I'm not doing it again, but i suggest you google ginger suicides, knifeings and the rest. Your ignorance and dismissal of the whole gingerism being of any importance is just as bad as the homophobic chants. Our country had a poor attitude to racism and homophobia in years gone by because people simply dismised it, as it didn't really offen them in particular. We still do it now with ginger, fat and a whole host of other things and if you are one of those people suffering abuse for being ginger, fat, goth or whatever then you are feeling the prejudice. Pretending it isn't that bad compared to being gay does not mean it isn't bad for that one individual who's life is tormented by abuse.

No you didn't you just made that up and we all know it. We've been to the game and we are the fans who chanted for our team and our team only, plus a few supportive songs for Danny Broughs fine efforts today.

Spot on.

No single Cas fan or club member has ever said that homophobic chanting isn't wrong or questioned how serious it is. Some people (me) are however asking why verbal abuse, and the prevention of, on RL terraces only stretches as far as homophobic chanting and racist chanting when the RFL quite clearly states in their charge of Castleford Tigers that we were in breach of the RFLs respect policy. A policy which covers such abuse as those targetted towards and singling out ginger haired people, fat people and the rest. Hypocracy from some of the comments on here and hypocracy from the RFL.

Also, and no offence meant to any of you guys who have suggested it, but this is a thread to discuss that whole saga and isn't for debating the teams performance. If you wish to discuss that and do not wish to discuss the GT saga, then stick to the appropriate threads. I'll pop on the relevant thread and big up my teams performance as i see fit, but if i don't want to, i won't pop on and tell everyone else not to discuss it. As i say, no offence meant folks, we're here to chat about all things Tigers.

I think the worse chanting last night was when leon pryce was been carried off, when the south stand was chanting that he was gunna fkd in the showers. My email will be going off to the rfl shortly.

Very good point!

TB abuse is abuse no context no sliding scale its as simple as that, thats equality and thats fairness, unless you feel some are more equal than others over to you!!!!!

First of all. I am not "as bad". The point I was making in that in our circle of friends we are able to make ginger jokes because we know he takes it as a joke and gives as good as he gets (it has been that way since we were three!). However none of us would dream of making a joke about the gay or ethnic minority members of our group. As for any form of abuse being "bullying", I don't know if there is a definition out there for bullying, but I am fairly confident that acts of bullying must carry some form of malice or intention. Thus calling my best mate of 15 years a ginger related joke when I know he will take it as a joke and reply with something equally funny cannot be called bullying.


As for Cas fans calling Riley ginger, I wouldn't be offended and I bet he wouldn't consider it much more than a minor distraction too. Cas fans certainly wouldn't get in trouble for calling him ginger.

At the end of the day you cannot equate generic sporting banter with racial/homophobic abuse. As a club your time and efforts would be better spent backing the players and weeding out the idiots.

Quote ="Matt King's Barber"First of all. I am not "as bad". The point I was making in that in our circle of friends we are able to make ginger jokes because we know he takes it as a joke and gives as good as he gets (it has been that way since we were three!). However none of us would dream of making a joke about the gay or ethnic minority members of our group. As for any form of abuse being "bullying", I don't know if there is a definition out there for bullying, but I am fairly confident that acts of bullying must carry some form of malice or intention. Thus calling my best mate of 15 years a ginger related joke when I know he will take it as a joke and reply with something equally funny cannot be called bullying. As for Cas fans calling Riley ginger, I wouldn't be offended and I bet he wouldn't consider it much more than a minor distraction too. Cas fans certainly wouldn't get in trouble for calling him ginger. At the end of the day you cannot equate generic sporting banter with racial/homophobic abuse. As a club your time and efforts would be better spent backing the players and weeding out the idiots.'" i take it you have read this policy www.therfl.co.uk/community/page.php?areaid=30 , problem is you dont understand it............

Quote ="Matt King's Barber"First of all. I am not "as bad". The point I was making in that in our circle of friends we are able to make ginger jokes because we know he takes it as a joke and gives as good as he gets (it has been that way since we were three!). However none of us would dream of making a joke about the gay or ethnic minority members of our group. As for any form of abuse being "bullying", I don't know if there is a definition out there for bullying, but I am fairly confident that acts of bullying must carry some form of malice or intention. Thus calling my best mate of 15 years a ginger related joke when I know he will take it as a joke and reply with something equally funny cannot be called bullying. As for Cas fans calling Riley ginger, I wouldn't be offended and I bet he wouldn't consider it much more than a minor distraction too. Cas fans certainly wouldn't get in trouble for calling him ginger. At the end of the day you cannot equate generic sporting banter with racial/homophobic abuse. As a club your time and efforts would be better spent backing the players and weeding out the idiots.'" i take it you have read this policy www.therfl.co.uk/community/page.php?areaid=30 , problem is you dont understand it............

I clicked the link but all that came up was a bunch of links under the heading "Resources".

