IMO

Discuss all things Wigan Warriors. Comments and opinions on all aspects of the club's performance are welcome.
missyme65
Posts: 155
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2009 10:01 pm

IMO

Post by missyme65 »

Im not a regular poster, I do however read every day.Im not an aficionado on RL being a new convert, but what I cant get my head round is why there has to be so much back biting and bitching and anti feeling , not only to other posters but to players, I thought this was a "fan based" site and surely that would mean enjoyment.Dont get me wrong I have learned enough, fast enough, to realise we dont like certain other teams players and even other teams but to bash our own seems to me a little sad or possibly I am missing the point.
Think I'll stick to reading....
softy southerner finds the holy grail...
Realist
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Oct 22, 2009 7:51 pm

Re: IMO

Post by Realist »

I think you are spot on. Am also a "reader" and not a "poster" however have been a Wigan Rugby League fan for 17 years and enjoy reading the sensible posts (CP Wigan being a leading light......)

Wiganers are passionate and in the main knowledgable about their Rugby League, however there is also more than a minority that are extremely fickle and would prefer to be critical about players than complimentary. For example, Martin Offiah (the player, not the agent...) got a bit of a hard time recently on here because his defence was a bit ropy! Given the amount of times he won matches for Wigan with his brilliance, the incredible tries he scored and entertainment he provided, you would have thought he would be exempt from such critisism, sadly not.

Stuart Fielden takes some almighty stick, not just on here but at Wigan in general. Stuart would admit himself that he has not hit the heights at Wigan that he did for Bradford, however this is not due to lack of effort - watch the lad play and his problems are clear; he is in such pain at times that he winces when he gets up to play the ball; he plays injured week after week for the Wigan cause, often with pain killing injections. Yes, his reward for doing so is imbalanced compared to others, however this is not his doing and he does not deserve to be lamented by others who would not have the bravery to play the game at the level Stuart has. He is a good person who is always to put his hand up for charity (remember the Lee Radford boxing match? You will see him in a "risque" calender for the Steve Prescott Foundation soon also".)How many of his critics give their time up for charity? Similarly, are they the best in their field at work? Do they turn up and give maximum effort day after day for their company. I suspect not.

Here is a quote from Theodore Roosevelt that says it all for me:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

I will leave it at that.........

platt-warrior
Posts: 1940
Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2007 1:33 pm

Re: IMO

Post by platt-warrior »

An interesting post Realist.But i believe your missing the point re-Mr Fielden.He is by far the highest payed player on WRL's books by a country mile and for the last 2.5 seasons has not delivered.
Are you saying because he does charitable things he cannot be critisised,the man has been stealing a living IMO,and deserves to be critisised.
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Woodentop07
Posts: 187
Joined: Sun Aug 20, 2006 4:28 pm

Re: IMO

Post by Woodentop07 »

It is not Fielden's fault he is on the contract that Mo gave him!!
Fair enough his salary is restricting us in the age of the salary cap, but as long as the effort is there then I will back Fielden. The guy is a complete professional, fantastic with the fans and a role model for the younger players.
I hope with the new regime we can see an upturn in Stuart's fortunes, I feel he has lost a bit of size while he has been at Wigan and been carrying a fair few injuries.
People are excited about the new regime, it's a new start so let's get behind every player!!
Wigan til i die!!
missyme65
Posts: 155
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2009 10:01 pm

Re: IMO

Post by missyme65 »

how did this become yet another slag off fielden post?
softy southerner finds the holy grail...
slimshady
Posts: 738
Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2008 1:04 am

Re: IMO

Post by slimshady »

platt-warrior wrote:An interesting post Realist.But i believe your missing the point re-Mr Fielden.He is by far the highest payed player on WRL's books by a country mile and for the last 2.5 seasons has not delivered.
Are you saying because he does charitable things he cannot be critisised,the man has been stealing a living IMO,and deserves to be critisised.
How do you know he is the highest paid on WRL's books, are you the club accountant?
jao 711
Posts: 213
Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2007 3:00 pm

Re: IMO

Post by jao 711 »

how do you know fielden is by far the highest paid player?you would have to know all the players salaries.
platt-warrior
Posts: 1940
Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2007 1:33 pm

Re: IMO

Post by platt-warrior »

Oh get real people! dont you read any posts on here re Mr Fieldon.Does £250,000 ring a bell?.
The man has not delivered for 2.5 seasons.We have to put up with his half-hearted performances for yet another season. :angry: And yes this thread has degenerated into another Fielden rant.
ragman
Posts: 266
Joined: Sat Apr 09, 2005 6:27 pm

Re: IMO

Post by ragman »

I think the point, Missy, is that it is exactly because we are all fans that some of us criticise from time to time. The fact is, that we want our team to be the best, or at least the best that it can be, and when we see crap performances, crap team team selections or crap players, it makes us angry, emotional, and motivated to change things. Truth is, we can't actually change very much, but we can 'campaign' to some extent through forums like this. Even if it doesn't achieve anything, it makes us feel better. In a way, it's an extension of being on the terraces of old, where nobody seemed to agree on anything, but it didn't detract from us all being fans.

It would be a pretty boring world if we all felt the same about everything
GeoffN
Posts: 12559
Joined: Sun Jun 20, 2004 1:40 pm

Re: IMO

Post by GeoffN »

missyme65 wrote:Im not a regular poster, I do however read every day.Im not an aficionado on RL being a new convert, but what I cant get my head round is why there has to be so much back biting and bitching and anti feeling , not only to other posters but to players, I thought this was a "fan based" site and surely that would mean enjoyment.Dont get me wrong I have learned enough, fast enough, to realise we dont like certain other teams players and even other teams but to bash our own seems to me a little sad or possibly I am missing the point.
Think I'll stick to reading....
Most message boards are like that; it's really no different from having a debate with someone in the pub or wherever...there are always going to be a few who take offence at people having different opinions to their own.

The people who "bash" our own players do so because they want our club to be successful again, and realise that we need to improve in certain positions. If all our players were above criticism, that would presumably imply that they had no need to improve, which clearly isn't the case.

I quite agree, and sympathise with your comment that it's degenerated into yet another Fielden thread - but taking it more generally, people who give their opinion that one player is better than another aren't necessarily "bashing" the other player, although it's often seen that way by those who think we have the perfect team already.

For example, half way through the season, was it genuinely bashing Tim Smith to say that he was limited in attack and poor in defence, and that Sam Tomkins was the better option? I think that's been more than proven correct. Karl Pryce is another who gets a fair amount of bashing, yet can anyone genuinely say he's been up to standard in any of the games he's played?


AS in any form of employment, praise or criticism is earned by performance, and the vast majority of posters on here are quick to praise players they've previously criticised, if their performance warrants it (or vice-versa, of course). Not just players, either: Nobby was practically hero-worshipped in his first half-season here, but as performances and results steadily worsened, so the bashing began; not that anyone had anything against him, just that the feeling was that the club would do better with someone else in charge. Conversely, Ian Lenagan came in for a lot of criticism early on, for a variety of reasons, but his recent actions seem to have met with pretty much unanimous approval.
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