Gavin Miller - Legend wrote:Rovers have to rightfully take stick for this episode. They couldnt have predicted the passport hold up which was the root cause of the problem but will have learned lessons from it. Mason has been proven to be dishonourable but with the pay day he has been offered by Toulon his head was always going to be turned. You live and learn. Perhaps Youth over Marquee will be the blue print they adopt as a result of this falling apart around them. Cannot blame Rovers for signing him, the media frenzy around him showed he was big news in Rugby League but time to move on.
Maybe but it was Rovers who made him hang around and then go to Tonga for a passport. Then when it didnt go through Rovers de-registered him. I cant fault him for looking after number 1 to be honest I would have done the same. Possibly could have told Rovers about the approach.
Rovers board have been truly outstanding since Hudge took over as Chairman but I have to say I'm very disappointed in how the board have handled this saga and how they have treated Willie Mason for the following reasons:-
As I understand it, it was reported last year that Galea was due to get a Maltese passport and Mason was signed as a quota player who would play for Rovers under an Australian visa and be registered as a quota player. Had this happened, Mason would have been in the country before xmas doing pre-season with the rest of the squad.
It then transpires Galea won't come off the quota so they tell Mason he's going to have to get a Tongan passport himself. We then have a 30yr old player who has to go through the bureaucracy of sorting out his own passport when all he wants to do is come over and get on with things.
At this point I (under contract or not) I think it's perfectly understandable that he or his agent looks at other options given the fact he's unclear of how things would pan out at Rovers considering he's in his twilight years and all he wants to do is play rugby.
He eventually came over and showed effort and enthusiasm whether on the pitch or on the bench (even though he was tucked out wide when he should have been played in the middle until Dobson was in the team) only for Rovers to bin him off because he's looked at other options whilst the club had told him "sort yourself a passport out or you can't play".
The board may say that Mason was out of order in approaching Toulon, but I feel in this instance, they should have cut him some slack considering all the messing about Willie Mason has been subjected to.
And all this talk of Mason being a "money grabber" is total non-sense as far as I'm concerned; if someone offered me 5 times my salary then I'd jump ship without a second thought - and I expect most people reading this post would do the same.
I've always stated that the FC board got what they deserved over their treatment of Paul Cooke and I'm not the sort of person to change their tune now the boot is on the other foot.
I do applaud the board and JM for the tough stance they take with all players because it benefits the long term culture of the club but I feel they gone a step too far this time.
Willie Mason will earn the equivalent of £1.65M during his next 3 years @ Toulon and I wish him well.
Joined: Sep 23 2006 Posts: 8033 Location: sea level once again
Pretty fair assessment I think. No hard feelings towards him. Looking forward to seeing how he does over there. I think straight into the Barbarians against England is a big ask. Hopefully we'll put the new found room in the salary cap to some good (wise) use.
Joined: Aug 14 2005 Posts: 14302 Location: On the Death Star Awaiting Luke.
blakeysrobin wrote:Maybe but it was Rovers who made him hang around and then go to Tonga for a passport. Then when it didnt go through Rovers de-registered him. I cant fault him for looking after number 1 to be honest I would have done the same. Possibly could have told Rovers about the approach.
He was being paid wasn't he? If we had not been paying him all along then I would have done the back door dealing he had but that isn't the case, Like it or not we had still been paying him as a HKR player he then chose to go elsewhere knowing full well he was still reciving (sp) monies for that contract.
Joined: Jul 15 2005 Posts: 29811 Location: West Yorkshire
General Zod. wrote:Rovers board have been truly outstanding since Hudge took over as Chairman but I have to say I'm very disappointed in how the board have handled this saga and how they have treated Willie Mason for the following reasons:-
As I understand it, it was reported last year that Galea was due to get a Maltese passport and Mason was signed as a quota player who would play for Rovers under an Australian visa and be registered as a quota player. Had this happened, Mason would have been in the country before xmas doing pre-season with the rest of the squad.
It then transpires Galea won't come off the quota so they tell Mason he's going to have to get a Tongan passport himself. We then have a 30yr old player who has to go through the bureaucracy of sorting out his own passport when all he wants to do is come over and get on with things.
At this point I (under contract or not) I think it's perfectly understandable that he or his agent looks at other options given the fact he's unclear of how things would pan out at Rovers considering he's in his twilight years and all he wants to do is play rugby.
He eventually came over and showed effort and enthusiasm whether on the pitch or on the bench (even though he was tucked out wide when he should have been played in the middle until Dobson was in the team) only for Rovers to bin him off because he's looked at other options whilst the club had told him "sort yourself a passport out or you can't play".
