I've also picked up on this police comment by Odem,used it at least three times sounds to me that it's some sort of mafia or military group

Perhaps Odem is the godfather. Nothing been heard from jimmy birts lately has he been overthrown( or just changed his name on here)?

Constructive criticism from me:

Personally, I just want to be amongst noise and atmosphere on away day and some of the elder Brigantes should be congratulated on the efforts and ideas which have improved away day atmosphere's over the last two years.

Unfortunately they seem to have developed an increasing number young followers with a minority who think it's part of the Ultras/Brigantes mindset to spray ''S2'' on walls and to pepper Craven Park with Brigantes stickers. People can defend this all they want but face it, this will only create segregation and animosity between the Brigantes and your general fan.

In my opinion, the concept is a great idea but will only succeed at Wigan at a certain level. The songs and flags have brought the Brigantes great publicity but using flares and stickers will only leave the group open to negative attention and the general Wigan supporter over the age of 16 doesn't want to be associated with that.

Nothing wrong with noise and atmosphere ABP, that's a natural part of a spectator sport.

But drums? The constant pounding of the one (or few at a stretch) that offends the many?

This is not part of RL. This is not part of Wigan RL. It's as alien as flares are to the game.

Do we really want this in our sport?

well said love

For its worth I'm going to add a few of my opinions/rants as some of what I've read on these 15 pages is a bit trivial to say the least;

Surely people can see that the idea or building colour, noise and atmosphere at our games has been greatly improved by the flags etc and to mock each other seems silly.

That success will inivitably bring the bad along with the good and having first hand experience of both I can assure anyone who isn't directly involved that those who put their hard earned time, effort and money into the 'Brigantes' will and do, do EVERYTHING possible to police this from inside.

The fool who did this act last night should not be seen at any of our games again and shame of his friend for not stopping him, but surely praise must be given for the fact that he has been outed and therefore steps can be put in place (ie banning order)

S2 is a great idea to allow those who want to sing to know where they will be with like minded fans in a stand that is unreserved therefore allows you to move should you not like the noise (or wish to break a drum )

Finally, and I will say it so sorry if it offends but there is the pathetic 'jealousy' thing where I see regulary the Brigantes name banished as a joke merely by those not understanding all the work behind the scenes. Some folk need to take a long hard look at themselves before they comment or try and be little the effort of others. Be that mocking a charity event, attempting to sing over anyone with a Brigantes scarf on because its funny - both are single incidents by individuals whom I know post on here.

Short of sounding old before my time - can we all not play nicely togther

Engine Man & bowtun-warrior, I really don't know what you're looking for. Policing is a general term used for the "controlling of X, Y and, Z". If you've got an image of Odem in a police officers regalia then you're barking up the wrong tree.

I beleive in regards to "we will" that is referring to the responsible members of the group. Not a single individual, but those who have worked hard over the last couple of years to develop the group, who want to safeguard the group from this kind of moronic behaviour.

So, we've all been going for a full day on this one, the Brigantes have filled you all in on what happened, and their lack of role in what happened, and assured that it is in hand, will be dealt with, and steps will be taken to ensure that, within their power, this sort of thing will not happen again.

Brett, if you're not keen on the drums, if the loud noise offends you, you can purchase ear plugs from ASDA relatively cheaply. It could be worse, Leeds have a brass band!

As far as anyone should be concerned that is it, end of story. Going over the same ground over and over is nothing short of silly and time wasting. So, time to put the matter to bed and call it that. Let's, instead, focus on what 2012 is about. The Year Of The Wolf.

Point is, why should I be forced to?

If you asked me two years ago then I'd have absolutely agreed with you but over the last couple years Wigan fans have adopted and popularised songs from European Football clubs which have a drum associated with them.

However, I do agree that drums are over played, are out of tune and that there should only be one. To be honest I'm not fussed whether we have them or not.

Brett, you really are being ridiculous. I understand completely, you don't like the drum, but as I've already demonstrated the drum is a neccessity for syncronisation of the songs which people across the stadium like the join in with.

Can a drum really prevent your enjoyment of the game? Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. Personally, I can't see how, regardless of whether the drum is beating or not, the team are still playing the same game, they're still scoring tries aren't they? You're still getting your monies worth.

I don't particularly like queuing to use the toilet, so should Mr Whelan give me my own reserved spot in the loos? For that matter, I don't particularly like queueing up to get into the stadium, so should the stewards let me in early so I can rest my weary legs?

There's space for 25'000+ people at DW Stadium, and there's going to be things that some of those 25'000 dont agree with, regardless of whether they're done by the Brigantes or not. Let's face it as well, the drums existed well before the Brigantes, and if the drum helps to syncronise the singing, then long may it continue!

Why should we be forced not to bring a drum? Will you break it if we bring one and stand near you?

