I'm starting to think you're actually Stephen Jones. He's also a poor Union troll with weak arguments and a tendency to reveal his anti-RL agenda too early in the piece. Oh, and is also a tw4t. I think you're Stephen Jones, you've realised Chris Irvine posts on here and you fancy your chances.

Did his wife know he was gay?

I was at the game and when it happened it was brief, no more than 10 seconds, but very audable. It was a poor game with little atmosphere so easy to hear the chants.

It was only a group of about 20 lads but everyone else seemed to cringe. I heard people saying it was a pathetic chant.

Yes it happened, yes it was shameful and Im sorry it was cas. But that said, the reaction from the rest of us really heartened me. It was probably the same 20 who "demonstrated" on sunday



I felt genuinely excited to see a rugby legend like Gareth Thomas down the lane. Its always nice to see someone you maybe only have ever seen on TV

Can't blame the majority of Cas fans for a small minority of idiots.

I await the almost inevitable "GT takes it up the ... " chant at Headingley from the small group of narrow minded individuals, when Crusaders come to town.

Thats the creative, intelligent one we got mate. I was embarrassed for em. Anyone with at least 10 friends will probably know someone who is gay! Get over it!

We have three small groups of idiots at Cas at the minute..
Those 20 I mentioned, the board and the ones who wear a shirt and pretend to be players!!!

Pathetic chant by a group of young idiots.

However, Mr Thomas, don't be such a soft sh-te is what i've got to say!!

I tell my kids to ignore name calling yet a 6 foot odd 16 stone rugby player gets upset???




Toughen up Mr Thomas, there will ALWAYS be idiots in whatever walk of life, willing to do the name calling.

In fairness he probably didnt run to the press to tell tales, he will have been asked about it im sure, probably by a journalist who heard it

Was it a gang of Christian hoteliers that were doing the chanting?

The problem with the chanting is bigger than the personal homophoebic angle unfortunately.
It reflects badly on the Rugby League community and the Castleford club particularly.

As Thomas says in the article.....well big deal, he already knew he was gay. He didn't need them to tell him. I'm sure the opinions of those in the crowd chanting really won't affect him in the long run. What will affect him is that maybe more people think that way, and that he has joined a sport of bigots. He is a high profile player who's opinion matters. The fact that there is an article about him in the Times proves that.

In the same way we should/and have jumped on racist chanting at sporting events, we should stop this one too. It's not a matter of Thomas being tough enough or not, it's a matter of right and wrong.

and right and wrong in this case isn't so much the opinion as the effects.

For Castleford, I'm sure the fans there are no worse than any other club. The club have done a lot of work on making the sport an inclusive and enjoyable environment to being friends and family, when that has been questioned in recent months.
Yet the people chanting have just put the spot-light on all the bad things and given those that want to put the club and the sport down all the ammunition they need.
The issues at the Catalan game are still being discussed at RFL HQ and the media. Castleford are still paying good money to try and catch/identify these people, yet now a group of fans have done something to make everybody focus on them again.
Is the Castleford crowd full of thugs and bigots? Of course not. Have a few idiots made it look like that to those that only choose to see the down side or don't know and just follow what is said in the press? Unfortunately so.

I'm sure the "fans" if asked would say they were just having a laugh, but the damage they cause the club by these kinds of actions are immense and either makes them:
1) Not real fans and just trouble causers
2) Not intelligent enough to understand the consequences of their actions

I assume it is the second but unfortunately that makes it even harder to rectify.

At a time when the off field stuff, like stadiums and crowds, are seem to be very important to the franchise system, I'd be very careful about the profile of the club in the media.

Well, that gimp on the radio appears to look right doesn't she.

While I don't condone it sometimes I think the worlds gone a bit mad, I mean, so what a couple of people start a chant and now all of Castleford should be ashamed? I've heard worse in every walk of life.

What should have happened was a quick boo from other fans followed by 'does your mother know you're here?' chant, would have been a witty way to keep that quiet.

Oh, and Dally, this is the second time in a week you've been a looong way behind the news, keep up son.

Is anyone surprised it was Cas fans, though.. seriously?

Brilliant





And very pertinent!!

Unfortunately some stuff like this goes on at all grounds and at the minute it feels like it is begining to sound like soccer at some games.

We have some C**** who chant we hate leeds when we are not ven playing them.

When my cousin joined in i told him to stop or he would be walking home.

rather than ignore them when they start the objectionable chants everyone should join in booing until they shut up.

As for those who say iot is part of the game, or that the players should ignore it they are as THICK as the Union Trolls.

If you want that attitude FO and watch soccer.

RL to me is about fans mixing, women and kids being able to watch games without constant bad language and obscene chanting, treating players with respect. If we start to lose any of this we are on the slippery slope to segregation, violence, and quite probably the death of our sport. Because if we go down the route of soccer i will want nothing to do with RL. many others would also agree i am sure.

''For evil to succeed only requires that good men stand by''.

Idiot

every teams have idiots BUT i reckon it should be one of the Franchise criteria about fans behaviour so that if clubs are aware of a problem they have to deal with it.

I reckon dealing with 30 idiots at each club now could save them having to deal with a bigger problem in the future.

Moron.

I'm deeply ashamed that Thomas heard our so-called fans chanting, we do have a very select band of idiots...the same ones who cost us 25k fine last year and no new players. As gaslight said, the club know about them but don't act. Suppose it comes to the crowd to self police and not tarnish the reputation of the club any further.

As for this 'cam' idiot, if he thinks that Cas will be the only team that has mouth-breathing cretins that will chant homophobic abuse this year, I think he is sadly mistaken. I also remember hearing fantastically rascist abuse on at least three occasions at Wigan so people in glass houses...

Dont tar all yorkshire men with the same brush. Cas Vegas is a different planet!

Trouble with cas is. they dont realise that theres nothing wrong with been gay, but there is something wrong with sleeping with your mum or sister

Why don't you just pi55 off.

Seriously Lancashire, do you want Huddersfield? You can have it.....

I m just having a laugh, i thought it was quite witty.

=#8040FFMight be for you lot in year 3 but for everyone else it was childish and pathetic

Chill out, saying that its not that untrue in some parts of cas.

=#8000FFCan tell you've quite clearly never been to Cas then

could say the same thing about Huddersfield but Dave S got the comment in first.