Tomkins actions have been likened to Wayne Rooney's. How long before he's doing an Eric Cantona?

He's a young lad who did something stupid. The booing at the Exiles game hurt him - that much is obvious - and whatever excuses people come up with the majority of those booing were Leeds fans. He kops all sorts of abuse every week - some of the abuse when he lines up on the goal line for kick-off is outrageous. He give a sly one back but got caught bang to rights.

I've seen players giving all sorts of gestures to crowds - Vs, w*nker, the bird - and very little done about it. However this was the showcase occasion in front of the nation. He'll receive some form of punishment I'm sure, and quite rightly.

The worst thing for me is that he'd tidied up his game this season and is turning into something special - even starting to win over many neutrals and haters. Now he's back to square one.

Not the worst thing anyone's ever done. Let the RFL deal with it.

This incident will probably just hasten his departure to union, he was already the most hated man in SL and now he's fuelled the fire even more. Gives him a great excuse to go.

Never mind Tomkins V sign, Hanson is featured on the back page of League Express with the same gesture.

So thats two pie eaters bringing the game into disrepute

Absolute rubbish. I remember Vainikolo giving Wakey fans the v sign a few years back we were giving him some banter he gave some back fair play nobody went running off complaining about it. Plenty of players 'give it back' and it's only because this happened to be a high profile player in a high profile game that people are bothered about it. Maybe we should censor abusive/swearing chanting that can be heard during some Sky games in case the secret gets out that RL is not a fluffy, cuddly world where nobody swears and we all love each other!

Why should being a professional sportsperson mean you have to accept any abuse that 'supporters' choose to throw at you? Remember the England fans shouting they hoped his kid died of cancer? I suppose he shouldn't have reacted as he is a professional and should just take it as it's part of the game. I would suggest it is those who hide behind the 'I've paid my money I'll say/shout/chant what I like' who are behaving like 8 year olds.

Not just players. When Ronnie Naughton was refereeing, I've seen him give a penalty against Hull and as he stood behind the player taking the kick, he was flicking 'V's, behind his back to the Threepenny Stand faithful

He should be professional enough to know that the people abusing him in the crowd are not worthy of a reaction. And they aren't.

What does flicking the Vs at the crowd actually achieve? Did he get his own back or something? Or did the crowd get what they wanted by getting him to react and most likely punished? That's what being professional is about.

Yes, he shouldn't get the abuse he does. But two wrongs don't make a right. Respect breeds respect, and if he's going to go around goading players and fans alike, he should be prepared to accept what reaction he might get (whether it's justified or not). If I flick the V at someone in the street, then I need to be prepared to accept that he might smash my face because of it (whether or not that's a fair reaction, and whether or not he kicked my dog first!).

There is a creeping niggle between players and fans and also players from opposing teams that is going unchecked and is getting like football.

All the patting on the head stuff etc.

And Fans have always hated players but some of the vitriol for Tomkins is ridiculous.

RL has always had respect.

As blatent as this V sign was the scenes of full time of leeds and wigan players getting in each others faces were pretty sad as well.

Its Rl's biggest TV audience of the year

Whatever action is taken there needs to be consistancy and it needs stamping out.

Are you seriously 8 years old. He gets booed, and you've come out with an example of a fan saying he hoped a players kids died of cancer. I'm in no way defending fans who shout abuse, but Tomkins has to deal with it. At the end of the day, the same people who boo him, pay his wages. All he has to do is smile and score tries, but obviously he is too immature for that.

No one cops more abuse than referees. So is it ok for them to start gesturing the crowd or start penalising the team because their fans are saying nasty things about him.

Get a grip, if you can't take abuse, don't play the game and take their money.

Also I find it amazing how all these stories of players gesturing towards crowds are suddenly coming out too. If they did it, they should have been punished. We can't have players antagonising crowds. For the players safety and others.

So there is a point where you think professional sportspeople should be able to respond to abuse from the crowd? Where exactly would you draw that line?

How do you know what Tomkins was reacting to? People seem to be assuming that it was a response to being booed in the England game but it may well have been a reaction to abuse from leeds fans during the game.

If you can't accept a v sign don't give out abuse in the first place.

