Joel Tomkins quits Wigan following vile barmaid rant and signs for Hull KR
After being fined £10,000 by the Warriors and banned for four weeks, the 31-year-old has moved to the other end of the M62
JOEL TOMKINS has left Wigan in disgrace and signed for Hull KR after quitting.
The back-rower, 31, will never pull on the cherry and white shirt again after being caught abusing barmaids during a vile rant in which he branded one the "rectum of Wigan".
After being fined £10,000 by the Warriors and banned for four weeks, Tomkins has now moved to the other end of the M62.
And he revealed he handed in his resignation from his contract, which ran until the end of next season, after the footage appeared on social media.
Tomkins said: “I’m sure everybody is aware of what’s gone on at Wigan and I accepted the punishment from them.
“After sitting down with my family and thinking a bit harder about it, I decided that the best thing for all parties would be for me to leave the club and I offered my resignation to Kris Radlinski, which he accepted.
“I instructed my agent to look into a deal elsewhere and there were a few other Super League clubs that were interested as well as Rovers.
"But Tim Sheens called me personally and really sold the club to me, both for the back end of this year and next season.
'SADDEST C***' England rugby league star Joel Tomkins suspended for four weeks by Wigan Warriors after vile abuse of barmaid
“After a ten-minute conversation with him, my mind was made up.
“I’m really grateful to Tim and everybody else involved at Hull KR for giving me the opportunity to move on from this.
MOST READ IN RUGBY LEAGUE
“It has been embarrassing for me, there’s no doubt about that, and it’s a sad situation for me to leave Wigan in this way.
"But it’s also an opportunity for me to move to a club that’s on the rise and that has some big plans moving forward. I’m genuinely excited to be a part of that.”
Wigan insisted what we saw on tape was no reflection of Tomkins’ real character and he admitted that he could not even remember what he said the morning after.
Executive director Kris Radlinski said: “Everybody is aware of the incident that took place a few weeks ago.
“Since Joel's suspension, conversations have taken place surrounding his long-term future at the club.
"Joel made a very remorseful statement and the discussions that have taken place since echo that.
“The images on that video will haunt Joel for a long time but we can't let that moment of madness detract from what a fantastic career he has had at the club.
“I want people to remember his amazing Challenge Cup Final try in 2011 in the same way we still remember Martin Offiah's 1994 try against Leeds.
“Everyone has commented on the video but the hardest thing for me is that the video is not a true reflection of the man I know.
"After the video had emerged, he sent me a message apologising for the position that he put me in and said that whatever I decided, our friendship would remain intact.
“Joel is a good guy and somebody I care about. This has been a really difficult situation for all people concerned. Now it is time to move on.”