Disgraceful!
I've been watching Wigan RL for over 50 years, and this is the lowest of the low. Wont be a supporter any longer if this is condoned by the club in the form of zero action.

The bar owner / licencee has a duty of care over their employees, and if I was in their shoes I'd be bringing the matter to the attention of the Police, as an assault has been made.

If the club had been unawares, then that would certainly focus their attention! The paying of "hush" money is equally disgraceful! What if they 'got away' with it? That would leave the possibility of the knob-head doing the same again, and next time someone could get physically hurt, and it likely wouldn't be a weight training professional (and I use that term loosely) RL player.

Get the cops, and it'll be the 2nd time this week that this idiot would be done over by the boys in blue.

If that was your wife,daughter or sister being manhandled by a customer would you still dismiss it as ridiculous

Taken from Wigan Today .


A video has emerged of Wigan Warriors stars Joel and Sam Tomkins being abusive and threatening to bar staff. In the video, which has circulated on social media today, the rugby ace brothers were seen in the midst of a confrontation with staff at Standish bar, Fifteens. Joel, 31, can be seen pushing past a bartender to get behind the counter despite being asked to leave by staff who asked "who do you think you are?" after multiple attempts at ousting the players. Sam, 29-year-old fullback, can also be seen in the video initially refusing to leave the bar. Joel can be heard saying: "What are you doing with your life? You're a disgusting creature." The video was taken around five weeks ago. Tony Callaghan, owner of Fifteens, said: "I contacted the club and both Joel and Sam, as soon as it had happened, wanted to come and meet the two girls involved and apologise. "I went with them, with it being two rugby players they were concerned. They did apologise profusely. "The police were called on that night but no further action was taken. "It's unfortunate that they are rugby players, I see similar incidents to this all the time. They should know better." Tony has been in contact with Wigan Warriors, who told him that they would deal with the players in-house. "I have a duty of care for my staff," added Tony. "In a nutshell two people have drunk far too much and been very cocky and arrogant. Unfortunately it's one of those situations." The club was not available for comment at the time of publication.

No you’re right, if it was my wife, daughter or sister I may have a different view. I do not condone what Joel in particular has done regardless of the “victim”, but I do believe it has been welly and truly blown out of proportion.

I'm not sure it has been blown out of proportion. Joel has acted like a complete dick, most people can go out and get drunk without acting and speaking in such a manner. Total arrogance and entitlement.

Yes we have probably all done foolish things at times, but we aren't all representing the town team out in Wigan. Made me absolutely cringe watching the video.

Disgraceful behaviour but i would be even more concerned if they were behaving like that whilst not so drunk. Joel had clearly had far too much to drink.

I can't comprehend how much the wheels have come off since the Magic weekend. Backroom staff left, coach leaving, top players leaving, a crap performance in the cup and now this video. This is the most deflated I have felt in 50+ years watching Wigan. We either need an explanation as to what to what the hell is going on or a big reaction to put things right.

Seems to me that the only sense being spoken here is from the bar owner. JT in particular looks like a complete tool from this video and should know better but does anyone actually know what sparked this incident? You certainly can't tell from the video. What if, for example, he was calling the girl a 'disgusting creature' in response to her being racially offensive? Would everyone be condemning him quite so vociferously or would the same people be saying well done for making a stand? I'm not saying that's what happened but that's exactly the point.. we don't know.

Given that the bar owner said it had been dealt with to everyone's satisfaction and that the girl said she was paid to keep it quiet but released it anyway aren't we all jumping the gun a bit here. It's quite possible there's more to this than is immediately apparent from a video clearly started half way through an incident.

That said, there's nothing more obnoxious than a drunken bell end if that's all that's going on here.

The police were called.

Perfectly put. Exactly the point I have been trying to get across, albeit not as well.

There are few worse things in modern society than trial by social media. It's the current equivalent of pitch forks and burning torches. I'm not defending Joel here. If he's out if line he should be adequately dealt with. From the bar owner's comments it appears he already has. If it turns out more needs to be done, so be it. However, there's a right and a wrong way to go about that. Trial by social media is most definitely the wrong way. I would like to think any rationally minded person would agree. Sadly, it seems not to be the case.

Why not just state what you know about the incident instead of dropping the odd cryptic comment in here and there?