Are our younger fans out of control?

[DaveO]

Social networks - rlfans/here/other. I dont think this website is a problem though. Groups of adults drinking a bit too much. Ive seen people cause trouble at matches in the past, knowing they are known to eachother via, eg, rlfans. Group together online, create rules etc.. and if other people have an anti-opinion trouble starts. Only 5% of the time during a season though

I have never seen anything like the above in bold being arranged on rlfans. It would get booted off and users banned instantly.

It is no doubt true that thugs in any sport can use modern technology to organise a fight but I think any link to moderated fan sites is tenuous at best.

Dave

[adiddy]

I have always been proud to follow Rugby League! And I am still chuffed to bits when I go to a game and see youngsters enjoying themselves, and families together watching a sport thats safe for them to watch! My young son 8 loves coming to the Rugby, so much so that he is now not interested in football!! We all must do what we can for this to continue! Rugby League is a family sport and we should be doing everything we can to keep it that way, zero tolerance for any violence!! And we should be proud of our youngsters!!! Keep singing guys and gals!!!


Matt

[Dawn O]

Sadly there is always a element of trouble at every club, remember the wire though in the 80's when I first started watching rugby, at age 10 I was surrounded in macdonalds after a new years day game by grown men,very frightening indeed.

Can't blame the younger ones though, the hassle on saturday was due to 'older fans'

And Ancientnloyal you seem to have a problem with RLFans ( - quite a few posts I have read from yourself seems to hold a grudge against it and I don't understand why) but organising fights would never ever be tolerated on that website.

[Bear]

Thats disgraceful that. Surely that shows just how hard these men who surrounded you are dawn

[ancientnloyal]

Dave & Dawn, if you read my post again it doesnt state directly that I was mentioning rlfans, from the quote DaveO mentioned. Read above that and you will see I said 'rlfans, here, other... (ie myspace, facebook etc...)

I dont have a problem with rlfans I just dont go in any more.

[cpwigan]

A/L is correct.

To be honest having met him (Once) A/L is a quiet young man with no axe to grind.

Anyhow back on topic. I believe there is no doubt that all forms of media exacerbate the feelings of the general public. Wigan were (hate typing that) successful and in Britain that breeds resentment.

For what it is worth I believe that RLfans forum as a collective fuels that hatred / resentment. It gives a platform to individuals who would normally not have one to put forward lies and promote hatred. It is not alone. The readers letters of RL publications does the same and they are paid professionals (cheap lazy journalism), Radio Phones ins are irresponsible and worst of all, those involved in the game are guilty of worse. Neil Holding at Saints, comments during the Wire match over the PA system, the Castleford PA encouraging their fans to abuse the Wigan U18s.

When a notion is popularised, accepted then it becomes acceptable and grows. Hooliganism grew because it became trendy.

What we can see happening at the moment is that by simply chanting / singing a song you stir an incredibly OTT response from rival supporters. That response is aggression and hate.

Oddly the strangest response I ever had was at Watersheddings when we lost in the cup. An Oldham fan pulled his penis out at the end of the match and began to motion ejaculation. I kid you not.

My own personal opinion is that RLfans and similar networks should disperse and become separate entities. The so called community notion does not exist. Nice ideal. It has failed.

[Dubs]

I agree that the bottling incident is disgraceful, but Wire singing anti-Wigan songs and gesticulating is not a new phenomenon. If you are genuinely offended by a group of fans giving the fingers and shouting abuse from another stand, then perhaps you should look at following bowls instead.

As I said in another post, away days at Wire now are nothing compared to 15-20 years ago. I've had to run out of Wilderspool on occasions, behind the back of Snookers Club being pelted with coins, bottles, bricks etc from the idiots coming out of the "Zoo" end before the final whistle. You literally had to leave 10 minutes before the end to avoid bother and even then there would be a "welcoming committee" on the bridge near the ground. And this was when I was a kid.

I also think it's a bit off pointing the finger solely at our kids of today - adults can be just as bad.

Was this response aimed at me?

No. It was aimed at nobody directly.

If so, where have I posted that I am offended by the behaviour of the Wire fans at HJ? I don't even go to that dump!

You didn't post that you are offended by their behaviour, so why did you assume that the post was directed at you?

I will repeat my opinion for the hard of thinking. IMO the content of the singing/chanting from Wire fans as broadcast live on Sky does a disservice to RL and is damaging to the image of a so-called family sport. Has that sunk in? Do you agree or do you think their antics will enhance the reputation of out game? Who knows, maybe you are one of our disreputable element.

Very patronising and quite confrontational might I add. I think you should perhaps re-read my post and enlighten me as to where I have - in any way - suggested that the Wire fans behaviour is acceptable. Think you missed my point entirely. As for the comment about enhancing the reputation of our game, pretty lame that.

Finally, don't preach to me about Wire behaviour from years gone by. If you've only been going for 15-20 yrs you have some catching up to do.

Where have I "preached to you" old timer? As I have said, I was posting my own opinion as this is a messageboard for many people to read, a large number of whom will have no idea how bad violence was in the past. If you class that as me "preaching" to you, you have seriously misjudged my post. What is this "catching up" I have to do? I was at the HJ on Saturday supporting the lads like thousands of other Wiganers at that 4 year old "dump" they play in and that's good enough for me. Truly bizarre reply

[ancientnloyal]

cp, rlfans is great for multi-functional social networking across all clubs. I still use it (Keighley Cougars) to check on how my (now) old work mate is doing each week but dont contribute any more. As Dave mentioned users will be banned citing hatred/organised unruly events... but what about Private Messages? RLFans of course isnt alone but is mentioned as it's the biggest of its kind in the UK, even this site has PMs and other facilities (even contact info for users), so people could use that, not everyone is innocent.

As a kid I never really saw trouble, probably as I was protected by my parents and immaturity to know what was what. I never found any trouble at Wilderspool, Boulevard or oldham... perhaps once at Halifax in the snow but thats about it.

Policing isnt as prominant at the JJB/ other RL grounds compared to football and even Cricket... it's amazing what a presence the Police offer can do to crowds. They cant stop anti-club chanting but they can stop other types of violence. Saying that though, RL should be a sport without the need of Police to stop crowd trouble.

And people have a go at Stewards for doing their job when they dont know what the Stewards can/cant do themselves and 'expect' things.

I do have an Axe cp... 'Selby' (surname) goes back to Viking times

[botica]

I remember the John Player semi final at Bolton Wanderers ground in Bolton. We endured £1 coins being thrown at us, they had not been in circulations very long, well we dodged them and caught a few and managed a two full free rounds in the White Bear pub when we got home (for4)! Our problem came when we got off the ground, wire fans chasing us down the street to the train station with sticks and bars! I was really scared! The police herded all the Wigan colours onto the platform for a special coming in, and all the Wire fans onto another for the Warrington special! Only we didn't know this, we lived in Adlington so when we got on the station we split off from the Wigan crowd and slipped through to our platform! Guess which special was coming on this platform........ Yep you guessed Warrington We all managed to get into a cubicle in the toilets while wire fans kicked the door and threw water over the top. We were 1 lad and 3 girls all about 18! Some of these trying to get us were full grown men as well as teens. I have never ever been to a Warrington away game since! So somethings never change!!

[waterside glens]

the problem stems from people having kids but not being parents.it's the goverment needs to be looked at for creating a freebee society. Girl gets pregnat, gets house gets quiro. my wife works in a school where a parent once told a child off for doing well because she believed it would harm her claim for benefits. As CP said rugby fans (or any sport) brought up properly ref the Binders are what we need at games .