wire fans

[cpwigan]

If the RFL want pre match entertainment then they should foot the bill. It is not very professional borrowing from the host club.

Mind you this is the RFL who decided to play the All Golds match at Warrington despite the original venue for this historic event being Headingley.

[robjoenz]

jinkin jimmy posted:
Actually Rob we allowed ourselves to get so distracted by them that there was very nearly an accident. Wouldn't have been harmless then, I'm sure.

I hope the driver has someone else reading road signs then and doesn't look at those motorway-side adverts (must admit they annoy me too).

You asked earlier "who cares?", well I do. These people weren't kids they were older than you! This and other incidents are ruining my enjoyment of the sport. The Wigan hatred is running completely out of control and is being deliberately stoked up in the media. Just listening to Jack Dearden, Stevo and the like makes me sick.

Come on mate, lighten up a bit. Banter is part of sport, I hope you've never played, you'd not cope well with sledging. Wigan fans give it so should be prepared to take it.

Also, what is your opinion of Wolves' official mascot sporting Catalan's colours? If we had done that we would have been inundated with complaints about how arrogant we are, etc.

I actually thought it was good that they were getting support from Warrington. It made a better atmosphere and it was all friendly from what I heard. The most offensive chant I heard was 'w**** Warrington.'

This once great club is a total embarrassment. You alluded to a constant (players not doing the basics) earlier. I agreed with you there, but the one true constant is Mo. The coaches and players have changed, our shame - and chief executive - continue.

Yep, Maurice has been present throughout the run of bad form but wasn't he there for the run of good form too? That's too far back for me to know much about.

Ironically, Mo resigned following yesterday which I thought was least his fault of everything that has gone on in the past month.

[OJ]

Dean Richmond 2006 posted:
Were you stood in the West Stand by any chance OJ? Thats the away stand ?

No we were in the north stand just behind the Catalans fans who were great. I was happy to congratulate them at the end as they are a great bunch. Normally have a great deal of respect for Wire fans too but it was dealt a body blow yesterday and I have to say I don't think I'll ever think of them in the same way again although I also know it was probably just a minority hurling abuse and using foul language in front of young children. I am a lifelong Wigan fan who happens to live in Warrington and was never more ashamed of that fact than yesterday. The Warrington Guardian haven't helped much either with that stirring piece done by Michael Parsons a few weeks back and then the follow ups. Banter is one thing and I love it as much as anyone but those write ups were pure vitriol particularly the one entitled a personal view.

[jinkin jimmy]

Rob,

You may be correct in that I should lighten up a bit but I still believe I have a point. I have been watching Wigan for a lot longer than you and I hope you believe me when I say we have never been subjected to this amount of vitriol before.

Most of the people who are obssessed with hating us - and I mean us as individuals, not just the club - probably weren't born when we started our last spell of domination, so I am at a loss to explain the cause of it other than to say that the media seem to have an agenda against us.

It is important to try to avoid paranoia but when you look at decisions made by the RFL they too are bewildering. Who gets set up for a fall in Catalans first ever league game? How does Fletch get 3 matches for not hurting anybody with his leading arm, yet KFC gets off lightly for putting Pat Richards on oxygen?

IMO it is easy to slip into a victim mentality and I try not to but neither can I dismiss as banter what some fans of other clubs get up to. Not will I accept the opinions of Steveo, Eddie, that snake Clarke et al as objective TV journalism.

All in all there is an anti-Wigan mentality going throughout the entire sport - fans, management and media. We have caused it to some extent with our salary cap disgraces but there is more to it than that.

Maybe things will change if our house is put in better order from now on but I don't think it will.

Sorry for the rant but this is important to me. All I want to do is watch the game and enjoy local rivalries. I am sick of constantly defending myself for committing the sin of supporting Wigan.

[fitzy]

I know how you feal jinkin jimmy why has everybody started to just hate us all of a sudden are they jellous? or doo they just geniuenly just hate wigan for the sake of it? it annoy's me I can understand stains fan's and leigh fan's hating us nut what did we ever do to wire apart from beat them they have also beaten us but do we hate them?

[Matthew]

Thought that I'd chip in...

robjoenz posted:
I hope the driver has someone else reading road signs then and doesn't look at those motorway-side adverts (must admit they annoy me too).

And you never sneak a peek at an accident when you pass it on the road Rob? Commotion will always be distracting and morons on a footbridge are no exception. What would have happened if they had dropped their bed sheet and it had gone over the windscreen of a car? - would that have been harmless fun?

robjoenz posted:
Come on mate, lighten up a bit. Banter is part of sport, I hope you've never played, you'd not cope well with sledging. Wigan fans give it so should be prepared to take it.

Which is why I never got too far playing rugby (in this case RU) - I started kickboxing where you are supposed to punch your opponent!

I don't mind a bit of banter - which is just as well considering the last couple of days. It's when it is done with a bitter spite. My opinion of sean long (or what I thought of TN's remodeling job of his face) is no secret on here - however I wouldn't use it to try and wind up a stains fan. There is a boundary regarding banter and it can be a very fine line between a bit of sledging and a full on punch up.

