You make a good point about Doncaster there

Presumably the RFL are "in charge" at the Challenge Cup Final, presumably they won't fine themselves ?

Why would you want to be p!ssed when you're watching one of the greatest moments in your clubs history? Fair enough have a pint or two before the match. But being p!ssed: you won't remember half of what happened, there's a decent chance you'll be annoying the people around you and you'll be constantly getting up to go to the toilet.

I always figured that the people who go to matches bladdered don't really enjoy the sport, use it as an excuse to drink and/or need to be p!ssed to get through the match.

It's much better to watch when you're not drunk and you can have a few after the match to celebrate/drown your sorrows.

I don't for one minute think it was football fans. Don't get me wrong there will have been football fans involved at some point in time, they are everywhere cinema, ballet, boxing it is the national sport after all, but we have to swallow the fact that these are people that are there to see rugby league and do this kind of thing. If this was Leeds United fans intent on violence, which I'm not saying for one second it was, then surely they would go looking for it away from the ground at a pub or club rather than the hi-tech Wembley with camera's at every turn. They could probably have got a lot more, risk free from being arrested violence in this way. That is the way a group intent on trouble like this with no tickets would work. Going into the ground to cause trouble in football has long since gone and many with that mind set will not risk it even at football games.

Alcohol certainly plays a part but what do you do? Ban it in the stadium and it cuts down a small percentage of the overall intake and in many cases sees a last minute speed up in drinking to compensate. I also think it is the individual that it is down to. That is why you see the same old faces causing drunken trouble in pubs and clubs up and down the country on a weekend night. I bet those of us that go out have somebody in mind now who we could put their antics down to them as a person. Alcohol just brings out their inner nature that more readily.

What do we do about it? I think as the tickets are on sale all year to split the draw early doors, like Wimbledon. Then allocate each side of the draw each end of the ground. This way you'll know where your team will be if they get there and it will mean fans will not buy tickets in the wrong areas accidentally if this is thought to be the case. Personally I do not, which is why I buy my tickets on the side where there is usually a good mix of fans. Buy them on an end early enough and the chances are you're going to be in a partizan area with a large group of one clubs fans. Being a Crusaders fan I can safely say quite early it isn't going to be our club

. The splitting of the draw takes some of the magic and randomness of the draw away but might be a small price to pay. This split could be held back until maybe quarter final or semi finals and could go some way to stop those problems.

In my opinion the biggest deterrent would be to use the camera system that is in place at Wembley and take action against those involved. It happens in football all the time. My football club, Cardiff City, have put faces of fans on front and back pages of papers down here before, identified and banned those fans. It wouldn't cost a lot to do the same in league. As I say it would be the biggest deterrent. It would also send out a big message to those at games that they are being watched and can't do such things. Maybe a piece in the programme and on the websites of all league clubs for a few games before the final telling them how many camera's are in and outside Wembley stadium and exactly what they can see and with how much detail might be the helping hand that some need not to cause trouble.

Imagine a town of 85,000 people. In that town, would there be any crime and arrests in the course of day? Now put that town of people on top of each other in half a square mile, and make sure many of them have had plenty of booze. Add in a dash of tribal rivalry between one half of the townsfolk and the other. It's remarkable, and a credit to Rugby League and a huge, huge majority of its supporters, that there was so *little* trouble and in the vast majority of the "town" people mixed with no problems.

(This is not to condone trouble-makers, or take away from it being unfortunate that some people had a great day spoiled by idiots, but to get in perspective exactly how bad or widespread the trouble was.)

dead set the amount of chat about a single fight on here is amazing

It wasn't just a scuffle though, quite a few were involved for quite some time.

I dare say if the stewards had not got involved it could have escalated into something a far lot worse. No side were backing down, let's put it that way.

The fact that it happened at all, especially at a rugby league match, should be a cause for concern.

But some people on these forums..................

6 page thread on a single fight?




this thread is a beat up

Well you could see this single fight from the other side of the stadium. The whole block seemed to be involved.

Did you see it?

If not, how can you comment?

Spot of mither up in the top tier right at the end as well, looked like a group of Wire lads having a disagreement.

Some footage on youtube, doesn't look as bad as it seemed from where I was sat

Only video I can find is after it has gone on and been split up. Wigan shirt still plainly visible on the one I saw though.

