Yes I heard homophobic taunts yelled at GT by some wakey 'fans' - I also heard other fans telling them to shut up, and it stopped straight away. No chants.

I don't personally have a problem with shouting abuse at refs, as long as it's not foul and abusive or based on any kind of prejudice (I can only say this now that Ashley Rhino Klein has gone), it's part of the game.

Likewise banter - as long as it's humourous. Take the linesman - calling him a skinny whatever is not funny, but chanting 'who ate all the pies' at him got me chuckling!

This fine ought to be a wake-up call to fans. They can get their club into serious trouble, and if they want their cllub to survive they MUST act responsibly. We all need to police ourselves, and we should all be prepared to point out any trouble causers to stewards (except at KR, where the stewards ARE the trouble causers)

Personally, I hope Cas fail in their appeal BUT that the RFL quietly drop the 40K fine, on condition that Cas don't tell anyone, just to get the message across without killing the club.

I hope everyone in the RL world realises that not all the fans are like this. I am far from homophobic, i'm anything but it.

Wow the fans are really giving the powers that be any excuse these days aren’t they. I heard the chanting and it lasted about ten seconds but what an expensive ten seconds eh? I thought it was ignorant then and small minded but as far as being abusive goes what I heard does not compare to what the likes of Andy Farrell had to contend with down the lane. Having said that I don’t know what it is like to be on the receiving end of chanting from a big crowd of people whether it be abusive or just banter but however it was meant it is clear that GT took it badly and has gone on a big public offensive to let the whole country know about it and rightly or wrongly we have been exposed and tarred as THE homophobic club in RL. The publicity was embarrassing enough for us but it seems to have been worse for the RFL who have taken the lash to us. Let’s not pretend that apart from this incident the fans have been whiter than white as there have been dozens of smaller incidents. Forty grand is not proportional to this incident but what it does do is show the intent of the RFL to the media and put them in a good light. As for Cas’s appeal I cannot imagine that we can win as this is mostly about the public image of the sport and no matter how unjust the punishment or the circumstances we may just have to lump it at a time when resources are stretched as it is a small minority are making life hard for the club.

Cant wait for the "Referee's a chants" on Sky, what will the RFL do.... Nothing, this is vindictive and dis-appropriate. I hope Cas drag this through the courts and show the RFL for what they are

All other teams be aware the Lawn Tennis Association are watching you !!!!

Lets not try and pretend that the fine is anything other than the RFL trying to save face with influential partners (Sport England etc).

The morality of the RFL is very questionable as they have shown absolutely zero consistency over the years, if you asked them what 2 + 2 was they would say 4 today and 6 tomorrow, it depends how they are feeling.

This incident did get some justified airtime on the BBC and that alone would have been damaging enough for Cas but the majority at that club are not like that and for a body like the RFL to say "you should have done something about it at the time" is really stretching it. What did they do about the Jamie Thackray incident a couple of years ago (sorry Hull fans), they handed out a slightly higher fine whilst allowing the club the right to earn ten times that amount in reaching the final.

The RFL should have held a quiet meeting with Cas and then maybe had some roadshow meetings with fans of all clubs to point out what is acceptable behaviour. I think fining the Cas club hits the wrong people as do you really think the people who chanted this rubbish will give a rats ass, they will probably revel in the publicity.

Whilst I believe homophobia is totally wrong the fine is totally disproportionate and will the RFL maintain their consistency over this one?

In the test match against France only a couple of weeks back were a large group of Leigh fans chanting abuse at Wigan players etc. It goes on every game irrespective of who is playing and unless the RFL want to fine all 14 SL clubs each week then there is no consistency. I am certainly not condoning people's behaviour but the reality is there will always a small group of mindless muppets who will go too far. The language at most RL grounds is industrial at times and unless they are prepared to deal with all clubs in the same way we might as well give up.


Surely a warning letter would have been more appropriate or actions agains tthe individuals concerned if it was so serious.

With hindsight this is the action cas should have taken immediately after the incident against the culprits. Even getting the culprits to make a public/personal apology. By not taking swift action they can be seen as complicit.

I agree that the fine is excessive and disproportionate but clearly the rfl are under a lot of political and perhaps financial pressure to be seen to come down hard on this type of behaviour.

I think mainly cas have been unlucky. If the fixtures had been reversed I'm fairly sure some idiots at belle vue would have thought it funny or witty to target such abuse. I remember the club really pulling out the stops to make fans aware of the risk to the club and try and prevent any repeat when Crudaders played at Trin.

I doubt any appeal will be successful as you'd have to show you did everything possible to deal with the situation in the aftermath. Hindsight is a great thing.

rlThis articlerl by George Riley at the BBC would tend to suggest that the player has actually done anything but "go on a big offensive"...

QUOTE

He didn't remain silent in subsequent interviews with the media and during the ITV programme about homophobia he went out of his way to pinpoint Cas as a ground where he suffered abuse.

The story has made the OZ press www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/ ... 5886215484

The story has made the OZ press www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/ ... 5886215484

Quote: RFL spokesman John Ledger "[iThe behaviour of club supporters is one of our considerations in the licensing process. It would be wrong to say Castleford getting a licence or not may hinge on this but the fans need to be aware they are doing the club no favours. This kind of behaviour would not get a favourable tick in the RFL's consideration of Super League licences.[/i'" www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/georgeriley/ ... _call.html

Quote: RFL spokesman John Ledger "[iThe behaviour of club supporters is one of our considerations in the licensing process. It would be wrong to say Castleford getting a licence or not may hinge on this but the fans need to be aware they are doing the club no favours. This kind of behaviour would not get a favourable tick in the RFL's consideration of Super League licences.[/i'" www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/georgeriley/ ... _call.html

So basically its ok as long as you find it funny?

The RFL have set a precedent with this ruling and fine, to be consistent, any club that has fans that chant abuse of a personal nature must be fined equally. If Gareth Thomas hears abuse at any other ground, he has a duty to inform the authorities (or press) immediately or, alternatively, the RFL should send representatives to every RL game played this weekend to keep an ear out for any abuse and act accordingly.

No right thinking fan condones abuse but this does seem rather convenient for the RFL to make an example of Cas (given the the connection with Stonewall, it was an open goal for them). What is to stop any rival fans going into a ground and aiming abuse in the hope of getting that club fined?

...and let us be clear here, the club would not have been fined had GT not said anything post match.