I have spent a lot of time working on the door and so am pretty much immune to verbal insults - however I have seen only too frequently what happens when you add disappointment, alcohol and mickey taking - unfortunately not everyone can walk away from provocation.

robjoenz posted:
I actually thought it was good that they were getting support from Warrington. It made a better atmosphere and it was all friendly from what I heard. The most offensive chant I heard was 'w**** Warrington.'

It wasn't exactly a surprise to see wire supporting les cats - but that's up to them. I've never been a big fan of wire anyway; so I wouldn't have cared if they had all turned up in stains jerseys, personally I would never wear another SL teams jersey because I am a Wigan fan. Even my dislike of stains would not bring me to wear another clubs colours. I do find it a bit amusing that every other clubs supporters seem to want us to lose at every opportunity - are they that afraid that we might regain our dominance?

robjoenz posted:
Yep, Maurice has been present throughout the run of bad form but wasn't he there for the run of good form too? That's too far back for me to know much about.

Ironically, Mo resigned following yesterday which I thought was least his fault of everything that has gone on in the past month.

Absolute agreement here - it wasn't his fault that our entire team conspired to give the french a 22 point head start.

I will remember the good times that ML was at the club - what ever the results; at least no one can claim that he doesn't care about it

[cpwigan]

I disagree with Jimmy to some extent in that a hatred and jealousy has always existed since we were successful. However, he is right in some respects. Firstly it was more unorganised and individualistic. Smaller scale. Moreover, it was ignored by a better and more dedicated RFL media.

Today, it is organised. The loud mouthed idiots now have a perfect vehicle to organise themselves in the guise of rlfans.com and an outlet to publish and promote their thoughts. RLfans.com has been a huge negative in modern day rugby league. Far from bringing the RFL community together it has created an adversarial environment akin to the cheap and tawdry conflict shows popularised in America such as Springer. The RFL community would be far better if rlfans.com was broken up and each club had it's own independent forum/website. Ones frequented in the main by the supporters of that club and a small minority of sensible supporters from other clubs.

The RFL media is now by and large non existent. To the best of my knowledge there is only one full time RFL reporter employed by a national newspaper. The current group of reporters tend to cover several sports and are poorly educated as far as the sport they cover is concerned. The media by and large has continually lowered its standards and these reporters are no different. Sensationalism, scandal sell copies. Tribalism is promoted. The RFL media is again far more driven by competition for circulation. Open Rugby was born out of a hobby, a fanzine. Harry Edgar, was an educated and passion League fan. Rugby League World today is nothing akin to what Open Rugby was. Who in their right mind would employ Gary Schofield. Alex Murphy provided sensationalism BUT at least it included some thought process. Schofield is bitter and twisted and his writing shows no indication of thinking and logic. People now scoff at Eddie Waring. Why? His media portrayal in his latter years. Here was a man who managed RFL clubs, managed tours and generally until later commented on the game taking place. We now have Eddie and Stevo who think we tune in to watch a very poor and incredibly dated double act. How do they capture attention? focussing on encouraging confrontation, tribalism, appealing to a vociferous minority. Responsible, objective, caring?

[robjoenz]

Sorry fellas, still can't understand the big fuss. Think there's definately a big feeling of paranoia. Definately, fans of other clubs love to see Wigan get beaten, so what?

I've rarely seen any violence at RL matches and when I have it has been a minority of individuals. Just take the banter and dish it back out when Wigan win.

Regarding the RFL being against Wigan, there are instances where Wigan have got away with things... Gareth Hock put on report twice in two matches for dangerous throws, penalised three times in those two games that I can recall. Martin Aspinwall kicked a Broncos player 'Jackie Chan style' a few years back and was let off with no case to answer. Similarly, if Ganson hated Wigan so much as suggested by many, why did he not penalise Stuart Fielden when he gave Ganson back chat ("get away from me, get away from me... bring him here" haha).

[GeoffN]

cpwigan posted:
I disagree with Jimmy to some extent in that a hatred and jealousy has always existed since we were successful. However, he is right in some respects. Firstly it was more unorganised and individualistic. Smaller scale. Moreover, it was ignored by a better and more dedicated RFL media.

Today, it is organised. The loud mouthed idiots now have a perfect vehicle to organise themselves in the guise of rlfans.com and an outlet to publish and promote their thoughts. RLfans.com has been a huge negative in modern day rugby league. Far from bringing the RFL community together it has created an adversarial environment akin to the cheap and tawdry conflict shows popularised in America such as Springer. The RFL community would be far better if rlfans.com was broken up and each club had it's own independent forum/website. Ones frequented in the main by the supporters of that club and a small minority of sensible supporters from other clubs.

Agreed, which is why I rarely, if ever, go on RLfans these days, although it was OK when it started up.
The concept is good, but the actuality is poor, largely because of the mods on there (DaveO excepted, of course!).
If each sub-forum on there was moderated properly, especially with regard to off-topic & trolling, it could be an excellent site - though never as good as this one of course.

[- psycho -]

i get the feeling there'll be some scrapping on sunday, i don't think a few of our fans will take the insults and banter, after losing to les catalans in the semis. just a feeling i have.