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"

You do that pal,that will certainly put em in their places at red hall wont it?

As a Fev fan I have every sympathy with Cas over the situation they find themselves in.
We are constantly told that all gay people want is to be treated like everybody else.They are happy to have a gay pride march every year to let everybody know they are proud to be gay ie different yet at the first sign of p*ss taking go running to their lawyers claiming discrimination.
The same can be said about the use of the N word. Rappers and their followers use it all the time but let a white person use it and god help them (oh that's not PC either is it?)
Rugby fans take the mickey out of everybody and if a player is that upset they should get a grip or do what some players have done in the past and still do and that is give as much back.The majority of players who do that normally get a round of applause at the end, it's sport, it's entertainment it's part of the rich tapestry of life.
If clubs start banning fans for shouting abuse then after the next time Fev and Cas meet there will be a lot of empty spaces on the terraces of both clubs.
A family sport it is yes, and restraint has to be used but I bet most kids nowadays use worse language than they hear at rugby matches.
The fine should be reduced or scrapped all together.
The RFL discriminate against clubs by setting criteria for SL which they then change to suit so they should practice what they preach.
Good luck getting a reply because i've written several e-mails to them in the past and they haven't had the decency to reply to one.
Just to end,i have non white and non straight friends but i try to treat everybody the same regardless of their sexual orientation or colour and if that means i take the mickey and they don't like it then tough, why should i change who i am.

This is a joke thread right?

It’s just with me not being a regular on this board I don’t really known your sense of humour.

We have thread like this on SS.com – someone posts a joke/sarcastic thread and everyone joins in the pretence.

By the way how’s that Kevin McCloud chap doing these day’s?

Well said my friend

chants you can hear at the jungle:

To James Graham - red haired bugger...your just a red haired bugger.....red haired bugger
To David Solomona - You chubby bugger....you chubby bugger
To Sean Long - Where's your mobile home.... where's your mobile home
To Steve Ganson - Who's the fatherless person in the black ?

It's called context, words take on different meanings depending on where they are said and whom they are said by. Black people calling each other the N word is quite clearly a joke because black people are unlikely to hate black people and believe that they are racially inferior to everyone else.

Taking the mick out of someone's sexuality is quite clearly more offensive than taking the mick out of someone's hair colour or weight, it really shouldn't need explaining, but I will do. When was being ginger illegal? How many people have been beaten up and killed for being ginger? How many people have been put in prison for being ginger? How many people have been disowned by their families for being ginger? How many people have committed suicide because they are ginger? How many states here today in the 21st century specify the death penalty for being ginger in their penal codes? How many ginger people in Britain can say that if by chance they had instead been born in the Middle East they could be publicly executed for their hair colour?

There's a reason why homophobia is more dangerous and offensive than prejudice towards ginger people, think it through.

Try telling that to a ginger kid who gets bullied at school if he isnt offended or abused by it,

and if you still think that its ok, rlthen look at what these mothers have to deal with every dayrl

I didn't say that abuse towards ginger people wasn't offensive, I said that homophobic abuse was more dangerous and more offensive, the key word for me being dangerous.