The board may say that Mason was out of order in approaching Toulon, but I feel in this instance, they should have cut him some slack considering all the messing about Willie Mason has been subjected to.
And all this talk of Mason being a "money grabber" is total non-sense as far as I'm concerned; if someone offered me 5 times my salary then I'd jump ship without a second thought - and I expect most people reading this post would do the same.
I've always stated that the FC board got what they deserved over their treatment of Paul Cooke and I'm not the sort of person to change their tune now the boot is on the other foot.
I do applaud the board and JM for the tough stance they take with all players because it benefits the long term culture of the club but I feel they gone a step too far this time.
Willie Mason will earn the equivalent of £1.65M during his next 3 years @ Toulon and I wish him well.
A good post, and makes sense, but I can't believe Rovers didn't assist Mason in getting his passport after the hype around his signing. Surely they would have pulled out all the stops to assist him?
General Zod. wrote:Rovers board have been truly outstanding since Hudge took over as Chairman but I have to say I'm very disappointed in how the board have handled this saga and how they have treated Willie Mason for the following reasons:-
As I understand it, it was reported last year that Galea was due to get a Maltese passport and Mason was signed as a quota player who would play for Rovers under an Australian visa and be registered as a quota player. Had this happened, Mason would have been in the country before xmas doing pre-season with the rest of the squad.
It then transpires Galea won't come off the quota so they tell Mason he's going to have to get a Tongan passport himself. We then have a 30yr old player who has to go through the bureaucracy of sorting out his own passport when all he wants to do is come over and get on with things.
At this point I (under contract or not) I think it's perfectly understandable that he or his agent looks at other options given the fact he's unclear of how things would pan out at Rovers considering he's in his twilight years and all he wants to do is play rugby.
He eventually came over and showed effort and enthusiasm whether on the pitch or on the bench (even though he was tucked out wide when he should have been played in the middle until Dobson was in the team) only for Rovers to bin him off because he's looked at other options whilst the club had told him "sort yourself a passport out or you can't play".
The board may say that Mason was out of order in approaching Toulon, but I feel in this instance, they should have cut him some slack considering all the messing about Willie Mason has been subjected to.
And all this talk of Mason being a "money grabber" is total non-sense as far as I'm concerned; if someone offered me 5 times my salary then I'd jump ship without a second thought - and I expect most people reading this post would do the same.
I've always stated that the FC board got what they deserved over their treatment of Paul Cooke and I'm not the sort of person to change their tune now the boot is on the other foot.
I do applaud the board and JM for the tough stance they take with all players because it benefits the long term culture of the club but I feel they gone a step too far this time.
Willie Mason will earn the equivalent of £1.65M during his next 3 years @ Toulon and I wish him well.
£395,000 x 3 = £1.65million? I know the standard of education isnt the best in hull, but seriously? Its not even ball park
General Zod. wrote:Rovers board have been truly outstanding since Hudge took over as Chairman but I have to say I'm very disappointed in how the board have handled this saga and how they have treated Willie Mason for the following reasons:-
As I understand it, it was reported last year that Galea was due to get a Maltese passport and Mason was signed as a quota player who would play for Rovers under an Australian visa and be registered as a quota player. Had this happened, Mason would have been in the country before xmas doing pre-season with the rest of the squad.
It then transpires Galea won't come off the quota so they tell Mason he's going to have to get a Tongan passport himself. We then have a 30yr old player who has to go through the bureaucracy of sorting out his own passport when all he wants to do is come over and get on with things.
At this point I (under contract or not) I think it's perfectly understandable that he or his agent looks at other options given the fact he's unclear of how things would pan out at Rovers considering he's in his twilight years and all he wants to do is play rugby.
He eventually came over and showed effort and enthusiasm whether on the pitch or on the bench (even though he was tucked out wide when he should have been played in the middle until Dobson was in the team) only for Rovers to bin him off because he's looked at other options whilst the club had told him "sort yourself a passport out or you can't play".
The board may say that Mason was out of order in approaching Toulon, but I feel in this instance, they should have cut him some slack considering all the messing about Willie Mason has been subjected to.
And all this talk of Mason being a "money grabber" is total non-sense as far as I'm concerned; if someone offered me 5 times my salary then I'd jump ship without a second thought - and I expect most people reading this post would do the same.
I've always stated that the FC board got what they deserved over their treatment of Paul Cooke and I'm not the sort of person to change their tune now the boot is on the other foot.
I do applaud the board and JM for the tough stance they take with all players because it benefits the long term culture of the club but I feel they gone a step too far this time.
Willie Mason will earn the equivalent of £1.65M during his next 3 years @ Toulon and I wish him well.
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