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.

You said that people who are offended should not attend, so clearly it is.

I think there should be a points deduction for Wigan to send out a strong message that using profanities is not acceptable in a family sport.

Well all the also rans need some way to stop us being the dominant force....

Nobody has mentioned the Brigantes, but if they are involved or to blame they're as open to criticism as anybody else aren't they? Or is this leading to another "you can't have atmosphere without swearing" argument?


To be honest I'm slightly bemused by how swearing can be so important to someone that they're unwilling to put it on hold while there are children present.

Some people need get a grip

Wigan like most RL clubs has a very large percentage of women attending games.

Possibly as high as 40%.

Football would give their right arms to have that percentage of women at matches. RL has always had a much higher percentage of women attending than football.

Maybe that's why we don't suffer the hooliganism anything like the albatross that has hung around footballs necks.

RL fans are normally better behaved. Is this due to all the women ?

I wonder how the women like the foul language that is being argued about on this thread ?

If they go, and I suspect most women don't approve of bad language, will our crowds behaviour follow footballs behaviour ?

Whilst I'm sure the vast majority wouldn't approve, let's not paint them whiter than white. In last years Challenge Cup Semi Final, I was stood next to two young girls (early 20's) who shouted out a few things at a certain Saints player that frankly shocked me, stuff I've not heard on terraces in over two decades.