Hill confirms Thorpe injury

Dale boss defend players

Last updated: 14th May 2008

Lee Thorpe Rochdale new

Thorpe: Broken arm

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Rochdale boss Keith Hill has defended the professionalism of his players after striker Lee Thorpe broke his arm during an arm wrestling contest with his team-mates.

Thorpe, who was already ruled out for the rest of the season due to a leg injury, broke his arm in three places when wrestling a team-mate on the bus to Saturday's play-off semi-final, first leg at Darlington.

He is now awaiting an operation and while Hill refused to point the finger at any of his players, he has put an end to the fun and games on the team bus.

Hill said: "It was an unfortunate, freak accident occurring during something that we have been doing all season.

"It is not something that we have just started to do. No-one is to blame and it is certainly not that we are unprofessional but is not something that we will be doing again.

"It has gone on all season long and used as a tool for deciding the fate of someone who might have got something wrong, especially in training and has brought a lot of fun and enjoyment at times but a lot of pain on Saturday."