Rhinos fine player over website tsunami ‘jokes’

LEEDS Rhinos have fined their prop forward Ryan Bailey and warned him about his future conduct after he posted jokes about the Japanese tsunami on his Facebook page.
By The Newsroom
Published 23rd Mar 2011, 06:00 BST

The 27-year-old, who won eight international caps between 2004-06, apologised and also paid a voluntary donation to the tsunami relief fund.

Bailey took responsibility for the Facebook comments in a meeting with Gary Hetherington, the club’s chief executive, and expressed his “deep remorse at the offence caused by his comments”, according to a club spokesman.

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In a statement issued by the club, Bailey said: “First of all, I would like to say sorry to all those who I have offended by my comments.

“Having reflected on the remarks that appeared on my Facebook page, I can see that they would be deeply offensive to those affected in the tragic scenes we have seen in Japan.

“It was not my intention to offend or upset anyone but clearly I have done that and I am deeply sorry for that.”

Bailey has played for the Leeds Rhinos all his career and has made more than 200 appearances for the club since his debut in 2002.

He has been capped four times for Great Britain and four times for England.

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