Former NRL bad boy John Hopoate says he embraces his past 'finger antics'
Infamous Australian rugby league star John Hopoate will face a Sydney court this month over a violent road rage incident involving another motorist that he says “cried like a mutt”.
Hopoate is contesting a charge, saying that he did not instigate the fight - and has posted a video that shows him emphatically finishing it.
He posted video to his Instagram account on January 4, showing him standing over a man and thrusting his finger in his face.
Hopoate is heard swearing at the man, who appears to be holding up his hands to protect himself.
Under the video, Hopoate wrote: “When you’re (six foot, eight inches) and think your size can intimidate anyone … when you get out of your car and punch my mirror and (swing) at me during your road rage.
“You get the BITCH slapped out of you and you start yelling HELP ME RAPE. Then run to the cops like the little BITCH that you are and make the complaint lol.
“Doesn’t it suck that you got slapped and cried like a mut [sic], then ran and made a complaint and nothing is going to happen cause you started it lol.”
“Not everyone is scared of your size,” the 6ft Hopoate added.
The Daily Telegraph reported that police officers visited Hopoate at his Dee Why home on February 1 and issued him with a A$500 infringement notice for offensive behaviour.
Hopoate’s lawyer Mahmoud Abbas told the newspaper his client denies the allegation and was contesting the fine, saying: “He was not the aggressor.”
The other party, a 38-year-old man, was also given the same fine.
The Tongan-born hardman repeatedly fell foul of officials during his career, most notably for repeatedly forcing his fingers into the anus of his opponents.
“You can either embrace it and make it a joke, or you’ll be getting angry your whole life because people will be hammering you about it. You just need to embrace it.
“When you make it a joke, people go ‘oh, he doesn’t care’ and they forget about it.”
“I always joke with the finger thing, I was doing my degree as prostate cancer doctor and part of my practical cause I couldn’t do my courses because I was playing full-time footy, I had practice on the field and that’s what I was doing. I was just raising awareness for prostate cancer.
“The NRL suspended me but I took the game global. They should’ve paid me. People in India knew who I was: ‘The finger man’.”
