Sad day for RL. Sold out challenge cup semi final, a team making it to their first final in years, and there are photos all over the web of scenes you'd expect at a football match or an EDL march! Scum!

I genuinely feel sorry for the true Widnes supporters, i've never had any issues with them, but the scenes were sickening. Well done the club for a strong statement.

seems like widnes are expecting a very big fine then or worse?? could they be removed from the competition or be made to play behind closed doors?
it wouldn't surprise me if widnes fans were not allowed to attend away games for the rest of the season.

all this of course is a massive shame for the thousands of decent widnes fans who have to now have their clubs name tarnished because of a mindless hundred or so.

It may be a small minority but it's quite an active small minority. This is the 4th game in the last year or so where they have been involved.

why is anyone even surprised?

they have been at it all season.

Considering the apparent scramble for tickets for this game, it's amusing to see people trotting out the 'they aren't regular fans' line.

Good call by the RFL to restrict it to a 12000 capacity ground. Imagine the scenes if it had been at a bigger venue.

After the 2000 debacle, the following happened at FC:

- a meeting was held at the Boulevard, an the club chaplain amongst others discussed the situation, openly;
- a banner was produced; "Sorry" - which was displayed at the next game, a Sky TV televised match at Warrington;
- the chief exec came and stood amongst the fans in a public display of solidarity to acknowledge that the club's genuine fans were dealing with the problem element;
- we all lined up to sign a charter, to pledge to deal with our bad reputation.

All this changed FC as a club, and probably stopped us getting a ban. As supporters, we were angry at being accused of being hooligans, when we weren't. It was a minority we'd never dealt with. We took back our club, and nothing was the same afterwards - things improved, families returned, the whole atmosphere around FC changed.

I suggest the Widnes fans do the same. Take your club back from the minority element of scum, and make a public demonstration that you won't put up with it.

Given that next year it is highly likely a SL club, potentially Widnes could be involved in a promotion/relegation play off, the RFL need to get their reaction/punishment spot on

Shame for the 1,000s of decent Widnes fans who turned up today to support their team

For me, the only truly fair punishment would be to exclude any Widnes fan who isn't a season ticket from buying tickets for away games for a season. This would enable the club to police it's own fans, and limit the possibility for 'infiltration' by the part time and casual fan. You will probably get some trying to get into the home end at games, but they can easily be spotted and dealt with, and won't be likely to attend in any great numbers.

Naturally, I feel that Widnes as a club need to pay for repairs to LSV, and the inevitable fine but, moving forward, I can't see any other solution that is fair on the true fans of the club.

Really sad to see this.

Posted on another thread that it did not look good, but it seemed to be taken under control from the view in the TV room.

So I took it back and said maybe it was not that bad. Now it seems like it was.

Sad sad day.

I would hope that with todays high definition camera's and videos. Most of these yobs should be prosecuted. I would say a far more suitable punishment than a simple fine, which punishes the club rather than the fans involved, would be for the fine to be put towards the prosecution of said fans.

Rewards handed out for names of the scum so clearly photographed and financial support to the CPS to prosecute them as a few weeks down the line when the newspapers are old, it will be cautions all round.

But I'm sure if the fine it put towards getting these people the Police and CPS will be more encouraged to take em to court.

I'd rather that than just a fine on the club, which really is a punishment by association rather than a direct impact on the idiots involved.

Obviously life time bans from RL are a given.

Decent people in Widnes will know who they are. Lets name and shame them on here or elsewhere on social media. I am sure the club and police will be interested.

As a Cougar Fan , we went to Naughton park for the quarter final , met some amazing passionate and thoroughly welcoming home fans who we had a fantastic evening with ..massively feel for those real fans now who are being stigmatized by a minority of s ...

TBH the misdemeanors of theses idiots is even more galling in view of the recent passing of Widnes Super Fan Pat Price ... they are a disgrace and I hope the Vikings management proper throw the book at em..

I’ve got a feeling the RFL are going to come down hard on this one.

The scenes look to come from a different era, maybe a lower league football club, or even some obscure South American match.

The stewarding looked very thin compared to the numbers entering the pitch, maybe whoever was in charge of things never expected that level of imbecilic behaviour.

As a Widnes fans this evening I am totally embarrassed. I thought the performance of the team was as bad as it was going to get but things got a lot worse and I'm devastated.
Firstly... apologies to the Cas fans for not being able to celebrate a fantastic performance in what has been an amazing year for them and all the very best for the final.
Regarding the people on the photos and videos. I attend pretty much every home and away game. I have had a good long look at the faces to see whether I can identify the people in them. Maybe not necessarily know their names but see if I recognise any from near where I sit. After a good long look none of the faces look familiar but I am not for one minute denying that these aren't Widnes fans.
I honestly hope the club can act decisively and ban these idiots for a very long time. I also would not complain if we were expelled from next years competition or suffered a significantly serious fine.
The general reaction from most widnes fans this evening is embarrasment but also some determination that these idiots are weeded out and handed over to the authorities. I appreciate that the majority of people on here have acknowledged that we are talking about a very small minority of fans and I'm thankful for that but unfortunately their actions have tarnished the club's name and our reputation as a fan base.
Once again... good luck to any Cas fans reading this thread and too to Leeds. I thought I would just be nursing a sore head at missing out on a Wembley trip this year but I cant tell you how badly I feel tonight as a result of those idiots.

Rach, you've hit the nail on the head there she would have been horrified by those scenes but I doubt any of these numbskulls knew or cared who Pat was.
Thanks for your nice words though. Muchly appreciated.