Former NRL player John Hopoate has received a 10-year ban from Rugby League, with the final five years suspended, after he was sent off playing park Rugby League for Narraweena Hawks against Forestville Ferrets.
Video footage shows Hopoate receiving his marching orders from the referee after throwing a punch during a scuffle.
The same footage also captured audio of Hopoate saying “I’ll bash you c***s ” before his sending off. He is then believed to have stood behind the opposition benches and threatened their players.
“I carried on like an idiot and got sent off, that’s it. I carried on like an idiot, who cares, it’s the story of my life,” Hopoate told Fox Sports of the incident on Saturday.
“I said I’d bash him on the field but what’s wrong with that?”
It’s not the first time Hopoate has been in trouble on a Rugby League pitch. He holds the record for the most suspensions in NRL history: A total of 45 weeks worth.
Those weeks include a 17-match suspension for a high tackle on former Leeds Rhino Keith Galloway and an incident in 2001 where he planted his finger into the backside of three North Queensland players. That carried a 12-week suspension.
