Brigantes gone?

[Aaron C. Rescue]

The last thing the club needs is a bunch of young drunks who cannot handle alcohol making a exhibition of themselves like I have seen at some away games.

If they want to behave in that way, I suggest they watch football and a certain team I won't mention but play at the same stadium.

From what I have seen of some of their supporters, they will more than welcomed.

The problem is these 'young drunks' will still attend the games, the people banned can still go to away matches, the ban only applies to the DW stadium.

[cpwigan]

Here's a thought. Rather than creating a separate group as they did, would it not have been better for the 'originals' to have worked as part of the Supporters Club? I think several already are part of the supporters group and have MUCH to offer that organisation, indeed something different from existing key figure. Some of the 'originals' are potential leaders / leading figures in the supporters club.

Instead of trying to imply we are a distinct section of the club be very much a part of the club so every fan can 'exert influence' over the odd idiot and that is what they are instead of fans pointing the finger at the 'Brigantes'.

The 'originals' were / are decent devoted responsible supporters. The desire to be distinct allowed the idiots to take over in a way none of the 'originals' ever intended.

I hope the originals have a think and I hope the supporters club leaders try to incorporate / utilise the energy and effort of the 'originals'. There are potential supporters club leaders in those 'originals' Have a meeting together?

Lets not divide Wigan RLFC into different groups, we are all supporters.

[josie andrews]

Good post & a good idea.

We are all supporters of Wigan Warriors as cp says.

The original group had the help & backing of the club so it would be good if all three participated together.

Perhaps change the name tho!! From Brigantes I mean.

[Owd Codger]

I never said that all Latic's fans are drunks but like all football club's, they have their fair share.

[KaylaRobbo]

You are always going to get 'drunk idiots' whether they join the Brigantes or hang in their own crowd in the East Stand (example only).

As long as those of us who want to appreciate the team (and match) speak up and oust them when necessary then we can hold our heads high - official Brigante or not!

Reformation is the only option if we are going to support our team as they deserve. We expect the best from them and they should get the best back! If you start the singing/chanting then I for one will join you and I'm sure lots more will! You could be re-named 'The Wigantes' if you feel stigmatised with Brigantes!

[DaveO]

Here's a thought. Rather than creating a separate group as they did, would it not have been better for the 'originals' to have worked as part of the Supporters Club? I think several already are part of the supporters group and have MUCH to offer that organisation, indeed something different from existing key figure. Some of the 'originals' are potential leaders / leading figures in the supporters club.

Instead of trying to imply we are a distinct section of the club be very much a part of the club so every fan can 'exert influence' over the odd idiot and that is what they are instead of fans pointing the finger at the 'Brigantes'.

The 'originals' were / are decent devoted responsible supporters. The desire to be distinct allowed the idiots to take over in a way none of the 'originals' ever intended.

I hope the originals have a think and I hope the supporters club leaders try to incorporate / utilise the energy and effort of the 'originals'. There are potential supporters club leaders in those 'originals' Have a meeting together?

Lets not divide Wigan RLFC into different groups, we are all supporters.

That is a good point. I think I said at the time they started up I was dubious about the idea of a separate group.

For me the mistake made wasn't just the separate group idea but also their association with the name Ultras which was a term associated with the group at least early on. That has very definite negative connotations concerning supporter groups and was bound to attract the wrong sort.

[Aaron C. Rescue]

Here's a thought. Rather than creating a separate group as they did, would it not have been better for the 'originals' to have worked as part of the Supporters Club? I think several already are part of the supporters group and have MUCH to offer that organisation, indeed something different from existing key figure. Some of the 'originals' are potential leaders / leading figures in the supporters club.

Instead of trying to imply we are a distinct section of the club be very much a part of the club so every fan can 'exert influence' over the odd idiot and that is what they are instead of fans pointing the finger at the 'Brigantes'.

The 'originals' were / are decent devoted responsible supporters. The desire to be distinct allowed the idiots to take over in a way none of the 'originals' ever intended.

I hope the originals have a think and I hope the supporters club leaders try to incorporate / utilise the energy and effort of the 'originals'. There are potential supporters club leaders in those 'originals' Have a meeting together?

Lets not divide Wigan RLFC into different groups, we are all supporters.