What a load of swollocks. I remember every part of a superb day and would have done even without a drink. I went to the loo once at half time and jumped around like a loony like everybody else when Wire scored. because when I have a drink I get soft and loved up. So take your theories elsewhere

Both these quotes seem to show a complete ignorance of the situation.

For over 70 minutes adults and children alike in the Warrington end were subjected to verbal abuse, being showered with beer and generally being intimidated.

The stewards could have dealt with this situation prior to kick off by ejecting the 3 ringleaders. The situation finally escalated when full cups of beer were thrown at the WArrington fans, one hitting a small child in the face.

I still do not condone Warrington fans reacting but maybe after having their day ruined ( and in 1 case a father whos daughter had been hit in the face with an object) it was inevitable there would be a reaction at some stage. This reaction was exactly what the Leeds " supporters " had been trying to illicit all afternoon.

And the comment "No side were backing down, let's put it that way", is a touch misleading isnt it.
You had 1 side trying to stir up violence and the other who were actually there to watch a game.

Hope this helps.

I've witnessed this problem at all but one of the big Finals I've been to with Saints. Sometimes it's Saints fans, and sometimes it's other fans, but they're always men aged 18-40, in groups with their friends, and who are drunk. The closest I ever came to it was Saints V Bradford CC Final at Twickenham, when a group of Saints "fans" in front of me decided to throw non-stop racist abuse at the black players on the pitch. I'd taken some mates for their first taste of a big game, and they were appalled, so I asked the blokes to shut up. They gave me a fair bit of "it's a free society, so I'm free to be a muncher etc etc" (I'm paraphrasing), but they did stop the abuse after I got a steward. The rest of the match was one of the most tense and unpleasant hours I've ever spent, as you could feel the aggression radiating off these blokes. A really horrible experience.

I've not experienced real aggression at a normal RL match for decades, but the big finals attract s who - as others have said - see it as an excuse for a massive group -up. Since I got kids, I'll only go to finals if I can get some of the most expensive tickets, because I normally assume that the sort of s who want to go to a big match to get ed and upset other people, are unlikely to shell out over the odds for tickets. But it's completely unfair on the poor buggers who can't afford that and have to sit near these knobs.

As someone said earlier, we know what seats they were in, and the RFL will know who bought those seats. So let's see some action.

I've been to the final for the past 3 years but didnt go this weekend after all the trouble with the wire fans last year. Unfortunately last year we was seated with them and as we're from yorkshire we cheered for Hudds. There was no abuse from our side just a bit of banter but all the wire fans wanted to do was fight and throw beer. Its now put me off going to a challenge cup final again.

www.flickr.com/photos/garyskent/ ... 834067908/

www.flickr.com/photos/garyskent/ ... 834067908/

There's no place for crowd trouble at any sporting event. Those who are responsible should be banned for life.

I almost fainted in the ground tbf.. I saw a Quins fan!!!!
Lastly Ive no idea why fat balding middle aged men think its a good idea to take on a response team, none of them are hard at all.
But seriously I think everyones said their piece, let the RFL deal with it

Agreed, the majority of people there will have had a drink and caused no trouble. I always have a drink when i go to matches and so do my mates, we never cause any trouble even when we've been hammered at some games.

Blaming beer is daft imho, n*bheads will be n*bheads whether they are drunk or not, why the hell should we give in and let people like these spoil it for everyone?

sounds like my visits to both hull clubs in the past


but in all seriousness i can honestly say, and i probably speak for most giants fans when i say i have never had a problem with warrington fans,either home or away.we have enjoyed some good craics with wire fans especially after we beat saints at their place last year and the wire fans came out to party with us after the game,always enjoy some great banter in the railway club before and after away games there and had no bother at wembley either,just the usual friendly banter etc.
im not saying warrington dont have any idiots as they obviously do,like most clubs do, but i have never had any problems with warrington fans,im guessing if you take trouble to warrington you'll get it.
anyway shame on the muppets who decided to spoil the day for many people,lets hope these sad acts stay away from our game in future.

There must be enough video for the ringleaders to be identified. Just whether the powers that be want to do something about it.

Have to say we always go in the public allocation seats, I've yet to see bother in there. I suspect the sort who incite trouble just jump on the bandwagon of a team who get through to the final. Put it this way I bet they don't go to regular SL fixtures much.

As a quins fan I saw quite a number of quins shirts - on a par with a number ofother clubs apart from the finalists.

you don't count....you see double at the best of times