WIGAN prop Ben Flower was given a six-month ban this week for punching an opposition player on the floor during the Super League Grand Final last weekend.

This has brought fighting in sport into the spotlight and, in ice hockey, it is well known that fights are as much a part of the game as face-offs or overly-padded keepers.

If you go into the history of hockey it has always been there.

When they brought the game over from Canada, part of the reason why the Canadians were so successful was because they played a tougher more violent game and the success of that has meant that it has leaked in to everywhere the game is played.

It really is part of the game and, although it is penalised, the rules aren’t so stern to outlaw it. If they wanted to get rid of it they would have sterner rules like you have seen with Flower.

He punched a guy and then punched him on the floor and has got a six-month ban where as for a similar thing in hockey they probably would have been kicked out of the game but wouldn’t have been banned, I suppose it is the rules that mean it is almost allowed.

When I hear somebody talk about hockey, who isn’t a fan of the sport, often the first thing they will ask about is the fighting and I don’t like that because obviously it is a quick, high-skilled, game, which is what I enjoy about it.

It is a physical game but I don’t like the fact that fighting is the thing that a lot of people take from it.

I think it is too ingrained to get rid of. I had a conversation about this with Lee Richardson a couple of weeks ago. What would happen if you banned fighting? We thought that if, all of a sudden you brought in sterner rules, like long bans for fighting, you’d end up with a game where you would need policemen.

Fights are not pre-arranged before the game but you have certain players that know their role.

I have seen some fights when players genuinely don’t like each other, but often I think there is almost a respect between them.

It’s not fake they are getting punched in the face, but it is similar to boxing. After the fight, the two guys will be friends and there is a certain amount of respect between them.

I don’t suppose the Cats have what you call an enforcer. Sometimes Shane Moore does it and sometimes Sam Bullas, but I don’t think you can call either of them an enforcer.

Really, with the way budgets are set up in the league, not many teams can afford to carry someone whose only job would be to fight, which I suppose is what an enforcer is.

However there is the always the risk of losing the player in the game or through injury because it is dangerous.

There was a player at Milton Keynes, Adam Calder, an import, who got in a fight, just fell to the ground awkwardly and broke his hip and didn’t play for the rest of the year.

I have seen people get bad cuts but I am not sure I have ever seen it go over the top like it did on Saturday in the rugby.

There are certain rules. For example, when a player is vulnerable they will stop or if a player is on the ground they will stop and that contributes to there not being too many injuries.

I haven’t seen anything too bad. Obviously there have been fights that have been very one-sided but the players have always got up afterwards, so I hope I never see anything too bad.