Chav Corner. Some of the idiots there find it hard to keep quiet during a minutes silence, even when it was for Watene, so i don't have high hopes for this Sunday, particularly given the proximity of the crowd to the pitch and the position Thomas plays.

Apparently a RFL official will be monitoring the behaviour of the crowd this Sunday. I hope they will leave with nothing to report.

using your logic..

Why should idiot supporters/players/sponsors be made to feel unwelcome because of gays in the crowd?

Because the sexuality of supporters and players is not at all relevant to the enjoyment of a RL match, however the behaviour of idiots can and does reduce the enjoyment of a RL match.

Fans on the terraces regularly question the sexual habits of players and officials they shout abuse at. Have you never heard the massed chorus of 'the referees a w*nker' that comes across quite often on Sky?

Is it OK to question the sexual activities of an assumed heterosexual in this way? There's been comment on how it's bad language and doesn't come across well on TV, but not that it's offensive towards who it's aimed at.

What's the difference?

Had Thomas been targetted with real abuse about his sexuality, then there would be an issue. Sticks and stones.

Perhaps he should have turned to someone who was taking the mick and said he fancied them? One easy way to make a bloke shut up is that



Have you seen anywhere that Thomas reported this to any of the match officials, the match commissioner, the Castleford club on the night or the RFL?

Single paragraph in a big story picked up on by those in rugby league who are too keen to self flagellate in the name of appearing holier than thou and claiming the moral high ground above all other sports, union in particular.

What has ing got to do with sexuality???? Don't homosexuals as well as hetrosexuals ?

Sir i applaud you, (be carefull thoug the PC brigade will call you names like homophobe and bigot, but then again you could claim that your being abused by the PC brigade and that your feelings are being hurt

)

They may do, however those who it is aimed at might well find it offensive because they may not partake in such sexual activity.

Unless you know someone engages in such an activity, isn't it offensive to so voiciferously suggets they do?

It is a given that Thomas is gay and 'takes it up the bum' as was apparently chanted.

Both forms of abuse are equally as bad, but only one attracts attention. Self flagellation in the extreme.

#

PMSL

How do you know "He takes it up the bum"??? Pray tell.

1) The two are not necessarily synonymous.
2) Did they really use the word 'gay' … or something else?
3) It's still homophobic abuse. A clear breach of the RFL respect policy, comparable with racist abuse. And if it was the same 'bunch of kids' who tried to set fire to a Catalans flag last year and shouted abuse at Quins fans the same year (see a theme developing in terms of how big and brave they are), then I probably know who they were as well (well not personally). And given that the club now has a rapid reaction stewards team and a number to text in-game complaints to, it would have been easy to dob them in. So the excuses of 'it was only a small group' and the rest of us can feel OK about ourselves, never mind 'it was factually accurate', don't really wash.

It's not 'PC gone mad' or whatever Daily Mail-esque phrase anyone wants to use, Thomas shouldn't get abuse for who he chooses to sleep live nor should anyone for their colour or religious beliefs. I don't see why some make an issue out of wanting to stamp out abuse from the game.

pray tell have you ever shouted anything to a referee or a linesman or any other player or even muttered things to your mates even, Or are you one of the people that never says anything

What has that got to do with anything?? Is it OK to call someone based on their colour??

what ?????????????

Do you think it's OK to shout abuse at someone based on their colour????

Am just wondering where you draw the line?

The thing about the abuse directed at a referee is that it’s not personal. Usually there is something which has generated the chanting (ie a perceived poor decision against the supporters team). This doesn’t make it OK and equally obscene chanting in whatever guise should be eradicated from our game.

Why didn’t the ‘fans’ feel the need to sing a song directed to say, Michael Witt, about how he likes to have sex with women, or why didn’t they feel the need to shout to Jamie Thackeray that he fancies women? To single out Thomas’ sexuality in they way they did is homophobic. Saying someone is gay isn’t homophobic on it’s own, however, the intent on the comment being an insult is what changes it.

I wasn't at the game and can only comment on what Thomas was quoted as saying in the Sunday Times piece. He said they shouted 'Thomas you are gay', and 'Thomas takes it up the bum'.

I'm glad you mantioned the RFL's Respect policy document. Read it thoroughly and you will see that breaches of this policy take place on and off the field at every game played every weekend, be it at amateur or professional level.

I bet you have breached the policy many times.

Does buying a ticket or paying an entry fee to a ground mean that as a spectator you have agreed to be bound by this policy? It's not a legal document, it's a guideline document.

Had this mickey taking been directed at anyone other than a high profile Union player who has recently come out, this would not have got a single mention or a sniff of indignation from any quarter.

Smacks or rank hypocrisy and selective faux indignation if you ask me.

Has Thomas lodged a grievance? If so who to? What laws have been broken? if not/none then what's all the fuss about. Or is it OK to be offended by proxy as seems to be the case.

Let's be consistent on this one folks and not just go with what's de rigeur.

Too many if's and suppositions in your post for mine.

You've lost me somewhere, who said anything about colour ? all i asked was if he has ever shouted anything at the ref or a lines man ? whats all this colour crap about ?

You'll get nowhere with common sense like that!!

Of course it is personal!! Refs and players suffer perosnal abuse all the time, yet no-one self flagellates over it like they are this.

Chanting 'the referee a ' is personal as it relates to his sexual proclivities. You can't get more personal than that can you?

Lost count of the number of times Ganson has suffered abuse because of his weight, with not a sniff of indignation.

I'll ask again, was Gareth Thomas so bothered that he exercised his right to lodge a complaint?

If it were about stamping all abuse out I would agree, but it's not is it?

Shouting at a ref/touchie/player that they're "S***" or whatever is wrong, yes, and when I was a kid I shouted stuff like that, however, that is completely different that shouting abuse at someone just because they are gay/Jewish/black/whatever. Is it that hard to understand?

What is so hard for you to understand that there is no difference? There is no hierarchy of abuse is there?

Don't do it full stop. To be indignant about some forms and not others is rank hypocrisy.

No it's not personal, it isn’t literal, it's sung because he's the referee and the supporters feel aggrieved at one of his decisions and feel the need to call him an idiot but in a more insulting manner. Again it doesn’t make it OK.

With respect to weight, when was the last time a fat person was nail bombed because they were overweight? Same goes for ginger people, tall people, small people.

I’m guessing Thomas didn’t make a complaint however he felt the need to comment on it in the media, he's probably big enough to ignore theses fools however it doesn’t make it OK. If Eastmond was getting some racial stick and rose above it would be OK as he didn’t report it? Should we pretend it didn’t happen and say to all those concerned by it that it’s ‘PC gone mad’ and ‘what’s the world coming to’?

Again I ask;

Why didn’t the ‘fans’ feel the need to sing a song directed to say, Michael Witt, about how he likes to have sex with women, or why didn’t they feel the need to shout to Jamie Thackeray that he fancies women?