The punishment should land firmly on the perpetrators.
It is a criminal offence to encroach onto a pitch and I do hope that those identified will be prosecuted.
If found guilty they will then have a criminal record.
That would be real punishment IMO and a reminder to anyone else thinking about doing the same that the consequencies will be very severe.

That would be just gravy. I would love it.

This has been depressing me all day since it happened. A few s and all of a sudden we're in the gutter, and I can't argue with it because what those people did was totally wrong. All credit to all those especially Cas fans who have not aimed at Widnes fans in general. I'm astonished the amount of people who haven't chosen to lay into us so far, as I would understand if they did.

Walked away yesterday feeling as negative as I ever have and I didn't even see the incidents as I left a minute early to beat traffic.

We can't punish them with bans, they don't care. They wont give one iota of care to the punishment the club is up for either. The people responsible will need to be punished elsewhere if we're going to really hold them accountable. I sincerely hope the police get involved.

What would be good is if after Widnes face their inevitable fine they could collectively sue anyone caught for wrongdoing.

Widnes (and Widnes fans) are doing a lot to identify these idiots and issue bans and hopefully criminal proceedings. I've seen via twitter a lot of people sending pictures and videos to GMP. Keep them coming because we don't want them in our game.

Chris. I think the majority of rugby fans, know that this is not the whole of the Widnes fan based. The prompt condemnation from your own ranks to testimony to this and perhaps why there is such widespread agreement on this point. Some people have pointed out, with some justification it would appear, that some of those involved were NOT bored football supports on a tanked up day out and the only things that could be criticised would be if this become the "party line". Rugby doesnt need these idiot, Widnes Vikings RLFC doesnt need these idiot. Hopefully a way can be found of starting to alienate them.

Name shame and ban the scum from every ground and game for life. I feel sorry for the genuine widnes fans who were not involved and had to watch that.

I was thinking about this. If the Widnes club was fined for damage to reputation of the game etc. Could Widnes then take civil action against those fans to recoup the costs of any fine.

I'm not one to support litigation, but with so many fans identified. Lets say you can name 100 of them.

If the fine on Widnes was say £50,000

Then surely any civil court would impose say a £500 damages on each individual to compensate the club.

Or the RFL could impose a fine, reducing it for every fan taken to court by the Widnes club. The club can then decided whether it's worth the cost of recouping the money. Lets face it with the impact on sponsors they could get even more out of these scum.

I'm sure some will meet criminal proceedings but nothing to stop Widnes latching onto that and getting some damages. Leaving the blame, cost and punishment were it truely should lie, with the pondscum that soiled the clubs name.

Gets my vote

Sorry totally missed this post.

Good thinking that man.

Just watched the footage on youtube and saw the stuff on tv yesterday.

Shameful scenes that you rarely even see at football games thesedays.

The RFL should do the decent thing and dock Widnes points NOW.

I am still raging with what happened yesterday. But what exactly could Widnes as a club have done differently to prevent it happening? I thought the stewards were weak and not overly proactive and the police were quite slow in showing up. If the game was at Widnes, then Widnes as a club should be held 100% accountable. I respect that James rule (is it?) Is being proactive about wanting names and such. But I don't really know how punishing Widnes as a club will prevent it happening again?!

All clubs have some sort of unruly following usually tanked up angry teenage hot-heads, of which my club has quite a few!
What was worrying here was the vast majority were grown men, late twenties through to forties. These lot need to arrested, put up before the magistrates and then named (with mugshot) and shamed in the local papers for all to see.
Lifetime bans need to be handed out and each one prosecuted at least.

I would then like all Rugby League clubs to issue a statement (via the RFL) to their own fans to show that similar behaviour will not be tolerated with similar punishments given.

Widnes will recover from this (as long as they have been seen to have done something). Banter aside I've always taken pride in following 'the family game', I need to feel re-assured that I can take my two lads to away games without fear both inside and outside the grounds. It's up to Widnes to make that possible.