Not heard of any Widnes fans being banned for the activities at Leigh, but I saw that Warrington banned 2 fans this week. One for 5 years for setting off a flair at the (ironically) Widnes games and a second fan for being in possession of a flare at the semi-final v Leeds

Quote: Father Ted "If they did have a risk assessment then they got it very wrong. Just that when at the DW I've looked out from the East Stand to see stewards shoulder to shoulder along the touch lines to prevent encroachment onto the pitch. The small number that did invade the pitch at Leigh would have been prevented and may not have attempted it had there be that shoulder to shoulder cordon which is often seen at many, many grounds. I just feel that those who had the responsibility to get it right failed and due to their failure they will blame the Widnes club. Deal with the offenders and no one else.'" Is that a wind up Ted, I could go to DW next week with a few hundred mates and I'll bet you anything you want we could invade the pitch, there is even stuff on you tube showing latics fans on the pitch www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoEBFwRbFZsat DW and the average age seems to be about 14 and 6st wet through The FACTS are some folk supporting Widnes in the Widnes end chose to rip up advertising boards, behave like bell ends and invade the pitch. Some folk supporting Widnes bottled the Cas team coach pre game - the Widnes club have the job of sorting it out and issuing apologies to innocent parties ie Cas, LSV co, RFL and anyone who saw it. I wish them well in getting it sorted asap especially for the vast majority of great Widnes fans this incident has tarnished

Quote: Father Ted "If they did have a risk assessment then they got it very wrong. Just that when at the DW I've looked out from the East Stand to see stewards shoulder to shoulder along the touch lines to prevent encroachment onto the pitch. The small number that did invade the pitch at Leigh would have been prevented and may not have attempted it had there be that shoulder to shoulder cordon which is often seen at many, many grounds. I just feel that those who had the responsibility to get it right failed and due to their failure they will blame the Widnes club. Deal with the offenders and no one else.'" Is that a wind up Ted, I could go to DW next week with a few hundred mates and I'll bet you anything you want we could invade the pitch, there is even stuff on you tube showing latics fans on the pitch www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoEBFwRbFZsat DW and the average age seems to be about 14 and 6st wet through The FACTS are some folk supporting Widnes in the Widnes end chose to rip up advertising boards, behave like bell ends and invade the pitch. Some folk supporting Widnes bottled the Cas team coach pre game - the Widnes club have the job of sorting it out and issuing apologies to innocent parties ie Cas, LSV co, RFL and anyone who saw it. I wish them well in getting it sorted asap especially for the vast majority of great Widnes fans this incident has tarnished

Going off the jackets that some stewards were wearing..........they were from the DW (either that or they bought them from DW sports and were being paid to advertise). I have NEVER seen a "shoulder to shoulder" cordon around ANY RL ground, yes increased numbers if it a big game/local derby/known issues with the fans, but never a complete cordon.

Those types of steward cordons have been used in front of the North and East Stands at the DW, though can't say that for the East Stand.
It doesn't matter who you ban, fine, etc if fans are determined to get into a ground they will, especially away from their home club ground.
The only way to stop them getting onto the pitch is with a cordon by stewards helped by the stadium CCTV system.
How they run that stewarding is down to the Match Authorities, in this case the RFL.
It was their event and their responsibility.

Yes. To save you having to ask in future, there is a little-known trick you can use: just see if any more people have posted comments. If they have, that's the giveaway - the thread is still going on.

HTH

Can widnes fine the rfl for poor crowd control? after all that is what the rfl does to clubs!

You can look at all the rules and safe guards you like.
The only people at fault are those that stepped over the barrier on to the field. No one did it by accident.

The only people I would let off are the two kids I saw with their dads, one on his shoulders who were on the field. They are suffering enough by having a brainless no mark as a parent.

This ^ ^ ^

I don't find any problem with a celebratory pitch invasion but doing it to goad the opposition team and supporters is just idiocy.

The consequences of fans misbehaving after a game can be fatal, I know this isn't a pitch invasion but this player was killed yesterday by a fan www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28918021 On another note, I hope there's some plans in place next year when Castleford and Widnes meet again or maybe even this year in the play offs!

The consequences of fans misbehaving after a game can be fatal, I know this isn't a pitch invasion but this player was killed yesterday by a fan www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/28918021 On another note, I hope there's some plans in place next year when Castleford and Widnes meet again or maybe even this year in the play offs!

Is this a serious post!!!!!

Why ? Did WTW "have some plans in place" when they played Widnes this season after last years problems ?

Talking to some RL fans from the Cheshire area at the final last weekend and they recognised some of the cretins pretending to by Widnes supporters were in fact Crewe football fans.

So these people in their own time paid to travel to the game, and admission, not to mention buying various Widnes tops, not for any reason Widnes connected or rugby connected, but as Crewe fans intent on invading the pitch for a few minutes and antagonising the Castleford fans?

Might I ask why they didn't save themselves a walk, then, and just antagonise the Widnes fans instead?

Why didn't they pay to get in the Castleford end instead?

Crewe does seem to be a hotbed for football disorder if you look at the stats, though, do you know if they were amongst the massive grand total of 9 Crewe football fans arrested for football disorder in season 2013? How many times have they invaded the Crewe pitch in recent years?

Sorry, but however regular Widnes fans they may or may not be, they came to the game on the day to support Widnes and therefore on the day they were Widnes fans.

The fans are the ones who behaved themselves and the ones who were fighting, invading pitches are a bunch of troublemakers who need eradicating from the sport.