Halifax winger Wayne Reittie has revealed the family turmoil caused by his red card on an explosive afternoon at Batley earlier in the season.
And the powerhouse flanker has insisted he “definitely won’t” be reacting to any provocation when the sides collide in a crucial Co-operative Championship fixture at the Shay on Sunday (3.0).
Reittie - one of five Batley players who followed incoming Fax coach Karl Harrison across the county last autumn - was sent off and banned for four matches after headbutting his former Bulldogs teammate Gareth Moore midway through the second half of a game Batley went on to win 23-16.
Now Reittie has admitted that his dismissal wasn’t just traumatic on the field, but off it too.
“Gareth’s virtually my brother in law: my partner’s sister is his partner,” said Reittie, who spent the Bank Holiday weekend with Moore on the Lancastrian coast.
“The whole thing caused a lot of upset behind the scenes that people didn’t see and didn’t know about.
“We sorted it all out; Gareth knows it was just a brain explosion on my part, not something that was directed at him.
“Rugby is rugby, it’s a contact sport and sometimes things happen in the heat of the moment.
“But while I’m aggressive on the field - I like to run hard and tackle hard - that’s where it stops for me normally.
“I’ve a lot of friends at Batley and they know that what happened that day was not me.
“I’m not sure whether anyone will be trying to wind me up or not this weekend, if I’m selected.
“But if they do I know I definitely won’t be biting this time, put it that way.
“I learned a lot that day and it won’t happen again.”
Reittie has missed the last three matches with a shoulder injury but expects to be fit this weekend.
“We thought I’d really done some damage, but it settled down eventually,” said Reittie.
“I had a week off work, it was agony, I just couldn’t lift anything.”
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