What I am pointing out is the de facto position of these rules, law and regulations.

Don't tell me that I "don't understand it", I am just being realistic.

Your fans broke the law, the club failed to enforce it, you have been fined. Back your players, weed out the idiots. You have been in great form over the past few games, and lets face it as a club you need to unite in order to ensure you stay in SL over the coming seasons (I think everyone knows you are real contenders to miss out next time).

I haven't had time to study the facts or the laws, but I am telling you, clubs might try to restrict people saying it, but you will never see a club fined to the extent Castelford were for chants about hair colour.

A good example of the de facto position of these rules is that today in Wrexham, whilst Ganson was warming up the crowd game him a few jovial rounds of "you fat bstd". What did Ganson do? Laughed, and ran along patting his belly in response to the crowd!

if you click on the powerpoints and posters it is the rfl respect policy for ALL clubs to follow

Right, well instead of worrying about that put together a campaign to find the people who chanted, get the banned, and try to overturn the fine.

This is the bit I don't get...
I take it there wasn't an anti gay demo and people were not threatening him....
And as he has himself said he has the mickey taken out by his team mates...
And we are saying abuse is abuse and is not tolerated even on a sliding scale...
So why are people not surprised at the severity?
If banter is changed to abuse and fined then all banter must be stopped and thus sealing the worms in the can..
And also why did the RFL not chastise Cas then get them to partner in a larger more positive action in education of the masses? I would imagine Cas would have got inboard big style, Pink day anyone?

Where has Gareth Thomas gone on record as saying his team mates make jokes about him being gay?!

That would really shock me if he had.

"But I love them taking the . We've got another Australian on the wing, Nick Youngquest, and he's a gay icon. He's been on the cover of Attitude but he's comfortable in his [straight sexuality. It still gives the boys a laugh because they say to me: 'Oooo, he's not so happy now you're taking over.' Me and Nick are good mates and we'll walk in the room together and someone will shout: 'Here come the girls!'"
[url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/may/04/gareth-thomas-gay-interview-crusadersHere you go starter for one[/url

And a little porkie pie for another, Or is this the truth and the RFL are doing this on their own back


Gareth never made an issue of the chants or complained to anybody; the story simply took on a life of its own when it was heard by so many others who acted on it. As far as Gareth is concerned, it's done and dusted now. [url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/04/gareth-thomas-rfl-castlefordMmmm Well well well[/url

www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/ma ... -crusaders this is the article its taken from enjoy.

www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/ma ... -crusaders this is the article its taken from enjoy.

the more i find out about the bloke i dont think hes anything but a to55er. who is being clever with this and the rfl,

The implication from this article is that at first his team mates had the up most respect for him, so much so they weren't comfortable even mentioning him being gay. The point is that first of all you can't compare what his team mates may have said to the abuse he received at Castleford. Furthmore, it is irrelevant if he was or was not offended, homophobic abuse was no doubt offensive to the many other people (especially those with children) who heard it.

It will be interesting to see how your appeal gets on.

I am a civil servant and we have an equality and diversity policy that means I would be brought up on a gross misconduct charged and if found guilty would be sacked for any form of abuse be it homophobic racial colour of someone's hair or size of their waist. It does not matter if the person I victimised is offended either, if the abuse offends someone else then they are obliged to report me! The RFL now have to be very careful as they have opened a can of worms!!!!

We will never see a club fined £40,000 for chants about hair colour or size. Unless of course such chants were mixed with other forms of abuse.

It just isn't going to happen. The way that a lot of people (not just Castleford fans) have gone "Oh well Leeds called Graham fat and ginger so they should get fined too" is insane, and undermines the severity of what has taken place, by trying to equate two totally different forms of abuse.

The more posts of yours I read, the more I swing towards thinking maybe the RFL fine was spot on.

Did Leeds have a fine suspended sentence hanging over them on the back of previous warnings also?

Thought not.

As fans you are just making yourselves sound ridiculous now. There is no doubt the fine was harsh, but as you were the only club to have been warned several times and have a suspended sentence hanging over you about lack of crowd control, you can harldy bleat at other clubs to have the same treatment.

What has a previous fine for something unrelated got to do with the discussion taking place?

Excuse me? Something unrelated?

It had nothing to do with something unrelated. You were warned previously about not controlling your crowd. You were fined subsequently, half of which suspended subject to future behaviour, for not adhering to those warnings. And then you go and reapeat it again, therefore as with any incident that is a suspended you quite rightly incurred that suspended fine plus what is relevant to the new incident.

Did any other club have that same warning or suspended sentence hanging over them?

Rather than bleat about consipiracy's on a message board, it would be better for your club and the game as a whole if you all united in getting rid of your poor minority of fans.

So why quote the redhead incident from the rhino's game?
What was being put up for discussion was abuse as a whole and whether the RFL would be dealing with all things equally....