Gonna have to be careful with this one, I can see!!!

Who is Keith Laird?

Think Smith is reasonable with his comments. He's intelligent enough to understand that there will be banter, and in the right context, he's even endorsed it for its humour value. Not sure why everyone is so quick to aim the gun at him, although I'd imagine those people obviously haven't read it properly..

Channel 4 were at pains to say it's not Keith Lard

I have emailed the RFL to draw their attention to these reports and asking them to get Wire to issue a clarificatory statement.

Gareth Thomas has done nothing whatsoever to be ashamed of, in fact quite the opposite - as an "out" gay man in sport he should be applauded for his courage.

I'm sure Smith was just using the Thomas case as an example of how the RFL will take action on abusive chanting (which is clearly wrong - because its abuse - whatever the rights and wrongs of the subject matter) and wasn't attempting to draw a comparison between the two cases, but I think it would be best for everyone if he/Wire could make that explicitly clear.

What? I was chanting to the mascot.

If Smith wasnt drawing comparasions between the dog lover and G.Thomas WHY even mention the G.Thomas case?
Im sure G.Thomas is chuffed to be even mentioned in the same conversation as a bloke who likes to have peanut butter liked of his todger by a dog.

in the pictures ive seen he looks like he allready has a pair ?!

sounds like Jm could be in for a bit of woof justice.........

Monaghan dirty man .........................

"Smith implored Super League fans to remember their own foolish indiscretions before mocking the 28-year-old."

So come on then what are your own foolish indiscretions?
A few drunken moments outside the old cowshed in newtown bring a stomach churning grimace, but they dont come anywhere near being blown off by a real four legged dog.

Tie me Labrador down sport , tie me Labrador down
Tie me Labrador down sport , tie me Labrador down
all together now......


I think you'll guess the tune.....can you tell what it is yet???

is that what you call giving the dog a bone ?

DO you think it'll put a spring(er) in his step?

Wonder if Joel Monaghan will write about his experiences at Wire when he retires?
I have a title for his auto-biography which would suit:

Morley and Me.

LMAO!! Very good!

Just been on the Wire board and the thread on this topic contains the usual moronic posts from Wire imbeciles.

I hope they never replace Saints as our main rivals, or God forbid ever actually win the League. I'm not sure I could cope with the explosion of inbred muppetry we'd be subjected to.

How have so many of you failed to read the article properly?

To me, it looks like the journalist made the GT comparison, and not Smith.

it is embarrassing, isn't it?

and going to the effort of emailing officials to lay out of thick you are really is cringe worthy.

Read the article it explains all very clearly. Don't know how some on this board are getting some of the some impressions out of it.

Read the article again.



The 3 quotes are the only quotes from Smith and nowhere does he mention Gareth Thomas.

I think people need to calm down a little.

As someone as already said, good humoured chants/songs etc are all perfectly fine and JM will be expecting them. But people spitting bile from the touchline should be punished as they should if they were being foul and abusive to any player.

Wouldnt be a successful week without a big over reaction about something on here

I have read the article. It says that Smith believes that there is a precedent for the Monaghan case and then it goes on to refer to Thomas' case. A precedent is a legal case which forms the basis for future decisions in similar cases. Thomas' case is similar in certain aspects - it concerns abuse - but [u very, very different [/uin others.

In any event, the point here is that RL needs to err on the side of caution, it needs to be a lot more sensitive to issues around sexual orientation. The article can be read in a way that appears to suggest Smith made the comparison, because it uses the word "precedent". I'm sure that if he did refer to Thomas' case it was merely to point out that the RL had a disciplinary procedure in the case of abusive chanting. Whether or not he even mentioned the Thomas case is one issue, but the fact remains that the article suggests the cases were similar without making it clear that the subject matter of the abuse is very different.

I make no apology for the fact that I find homophobia deeply offensive. Given the Thomas episode I would expect senior people within RL to be going out of their way to show that there is no place for bigots in our game. I don't think it unreasonable to ask Wire and Smith to make it clear that the cases of Thomas and Monaghan are very different. It would be very easy for them to issue a short press release.

I have read the article properly.