No problem with the Brigantes. Next.

If you don't like swearing you can f*ck off

Nice. You user name is very apt.

You can still have banter without swearing. Your assertion that swearing is necessary to have atmosphere is wide of the mark.

Clearly that's not what I'm saying, but well done for having a go.

The whole idea of finding words offensive is a bit of a mystery to me. Words are nothing but an arrangement of letters. If someone finds a word offensive then I'd think them a bit daft. The context can be offensive, but a word in itself? If someone says "what the f*** are you doing?" to someone it has the exact same meaning as "what on earth are you doing?" so why would someone be annoyed at the former and not the latter?
Besides, people choose what they find offensive. If someone is offended by swearing then they've decided to be and it's their own choice. The simple solution is just stop being offended by it. You're perfectly capable of doing so.

I can understand parents not wanting their kids to be around swearing and not wanting to start swearing because it's perceived as something bad and they might think it reflects badly on their kids or themselves.

Still, I can't help but think that if everyone just decided that words on their own aren't offensive and only the context could be offensive then things would be a lot simpler.

Massive irony fail on here. If I was being serious would I have bothered censoring the actual swear word?

So explain why swearing is banned on this forum then.

Fair enough. I can understand you wanting to introduce humour into this.

However, I think this a very serious issue and as rugby fans we either allow it and go down a similar road to football or we do not tolerate bad behaviour.

I watched an ugly scene at the end of the game yesterday with stewards getting to grips with a badly behaved Saints fan. I had a middle aged Saints fan tell me it was Wigan's fault because we should have been segregated and they should have had the North Stand. Does anyone remember Central Park - there was no need for segregation then, so what has changed?

Again, I will state that abusive chanting was rife in the eighties, this isn't a new thing. Probably even worse as we had racist chanting thrown in as well...(at least we didn't get bananas thrown on the pitch yesterday, like we saw thrown at Knowsley Road years back).

And let's not get misty eyed about how trouble free games at Central Park were(and on the road). Some of the worst violence I've ever seen in my life at RL games were back in the mid-late 80's / early 90's.

That's alright then. Let's take spears to Huddersfield. Only joking like innit

I find the Brigantes bashing and similar threads like this a bit baffling to be honest.

I may be getting old but I remember in the 90s whenever we played Leeds and Bradford inflatable sheep would be thrown around the Popular Side while a noisy rendition of "All Yorkshire men shag sheep" to the tune of Ilkley Moor would be sung by half the stand. This was often followed by the lyrically less demanding "Sheep, sheep, sheepshaggers" chant or a further rendition of Ikley Moor but this time "Baa baa baa ba baa, baa baa baa baa SHEEEEP!". Equally the "f&ck off you Saints" chant was heard at Stains matches at least as often then and there was an offensive song accusing a leading Saints player of being a paedophile luring in children with a cheeky smile and a packet of sweets, that one was very popular.

Other songs regularly and very noisily aired back then at derby games included "He's only a poor little scouser" (you still hear it but not as often as 20 years ago) which while not obscene is far worse IMO than the use of the f-word in the "5 times in a row" song, as is the traditional northern air "In the referee's home" which threatens murder and arson against the referee and his family.

If RL has been a cosy, family sport it hasn't been like that for more than 20 years. You have to accept that your kids are going to hear bad language and more worryingly be exposed to cultural influences towards violence etc and the odd bit of chanting and singing at RL games is not really a big factor. RL is a positive influence and the inevitable songs and chants are just something we all have to deal with (while enjoying them in many, but not all, cases).

Fine. So tell me why swearing is banned on this forum.