The breaking Rugby League news story today is that Wakefield Trinity Wildcats hooker Terry Newton has been suspended by his club after his A sample tested positive at a Drugs Test conducted during the off season. The details are sketchy at the moment, as whilst everyone awaits the results of his B sample.
Terry had only signed for Wakefield at the end of last season from Bradford Bulls and he had been their ‘marquee’ signing for 2010. This is a very sad story, particularly for the Wildcats who had planned their recruitment campaign around his signature. Terry is 31 years of age and had previously played for Leeds Rhinos and Wigan Warriors.
I have known Terry for many years. I first met him when I was an Amateur Rugby League Referee and I officiated at a match involving Terry’s Orrell St. James’ team back in 1993. He was a stand out player then alongside his team mates’ Chris Causey and Martin Carney. That Orrell St. James team were very good and I officiated at about half a dozen of their matches. Terry was always very polite and friendly and we often reflected on these times later on when we met.
I was made up for him, on a personal level, when he signed for Leeds and again when he joined Wigan but it was whilst he was with the Warriors that I found a side to his game that I did not approve of.
It appeared that when Terry played in the Wigan v Saints derby matches he would go ‘over the top’ and he was involved in several unsavoury tackles, particularly at the JJB Stadium, that left Saints’ players, dazed, injured or unconscious. He began to have an unwanted reputation as a ‘dirty ‘b’stard’ and the Saints’ fans hated him. Matters sadly came to a head in a Super League encounter at Wigan towards the end of the 2005 season when Terry hit two St. Helens’ players, Sean Long and Darren Albert with late tackles with the elbow / fore arm, during the 1st half; that led to both suffering fractured cheekbones. Not only did both players miss the remainder of the season but Saints’ quest for the 2005 Super League crown was effectively ended that night. They did win the game and were crowned as Minor Premiers but after that match, Bradford defeated Saints in their final Super League regular match at Knowsley Road and both Leeds and Bradford visited Saints in the Play Offs and left as winners. Saints thus became the only team to have finished a season as ‘top of the league’ to fail to reach the Grand Final, and the Bulls became the only side to win the Super League Grand Final from 3rd position. Newton remarkably wasn’t sent off in that game but was banned for a record number of weeks at a later Disciplinary Meeting.
After that he was treated like a ‘pantomime villain’ by the St. Helens’ Supporters whenever he turned out to play against Saints. He was also part of one of the strangest transfers during Super League as Mickey Higham left Saints to join the Bulls who subsequently swapped him with Wigan for Terry Newton. One would assume this was simply to avoid Mickey simply signing for Wigan from Saints.
It is a very sad affair all round. Terry at 31 has possibly now played his last top flight Super League match, as he faces a mandatory 2 year ban, should his B sample confirm the results of his A sample and then his reputation will be in tatters. Terry was a very good player. It is unfortunate that he played in an era where Keiron Cunningham, James Lowes, Matt Diskin and James Roby where also in competition with him for Representative Honours and he probably didn’t gain the plaudits he deserved. My abiding memory of Terry Newton is seeing him in tears at Old Trafford after he was a beaten finalist in a Grand Final. He will probably be shedding more tears tonight!
There is no place for drugs in sport. I deplore those who do take drugs as I believe that it is cheating. I also feel we should throw the book at anyone caught taking drugs, whether recreational or, worse still, performance enhancing. This is a sad story and should he be found guilty after his B sample is tested then it is only right he is kicked out of the game and he lose both his reputation and his livelihood.