All this thread has shown is that yet again BK will moan about anything, a 15 year old latics fan was an idiot, and the Brigantes have improved the atmosphere at Wigan games.

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Oooo, Conroy, you should be on the Countdown panel with a special camera to point at dictionary pages.

Couldn't be more true, especially the last bit. If BK really wants to he can set up his own organisation which is anti drums.

I really do urge anyone with concerns about the Brigantes to come and meet some of us, we will prove you wrong. I was a doubter to start with, I came around. Onedego himself had huge doubts, he came along and met the guys and now he loves it!

I dont know why everyones getting so touchy about it tbh. Other than BK who wants silence when watching the rugby ..... I think every one else has given constructive criticism and it's certainly not meant as personally as some people seem to be taking it, You all clearly work very hard to create what you have done, and it shows. Like i said in my earlier post, which I'm pretty much going to repeat now.... all the stuff with the flags and the atmosphere at matches is brilliant, I've certainly enjoyed it in the last few away games I managed to get to, and all the flags and stuff over the south stand look brilliant on match day. And the charity do was a great night and certainly somat I'd want to do again. It's merely the whole ultra thing, and the sticker thing which you should expect critiscm for. I know your not about violence, and I think everyone else who has posted the same criticism's will know you are not about violence, but to the general public who dont come on this forum and read about you guys on here they will automatically see stickers dotted about saying ultras, brigantes, s2 or whatever, see people with the scarves and just assume that you are the stereotypical group of fans that are usually associated with the name ultra.


Again, this Isn't my opinion of the brigantes, but starting any sort of "group" or fan club, is always going to make certain people see it as some sort of clique who think they are better than everyone else, even if thats not the case. Thats how its going to look to outsiders who don't know you and don't know what you do or what you are about, and theres not really anything you can do to change that. Just keep up what you are doing, and the more you stress that you dont put up with the idiots... then hopefully those idiots will stop tagging themselves as part of your "group"

Which is simply what is meant by odem saying 'police things'.

We aren't a supporters club/group like the Riversiders (who do an excellent job btw) for example as we don't have memberships. It's simply a group of fans trying to improve the atmosphere. If you want to stand with us and sing as Alex says he prefers for example, then do so. If you'd rather watch the game in a more quiet spot then do that. Nobody will criticise you for it as it's your call. If you have a song you think we (by that I mean Wigan fans in general) should sing at games then belt it out. Post it on here. Post it on the Brigantes board. The better the atmosphere, the better. If you have an idea about a flag design or a way of adding colour then do the same. Come to a meeting and put it forward. We'll listen, discuss and then have a good night out talking about rugby. Anybody who wants to be a part of creating a better atmosphere and making Wigan RL the best fans on the planet can do so. The group is simply a way of getting the ideas together and implementing them.

Now to the problem with not having members so to speak. If some chavvy kid sees a flag and decides to spray it on a wall, we can't be held responsible just because he chose to stand near us and sing. Would you hold Rockstar games responsible if a kid played GTA and decided to steal a car and run people over? I'd say it was more his upbringing than the influence of a computer game.

At the last playoff game there was a small fight at full time. We can't be blamed because the guy was stood two rows infront of us. Had he been stood on the other side of the stand would those around him have been blamed? (the club acknowledged he was nothing to do with us, as they know the main people involved) All we can say is "it wasn't one of the main organisers or one of the people we know are actively involved" We can't be blamed for people attaching themselves, all we can do is try to stop those people attaching themselves and tarnishing the name by making people aware of them. If a guy in a Wigan shirt is seen battering a guy in a Saints shirt for example. All Wigan fans are called sc*m. It's difficult to get away from unfortunately.

Finally the name. It isn't to distance ourselves from other fans. If it was then we'd have memberships and secret handshakes and private meetings. We don't. Everything we do is in the open and people can give their opinions and criticisms. The name is simply to enable us to market ourselves so that we can raise funds to help pay for the things we do. How do you think we managed to get 30 flags with an average cost of £200 each in less than a year? We now give some of this money to charities in a bid to appeal to as many people as possible. Joe Bloggs might not want to donate to a flag by buying a scarf, but he may want to donate to Wigan & Leigh Hospice by buying one, so he does. So far we have donated £300 to MacMillan and have around £500ish (still not the final count) to be donated to Wigan & Leigh Hospice.


The atmosphere at games isn't really anything to do with me it's more 21-12, Jimmybirts, Dave26 and Odem but you can't deny that they've done a superb job. Wire away in the league last year was superb. Years gone by and that stand would have been empty after 20 minutes. Wigan's support is no longer the 'Wigan walk, WIGAN WIGAN WIGAN joke that it used to be. They should be congratulated not commended because some idiot has decided to attach himself.

Anyway, I'm off to spray Justin Beiber symbols everywhere so that he gets arrested and not me