That link should also be sent to the RFL.

Not only were there the chants about Graham, but there was also the abuse of the referee, with him being called a w*****r. Not once did I hear the respect announcement on the tv.

You cannot equate generic jokes about being "fat and ginger" to direct, homophobic, vivid abuse. Homophobic abuse is illegal.

If James Graham came out and said "I find that offensive", then you might have a basis. However I am 99% sure he gets worse from his own team mates (I can say this as my best mate is ginger), and it wouldn't surprise me if chants of that kind actually helped get him psyched up.


The bottom line is you are kidding yourselves if you think anything will come of this.

Good post they should if the RL are consistent this is still descrimination of the highest order this is more serious than yours as this was the whole stand and not just a few mindless idiots.

Ah, the old 'my best friend is...' defence, it works every time.

It isn't a defence I am just using anecdotal evidence of how a group of young lads who are all mates will probably make jokes about one of the mates being ginger.

In my close circle of friends I happen to have mates who are ginger and gay and black.

I don't know what it is inside me, but I would never make a racist/homophobic comment, yet the ginger jokes come thick and fast.

The point I am trying to make is, imagine the St Helens dressing room.

can you see jokes being made by one player about Graham being ginger? YES.
can you see jokes being made by one player about Eastmond being black? NO.
if a St Helens player announced he was gay, can you see jokes (of the same calibre that were chanted at Castleford) being made by one player towards the other player? NO.

On the basis of that you cannot equate illegal abuse with what is common at every sports venue across the country.

We can see you holding hands

Yep, I'm sure worse wouldn't be said to GT in the Crusaders dressing room, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if they made soap in the showers jokes in a light hearted manner.

Why not, my hubby works with a lovely colour guy, been to our house a couple of times.
He gets the P taken out of him all the time.
I had a go at my hubby for doing it, our frield WHO IS COLOURED said no worries it dont bother him. He once had a golly(can i say that) bought by a work mate, he as it in his works van.

So team mates/work mates do have good humoured banter.
Some can take it some cant.

In law look up Section 5

he Public Order Act 1986, Section 5 states:

(1) A person is guilty of an offence if he:

(a) uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour, or
(b) displays any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting,

within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress thereby.

Those last few words are what it boils down to;

"ikely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress thereby".


Homophobic abuse is almost certain (in the context of a crowd chanting it at a certain player) to cause distress.

Ask James Graham how he feels about being called ginger.



The bottom line is, all these efforts about trying to get Leeds in hot water for what their South Stand were chanting would be better spent organising a campaign within your own club to weed out the small small small minority of idiots to ensure not a penny is wasted paying fines again.

Here is the problem though, the match commissioner, on the half way line did not hear anything, so Gareth Thomas who was a further 30 yards away from that still, so a good 70-80 yard away from the 15-20 chanters, how can he have heard it? when the match commissioner on half way didn't hear it, the ref or the other officials didn't hear it (no notes in the match reports), or even some people in the WRE stand? I still think he just said he heard and hoped it stuck because he is trying to advertise his new book, he is not offended by it at all, we all know it he is just publicising his book and using Cas to do so, they were just unfortunate to be the first away game for him - whoever were to be the unlucky team were going to get the accusation.

I am only going off what I read in his interview.

Perhaps this can be explained by the fact that with it only being a small section of the crowd? If the Match Commissioner, Thomas, and the group in question, were split up, it would be possible for Thomas to hear things the others couldn't.

I have read accounts from people on here who were at the game who have said that they heard it.


ANYWAY, maybe your appeal will be successful, you will have been made an example of, our game will emerge stronger and we will have Castleford to thank for it.

MAYBE, your appeal will be unsuccessful and the fine will go ahead.

We can never really know what does and doesn't offend people deep down, everyone is different. We can only create rules and enforce them on the basis of the law and other factors (such as morality, common sense, efficiency, public interest etc). I think the main thing to take away from this is that as a community, if we don't want to to see our clubs punished, we should be prepared (as fans) to put up a no tolerance front to abuse.

It isn't just the person being targetted but ANYBODY who is likely to be distressed.
I live in Wakefield and was distressed to hear it, and I am not James Graham, overweight, born out of wedlock or redder in the folicles.

We will never ever ever see a club fined for making jokes about players being ginger or fat. End of.

I thank you for drawing our attention to this article. This response should be circulated to all RL clubs fans as a dire warning that whenever James Graham is down on a visiting Saints team sheet they should lock up all their virgin daughters (admittedly a hard task in some Northern pit villages) and their goats.

"[iRedheads are feared because they are believed in folklore to be the devil's children and have red hair because they were conceived during their mother's menstruation.A welsh proverb says "os bydd goch, fe fydd gythreulig" or "if he's redhaired then he is of the devil".
L, Wales[/i"