Of course it is personal!! Refs and players suffer perosnal abuse all the time, yet no-one self flagellates over it like they are this.

Chanting 'the referee a ' is personal as it relates to his sexual proclivities. You can't get more personal than that can you?

Lost count of the number of times Ganson has suffered abuse because of his weight, with not a sniff of indignation.

I'll ask again, was Gareth Thomas so bothered that he exercised his right to lodge a complaint?

If it were about stamping all abuse out I would agree, but it's not is it?

What is so hard for you to understand that there is no difference? There is no hierarchy of abuse is there?

Don't do it full stop. To be indignant about some forms and not others is rank hypocrisy.

No it's not personal, it isn’t literal, it's sung because he's the referee and the supporters feel aggrieved at one of his decisions and feel the need to call him an idiot but in a more insulting manner. Again it doesn’t make it OK.

With respect to weight, when was the last time a fat person was nail bombed because they were overweight? Same goes for ginger people, tall people, small people.

I’m guessing Thomas didn’t make a complaint however he felt the need to comment on it in the media, he's probably big enough to ignore theses fools however it doesn’t make it OK. If Eastmond was getting some racial stick and rose above it would be OK as he didn’t report it? Should we pretend it didn’t happen and say to all those concerned by it that it’s ‘PC gone mad’ and ‘what’s the world coming to’?

Again I ask;

Why didn’t the ‘fans’ feel the need to sing a song directed to say, Michael Witt, about how he likes to have sex with women, or why didn’t they feel the need to shout to Jamie Thackeray that he fancies women?

Exactly, but i feel you are flogging a dead horse, (is that an Idiom or a bout of flagellation )

So because they don't say the ref's name it's not personal? Are you for real? What's not personal about saying Ganson/Silverwood et al are so useless they obviously tug one off? These fellas just take it on the chin and get on with it, though it probably does really bother them sometimes.

What's not personal about calling Ganson a fat knacker?

People who have suffered abuse because of weight/hair colour/other physical attributes that can be easily picked upon have led miserable lives/self harmed/topped themselves as a result of the personal attacks they have suffered.

Are we talking about what goes on within RL here or outside the sport in wider world?

If you want to make quantum leaps from terrace banter/abuse, right or wrong as it is, match officials in other sports have been murdered for what they do.

Unbelievable that a grown man who can quite easily defend himself has had a bit of stick and the reaction has been as overblown as it is.

Talk about making a rod for your own backs and being shown to be totally hypocritical in oder to appear holier than thou!!

Gareth Thomas is welcome in the game, it matters not one jot to me where he parks his pecker, but come on people get real.

It is personal, but as he doesn't take offence (in fact quite the opposite as it means people are looking at him) it don't count.

dont be ridiculous, of course there is a hierarchy of abuse. Something are much much worse than others. Some abuse is a remnant of abhorrent and appalling attitudes in our past. Some things are just fairly meaningless statements made to express frustration.

Surely you cant be equating me calling you a poo-poo head to me reffering to a black man as a slave

Homophobia is a real issue, it isnt just name calling, its real discrimination and a real problem, Being called a w@nker really isnt

the fact you are trying to equate all insults and abuse shows quite a high level of ignorance

The initial point your raised was saying how can saying someone is gay or so and so takes it up the bum be homophobic abuse. I tired to show you why at now you have deviated somewhat massively in order to put a holier than thou comment in.

Anyhow, there is no call for any abuse. I've said that pretty much all the way through.

If you want to pretend that this chanting isn't an issue then go ahead. It's on skin off my nose.

It was a simple question, you are just avoiding answering it.

Not just about the him though is it..If I attend a match with a child it would certainly bother me if a child had to listen to homophobic chants or comments. I accept a child would hear foul language at a match as swearing is part of a language, however homophobia is a behaviour, an illegal and unwanted behaviour.

I don't agree, if I support my team and my ticket money goes towards paying the players wages I feel more than qualified to have my say if they are not pulling their weight or are not good enough at their job (plenty of people get abuse every day from customers at work in the same conditions).

With it being sport and all peoples opinions on an employees performance are just that, opinions.

Racist, homophobic abuse is completely different, completely unacceptable and has nothing to do with sport or performance.

Right or wrong it was always going to happen.

I would be more surprised if it DIDN'T happen to be honest.


And sadly now its getting around that it has happened (and some people seem to think it was amusing/big/clever/funny/original) it will happen again.

At the risk of sounding like a double entendre Gareth Thomas needs to 'man up' if terrace chants bother him

I'm glad to see you take it so well Smokey.