Can I first say (as one of the 'original' members)that none of us had/have any links/connection with any supporters groups before we began the 'flag group' as it was first named, the reason we started it all was to try and make the DW stadium feel more like 'home' on match days by designing, buying and erecting the flags you saw, and will (I hope) still see, this was quite a success and we got some great feedback from both the club and fans, we then moved on to what we called 'phase 2' of the plan by having banners and wavers in the crowd, this was highlighted by the display put on prior to the World Club Challenge and at various home & away fixtures (semi final at Warrington etc), this meant we needed more people to become involved and our numbers began to swell.Unfortunately, not all fans enjoyed what was happening, we had regular meeting with officials about letters of complaint about various matters, one person complained the noise was stopping him enjoying 'the players pre-match warm up', another complained he couldn't see because of all the flags being waved in front of him (we then discovered he sat in the East stand were there were no flags), a steward reported that 9 seats had been broken during a game, I read the maintenance report and yes, 9 seats had been broken, 6 in the North stand (away end), and 3 in the opposite corner to were all the group congregated, none it appeared had anything to do with us, one man got thrown out of the stadium for being drunk and unruly, we were told 'he's one of your lot causing trouble again' when I asked how they knew he was 'one of our lot' I was told, 'because he's wearing a 'Brigantes' scarf, he in fact wasn't wearing our scarf and none of us had ever seen him before !. Lots of things like this began happening and myself and other were getting fed up dealing with it, then sadly, because of the success of the group we attracted an element that attached itself and had its own 'agenda',we genuinely tried to get rid of them but because we (as merely fans) had limited powers it proved difficult, and impossible, and culminated in what happened at Huddersfield , I cant see anyway that the 'original' people involved will take this on again, its really sad because some of the plans for what was to come, and how far it could have gone, were superb, thanks for all the good wishes and apologies to all those who didn't enjoy it, keep supporting our great team, the futures bright.

[southernpie]

I can sympathise with you regarding the problems you had with complaints and the others attaching themselves to you and understand why you decided to disband. I do hope though if nothing else, the flag group remains as it does add colour to the ground and gives it a home feeling and you all do a smashing job.
I loved the day out at Warrington, at the end the missus picked me up at Sainsbury's car park and you could still hear the singing all the way over there it was brilliant.

[cpwigan]

A.C.R what I meant and if I am wrong apologies, I thought a lot of the flag group were also member of the supporters club too, just members. Geoff was IIRC, I think he was in the flag group.

The silly complaints you get those in every walk of life. I daresay Wigan RLFC get lots.

An idea; incorporate the flag group into the supporters club and work together as one to produce 2 Pat Richards flags, one for Pat to take home and 1 for the DW.

What I meant I standby; To even get the idea off the ground required plenty of co-ordination, time, effort etc. There are within that original group people who can become in the future, supporters club leaders. I genuinely hope you do not let some 'scrotes' get the better of you and destroy some fantastic iniatives.

[Aaron C. Rescue]

A.C.R what I meant and if I am wrong apologies, I thought a lot of the flag group were also member of the supporters club too, just members. Geoff was IIRC, I think he was in the flag group.

The silly complaints you get those in every walk of life. I daresay Wigan RLFC get lots.

An idea; incorporate the flag group into the supporters club and work together as one to produce 2 Pat Richards flags, one for Pat to take home and 1 for the DW.

What I meant I standby; To even get the idea off the ground required plenty of co-ordination, time, effort etc. There are within that original group people who can become in the future, supporters club leaders. I genuinely hope you do not let some 'scrotes' get the better of you and destroy some fantastic iniatives.

None of the original 'flag group' were members of the supporters club or Riversiders. Geoff did attend some of the early meetings, but he was not actively involved in the organising group.

The 'silly complaints' I mentioned were only a few of the many, although, as you say its part of life but it gets you down when your doing your best to make something work and people are constantly nit-picking.

Any new flags that are produced will require someone to design, order and pay for, we no longer have any fund raising planned (the money we had left was donated to local charity)so hopefully if the idea is adopted volunteers will come forward.

Thank you for your kind support, but it seems the group has disbanded for ever, it was good while it lasted, hopefully the flags will still be erected on match days.