzla, that is an opinion I wholeheartedly agree with - well written and the are NO excuses for drunk driving. 

Two words....

Two Words...

One word George Best.

Are you drunk? If that's what you think then you agree with me!

Where we disagree is that you think it's unfair that he is subject to the publicity about it whereas I think that being in the public eye is part of what a pro-footballer is paid to do and as such he deserves whatever treatment he gets.

One word: Dont drop the soap

Benjamin - for your own safety I think you better stop there. Your argument is so confused that according to Darwin's theory of natural selection if anybody's going to get to run down by a drunk driver it'll be you.
 

.....aah, isn't that more than one???? .... or have I missed something here?

Well said.

sack him!

Logical solution: let's have out how games in jail! How about (cell) block 5? (See what I did there?)

no

He's in the clear.......suspended sentence......

Where did you hear that?

In Invercargill the Borstall (youth prison) used to have a team entered in the local division. Up they'd roll in their prison van, pile out with their PO supervising, and come and play (obviously the boys who'd been behaving themselves inside). A few rugged games from what I remember, but nothing too bad. Imagine a Richard Johnson turning up!

i see he got off lets hope he plays decent football now

Home in a taxi, you're going home in a taxi...