Personally, I'd love to see a banner for Monaghan:

Wanted for war crimes:
Joel Monaghan
aka Slobberdown Myknobyoubitch

I take it wire won't let away fans in if they go dressed as Keith Laird from That Peter Kay Thing/Phoenix Nights.

Pathetic

Where sexuality or race is concerned I would agree completley to fining clubs, but this is completley different.

Players who have done foolish things in every sport have had to deal with the consequences of their actions, part of which is being slated by opposition fans.

I seem to remember a certain betting incident where fans waved betting slips in the air, did they get fined?


Smith is scared that poor old Monaghan is going to have his game affected by fans and is doing everything he can to make sure he can come over to england and have a fairytale start to his career without anyone calling him any names....

Well im sorry but it just isn't gonna happen

They are never dogs when inebriated.

No, i'm pretty sure this one still was!

All my own work...

Build a kennel
Build a kennel
Find a girlfriend who goes woof,
Rub some ketchup on your bell-end
Let a Shih-Tzu lick it off

Well said. Not sure what the controversy is tbh. Smith hasn't said anything out of order. He even acknowledges that Monaghan will get stick and says he hopes it is done in the right manner. I have never seen a quote attributed to him about the Cas fine.

As for Monaghan, he did something stupid, he now must take the stick that comes his way, and I would expect it to be good humoured, as many of the things I have seen quoted here and elsewhere are pretty funny.

I don't think a game of 'fetch' is appropriate in the circumstances...

Gonna have to be careful with this one, I can see!!!

Who is Keith Laird?

Think Smith is reasonable with his comments. He's intelligent enough to understand that there will be banter, and in the right context, he's even endorsed it for its humour value. Not sure why everyone is so quick to aim the gun at him, although I'd imagine those people obviously haven't read it properly..

Channel 4 were at pains to say it's not Keith Lard

I have emailed the RFL to draw their attention to these reports and asking them to get Wire to issue a clarificatory statement.

Gareth Thomas has done nothing whatsoever to be ashamed of, in fact quite the opposite - as an "out" gay man in sport he should be applauded for his courage.

I'm sure Smith was just using the Thomas case as an example of how the RFL will take action on abusive chanting (which is clearly wrong - because its abuse - whatever the rights and wrongs of the subject matter) and wasn't attempting to draw a comparison between the two cases, but I think it would be best for everyone if he/Wire could make that explicitly clear.