FORGET HUGGING ...WE HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING TO KEEP OUR SPORTS ALIVE
Hull’s Fonua sympathises with footballers’ plight but his team played Leeds with less than 24 hours notice just to help out
THE Premier League angst over late fixture switches and goal celebrations has raised a smile among Mahe Fonua and his fellow Super League players.
Fonua was a member of the Hull FC side that took on Leeds with less than 24-hour notice in October despite having four squad members unavailable owing to Covid. And while the Tongan international sympathises with his football peers over the celebration restrictions, he says adapting to life in a global pandemic is crucial for professional sport.
Fonua said: “There was a sense of responsibility to the competition. We were warned once we resumed after the first lockdown that there could be games thrown at us in midweek with not much notice.
“No one thought it would be just 24 hours, but we all wanted to do whatever needed to be done to get our competition completed.
“Before that Leeds match we were mentally preparing for a seven-day turnaround, and then there started to be rumours about us taking a game the next day. The boys were talking on the group chat and said ‘surely not’, but eventually it was confirmed at about 8pm that night that we would be taking the game on.
“We knew what the season was like and, a couple of weeks earlier, Castleford covered a game for us so in a way we wanted to return the favour.
“It was certainly different preparation for that game, but all the boys were more than keen. I don’t recall anyone complaining about it.”
Fonua – who enjoys a posttry celebration as much as anyone – admits that taking that element out of sport is not straightforward.
Super League last season implemented £250 fines that hit the pockets of its players much harder than the millionaires of the Premier League, although the policy was later reviewed.
Fonua added: “Whether you’ve been playing sport from being a young kid or just started, it’s second nature to celebrate after you score a try or goal. Your initial thought is to go to the closest team-mate and celebrate together, but you then had someone running over saying ‘no, no, no’ and touching elbows instead.
“It’s maybe different now as well because football is playing in stricter times than when we got back in August.
“But goals don’t come too often so I can understand where they’re coming from.We were conscious of the fines and a few of the boys had a warning before they came into play.
“But, in saying that, there was the game against Castleford when Ben McNamara scored a try on his debut (above).
“You can never replicate that feeling on your debut and that was one that the boys were happy to pay a fine for.”