I just wrote the following earlier on and seen as this forum is completely unofficial now, theres no harm in posting it:
First let me say that the injury Ryan Campbell suffered was a nasty one and everyone at Whitehaven wishes Ryan a full speedy recovery. The image which showed Ryan?s Injury was originally posted onto the Widnes forum which is linked to their official website.
News had got out about Ryan?s injury on the Whitehaven forum and many members were posting messages of best wishes. Someone had obviously noticed the image on the Widnes site and had copied it from there into the forum. Messages of sympathy continued to flow in the topic and this can still be viewed on the forum.
I had a phone call on Monday morning from an official at Workington regarding the image and they wished for it to be removed. This was carried out instantly with no questions asked. I apologised for any distress caused and the whole situation was resolved amicably.
The article in the News and Star is factually incorrect in numerous places. Firstly, I wasn?t ordered to remove the image, I was asked politely and I took action immediately.
However the main issue which isn?t correct is the image itself. The paper claims that the image ?depicts Campbell on the pitch in agony?. All the image actually showed was the bottom half of a leg from the knee down. The only way you could identify it was a Workington Rugby Player was the fact there was ?Town? written on the sock. No facial expression is seen to suggest any agony from the image directly. Many people haven?t seen the image and I would be surprised if the reporter has actually seen the image either.
The article also suggests that it was posted on the forum with a sinister motive behind it. If anyone looks at the context of the thread it was posted in, they will see that everyone is wishing Ryan well. No one likes to see a player badly injured, and Whitehaven fans think exactly the same.
Even the photographer from Widnes who posted the image on their board said yesterday ?When I put it on the Widnes board I also put how gutted I am for Ryan and wish him speedy recovery. I really cant understand the over reaction from the paper in question?
The bizarre thing in this whole issue is that the case was re-opened when it appeared resolved. I am very disappointed for it to have got front page headlines. It is outrageous for a story like this to be a headline. What is even more interesting is that the image was still on the Widnes board up until 3 o clock yesterday afternoon, that?s more than 6 days after it was removed from the Whitehaven forum!
To me and numerous people I have spoken to from both Whitehaven and Workington, it has been an attempt to stir up things between the clubs as they head into this afternoons derby match. I personally feel aggrieved that the news and star have attempted to blacken the character of Whitehaven RLFC and the websites affiliated to the club.
I am led to believe officials from Whitehaven were contacted on Friday evening and they had no knowledge of the incident so couldn?t react appropriately. In my view its very poor journalism when an article of this magnitude was published without gathering the full facts of the situation.