It's because players gesturing towards the crowd is no big deal and is part and parcel of the game nobody gets hurt and it's all a bit of banter. I also remember Chris Feather giving my mate the v sign and telling him to f off but as my mate had run down several steps to tell him how poop he was I say fair play.

What about the people in the crowd who didnt want to accept being gestured at by Tomkins and didnt give out abuse in the first place?

I think the crowd get what they want but in this case leeds got beat so Tomkins gets the last laugh anyway. If a player responds then I agree the crowd has got him but I really don't see the harm in that.

I agree Tomkins should expect a reaction to how he behaves on the pitch and towrads fans but vice versa the fans should expect a reaction for how they behave towards a player. Equally if you go around verbally abusing people on the street you need to be prepared to accept that you may get a reaction of being smashed in the face but I'm not sure what point you are making other than if you choose to abuse someone then you have to expect there to be consequences.

Then they have every right to complain. However I imagine that they were exposed to much more than v signs while sat in the stands during the game so I'm sure the v sign wont have been overly upsetting for them.

Then they are the people who Tomkins is being punished for. They are the people who as part of Tomkins contract he agrees to treat with respect. They are the people who Tomkins let down and they are the reason he deserves punishment.

It was something and nothing and barely worth the bother. If he gets anything more than a slap on the wrist I'd be very surprised. I know the defeat must have hurt but going after Tomkins in this way over nothing looks very bitter.

What is it with the GMR/Merseyside area and the victim mentality?

Nobody is after Tomkins, he has done something quite petulant that made him and by extension the game, look silly. He will be punished for that, 1 match ban and a fine of £500 sounds about right to me.

It doesn't even need a ban. Just a statement from Wigan saying he's been punished and a warning and fine from the RFL.

What Wigan as a club cannot do is just ignore it.

I don't know I'm not from that area.

A slap on the wrist at most it was nothing and should have been forgotten about by now but some folk just can't let it go.

You really are making yourself look silly mate. It is not acceptable for professional sportsmen to make abusive gestures to the crowd or otherwise abuse them at any time in any sport. Simples. If they can't stand the heat they need to get out of the kitchen.

I'm finding it's those making a big fuss about a nothing incident who are making themselves look silly but there you go. Had it not been on tv and not been Tomkins nothing would have been made of it at all as these things are fairly common but rarely get reported.

It was in the first 5 minutes of the game, so it was nothing to do with getting the last laugh so early on. The crowd got to him and he should be punished for reacting.

What about the people in the crowd that haven't said anything to him? Why should they expect a player on the pitch to stick the Vs up at them and further antagonise the people around them and possibly even themselves? they haven't done anything wrong, so why should they suffer? That's the difference there. Tomkins is making enemies, and the RFL (probably for his own sake) need to punish him to stop it happening again.

As for the latter part, that is what I am saying. He chose to abuse a section of the crowd. There WILL have been people in that section of the crowd that said and did nothing to antagonise him. Then there is the fact that it was right in front of a camera on national television. There are people that won't have even known who he was wondering "who's this little git think he is then?"

Later on in this thread, you have said that they have every right to complain. If it wasn't that big a deal, no-one would have a right to complain. Clearly the reaction from his actions show that it has upset some people that our brightest star in the game has flipped the Vs at the people that pay to support this game of ours.

If it was a nothing incident, people wouldn't be making a fuss.

And just because others go unpunished, doesn't mean this should. Again, it seems some people think two wrongs make a right. The fact that this has highlighted something (because of the stage it was on) means that a precedent needs to be set to stop it happening again, not that it should be ignored because all the other ones that haven't been reported were.

Because that is his chosen profession and it comes with the territory if he doesn't like it no one is holding a gun to his head.But unfortunatly for you and him it was and anything else you have said in this post is just flim flam.
The TV moment just happened to be during one of the games 2 biggest games of the season on free to air TV thus making him look a scrotum and the game look foolish.

If this is going to set a precedent then fair enough but I just don't think it will because in general these things go unpunished or unreported because people do not deem them to be that serious.

If it goes unreported, then people in power can't do anything about it.
If the precedent is set, then any future reported incidents would have to be punished as the Tomkins incident will be what is referred back to.