Quote: Rotherham Fev Fan "I do detect quite a lot of bitterness. Why do you think that is? And why do you think clubs don't appear (to me at least), to have anywhere near the same depth of feeling towards Bradford who appear to be going about their season quietly, with a lot less fuss and like leigh, have only lost one game?
Genuine question...'"
Bradford haven't played at this level for a long time now, so there's not really any genuine "rivalry", in that time, it seems there seems to have been some bad blood growing between the players at Leigh, Fax, Fev, Batley etc... leading to heated games that inevitably boil over. A lot is made of Derek Beaumont's twitter account, but there have been a lot of stuff on Twitter from players of various clubs over the last 18 months, directed at Leigh players, that have since been deleted. No doubt after being given some wise words of advice. Doesn't excuse ill discipline on all sides (and it is on all sides, all as bad as each other imo), but explains some background and difference between Leigh / Bradford vs other championship clubs.
As for reactions of fans. Bradford will have a lot less fuss. They were world club champions 10 years ago, and are now in the second tier, where they probably expected to be clear winners. Leigh on the other hand have just had a club record winning run and the best squad we've assembled in a generation, so we're entitled to be pretty excited! Problem is one or two go too far, and suddenly "All Leigh fans are arrogant!"
There'll be numerous other factors as well, but that's my attempt at a genuine answer anyway.