A friend of mine went to the game tonight and noticed that there was a bout 3,000 "fans" in the North stand tonight it seemed there was about 1500 Leeds fans and 1,500 "Wigan" fans How did the club manage to get away with this with no segregation! imagine if this was The Lunatics playing Leeds United It would have been bad to watch

No segregation at Headingley for years. I wonder how Leeds get away with that.

If there was 1500 Leeds fans then I will show my Harris on King Street. You are right to point out the need for segregation though, there was one fat lad wearing green from Leeds who was after trouble all night but a little old lady sorted him out.

Is there now a rule about opposing fans sitting together? If so, I wonder how we got away with it for the first 60 years of my life as a fan. That said, it wouldn't surprise me in modern Britain. There are rules banning everything.

No, there isn't

Somehow, I didn't think there was.

Another example of why we should never, even after 8 pints, listen to a single word that Mr Frisk utters.

My personal take is that I'm glad the North Stand is now being used for home fans. Not sure if there's still some kind of discount ticket arrangement for blue light workers etc, but it makes for a much better atmosphere.

I still think it's more important to try and ensure the camera facing stand is more populated. Now that the West stand is the same price along with what looks like freebies handed out for the North, the East Stand rarely looks anywhere close to full on the TV.

No mate and there shouldn’t be but unfortunately some idiots want to spoil it for everyone, usually those idiots are supporting the losing side.

This post seems to be getting ignored. There was a point where around 20 Leeds fans ran half way down the stand to try and square up with a group of Wigan fans. They also seemed to have ongoing arguments and attempts to swuare up with a couple of other groups of fans too. All i can say is that it's a good job these lads where all bark and no bite because the stewards would have had no chance of stopping anything from happening.

I do think it is wrong of the club to mix fans up in a stand like that, especially after what was seen last night.

Them putting Wigan fans in that stand annoys me most weeks. It just kills the atmosphere when there are thousands of empty seats in the East/South most weeks. Last night seemed even crazier. Leeds fans aren't much in to mixing at the best of times. The ones who go on the Western Terrace only seem to be there for argument most of the time.

I doubt there was either. That said, it was about at least 80/20 in favour of Leeds fans, so I doubt here was 3000 in that stand.

There shouldn’t really be issues with fans mixing in that context but a lot of the Wigan seemed to turning around to goad the Leeds fans after every try, plus some were mouthing off at women and children. There’s idiots with every fanbase, unfortunately.

Wigan had 3 half empty stands so it seemed pretty needless putting those ones in with the away fans.

Looking at the stand when Wigan were scoring points, the only way it was 80/20 in favour of Leeds was if Leeds fans were weirdly happy to see Wigan score.

I agree there is no need to mix it however but my reasons would be different. People should be able to behave themselves, even if they're sat with opposition fans.

No way 80/20

Possibly 50/50

You're right, there should be no issues putting any fans in any stands so there is no need to say its needless, because we could say its needless to let Leeds fans into the west terrace when theres 3 half empty stands at your place (yes I can see a couole of barbed digs at Wigan in your post. We were goading Leeds fans, we were mouthing off at Leeds women and children, but nothing the ither way???).

If Leeds had actually been good enough to score a try, you may have a different view



I do agree with the 2nd paragraph. It takes a special kind of idiot to want to draw attention to themselves in that manner. Maybe If home fans are being put in there allocate them a section to the side or something. Shouldn’t be necessary but would avoid friction with those who can’t handle losing / the ones who make an effort to rub it in.

Obviously there was stuff from the Leeds fans. Don’t be so touchy. Plenty of childish behaviour from a minority. More so than from the home fans. Were you actually in that stand?

Yeah, the other 40/50% of the stand would've stood up and cheered instead

Struck me last night that we attacked the South Stand end first half last night. I can barely recall this happening before. So presumably Leeds won the toss? I don't understand why other away teams don't have the same policy, because the way it normally works suggests that when opposing teams win the toss (presumably about 50% of the time), they effectively do what Wigan would have done anyway. If I was an away team skipper, I'd rather have Wigan running towards their own fans in the first half than in the second.

Think the amount of points we stuck on them in the second half makes it a bit of an irrelevance.

Leeds used to be a big team and bring a good following those days have gone. Hopefully, they will reinvent themselves because we need a good Leeds team in the competition. For a big city team they are very poorly run. I still disagree on a 50/50 split, when the majority legged it with 10/15 minutes to go there were still plenty of fans cheering on the home favourites.

Bradford in their pomp used to fill the North Stand, Leeds very rarely.

Far sum unowned reason Huddersfield does the same if they win the toss.

Leeds away following has always been pretty poor, certainly in ratio terms to their home support. I've always wondered why but it's impossible to work out.

Comes down to the coin toss rules not QUITE being what people would assume, and what you give up by choosing ends. If you win the toss you can't say "We'll kick that way." which is what you would ideally want to do. The choice is actually:
- kick (in which case the other team choose ends)
Or
- choose ends (which means you receive and the other team doesn't get a choice)

For as long as I've been watching rugby Wigan have chosen ends (thus receiving) if they win the toss. Generally if the opposition win the toss they'll either elect to kick (in which case Wigan choose ends anyway) as they want to defend first and hopefully get on top in the territory battle. Failing that they won't care and tend to say "Stay as we are" i.e the same ends the teams warmed up in which again means Wigan attacking the north.

So basically for Wigan not to be attacking the North stand first they have to lose the toss (there goes 50%), then the opposition has to be more bothered about swapping what end Wigan attack than about kicking off (there goes 90% of the remaining 50%). Obviously sometimes there are other factors e.g strong wind or the position of the sun.

Thanks, that absolutely makes sense. Still surprised more visiting sides don't try this option, though.

Don't forget the opposition probably like attacking their own fans in the second half too (less important when there's only 500 of them, granted).