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Castleford fined £40,000 for homophobic chants by fans

Patorick

Patorick

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_league/super_league/castleford/8772418.stm

Castleford Tigers have been fined £40,000 by the Rugby Football League after fans aimed homophobic abuse at Crusaders' Gareth Thomas.
Thomas, 35, announced in December 2009 that he was gay.
"The RFL finds homosexual abuse unacceptable, which is reflected in the size of the fine," RFL spokesman John Ledger told BBC Sport.
Castleford chief executive Richard Wright said he was "shocked" by the decision, adding the club will appeal.
"The evidence does not support the decision and does not in any way support the scale of the penalty. We totally refute the outcome of the hearing," stated Wright, whose club have had half the fine suspended until the end of 2011.
Thomas, who has captained Wales and the British and Irish Lions rugby union sides, was subjected to the abuse during the Crusaders' visit to The Jungle in the Super League on March 26.
Castleford's legal advisor, Rod Findlay added: "The club condemns any person who makes or chants obscene remarks towards players or officials.
"But the charges against the club are not that there was chanting, they are that the club failed to take its best endeavours to prevent or stop any chanting.
"This the club refutes totally. The club has a well-established system for dealing with chanting and could not have done any more on the day."
Castleford will receive a full written judgement before the end of the week and have until 14 July to appeal.
The RFL has stressed that it has taken more steps than any other governing body to crack down on homophobia having joined forces with gay rights charity Stonewall.
"Our sport is viewed by Stonewall as a model with the way it deals with issues around homosexuality," stated Ledger.
"In March 2009 we signed the Stonewall Charter to show our commitment towards these issues. The RFL is the only national governing body to have joined the Stonewall diversity programme which raises awareness over diversity issues.
"All RFL staff undertake a mandatory equality and diversity training programme," he added.
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Good on the RFL for this.
 
bartman

bartman

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Good on the RFL for this. A fine (and threat of more) will make the club get their sh*t in order in terms of Respect among their supporters.
 
JessEel

JessEel

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langpark said:
are you kidding!? kick out the few who were chanting and get on with it. Complete over-reaction.
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But that's the thing. Castleford made no attempt to stop the chanting, or kick out the small section of crowd doing it. By allowing it to go on, they affectivly 'approved' of it, and yeap, i agree - good on the RFL for fining them.

The fine BTW was part of a suspended fine from bad behaviour a few years ago involving trowing of bottles by Castleford fans. They sound charming :?
 
Paullyboy

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How is it the fault of the Castelford club though? It's the ground security who should have acted, not some administrator from the club.

Ridiculous case of not knowing who to blame so just picking the easy target.
 
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nadera78

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Paullyboy said:
How is it the fault of the Castelford club though? It's the ground security who should have acted, not some administrator from the club.

Ridiculous case of not knowing who to blame so just picking the easy target.
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The club own the stadium. Therefore it's their responsibility.

The RFL have done the right thing here.
 
JessEel

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Similar situation to a few years ago when the Bulldogs fans got their club fined and banned from night games i guess... Club then implemented a code of conduct, and things are alot better there now!!
 
E

Evil Homer

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Paullyboy said:
How is it the fault of the Castelford club though? It's the ground security who should have acted, not some administrator from the club.

Ridiculous case of not knowing who to blame so just picking the easy target.
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Clubs always get fined for crowd trouble, fair or not that is the procedure used in every sport worldwide. Castleford have been in trouble as a club in the past over the poor behaviour of their fans too, I seem to remember some sort of incident in a game against Catalans last year?

Edit: Yeah, they were fined £40,000 with half of it suspended last year and have now had to pay that too. http://www.superleague.co.uk/article.php?id=18222
 
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ucantseeme

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what exactly were they chanting?

I've been guilty of singing "... (away team) takes it up the arse doo dah..."

No big deal. If you buy a ticket you have the right to scream whatever you want no matter how offensive.
 
roughyedspud

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ucantseeme said:
what exactly were they chanting?

I've been guilty of singing "... (away team) takes it up the arse doo dah..."

No big deal. If you buy a ticket you have the right to scream whatever you want no matter how offensive.
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not if what you're singing breaks the law you can't....



but...saying that....... all yorkshiremen shag sheep.......thats a given :crazy:
 
deluded pom?

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roughyedspud said:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/super_league/castleford/8772418.stm

"Our sport is viewed by Stonewall as a model with the way it deals with issues around homosexuality," stated Ledger.
"In March 2009 we signed the Stonewall Charter to show our commitment towards these issues. The RFL is the only national governing body to have joined the Stonewall diversity programme which raises awareness over diversity issues."
Click to expand...


I wonder why no one else has signed up to the Stonewall Charter. Is it because they know they are on a hiding to nothing in trying to uphold the points raised by Casgate? I'm in no way condoning what was chanted but you heard last week the South Stand at Leeds berating James Graham as a fat ginger b****** and calling the ref a wanker. Where does the policing of this sort of thing begin and end? I think the RFL have opened a very big can of worms here.
 
roughyedspud

roughyedspud

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you can call gingers whatever you like...afterall they are'nt human are they?...


in all seriousness where does it stop? race and sexual preference...apparently..everything else should be fair game imo...including calling gingers sub-human
 
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WireMan

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As someone with Ginger hair i don't think Thomas can complain about anything. If he got abused everyday at school since he was 6 about being gay then fair enough.

I doubt that happened though.

Anti Ginger chants are on a par with insults about the colour of skin. Probably worse as they are seen as harmless fun.
 
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Evil Homer

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wireman said:
as someone with ginger hair i don't think thomas can complain about anything. If he got abused everyday at school since he was 6 about being gay then fair enough.

I doubt that happened though.

Anti ginger chants are on a par with insults about the colour of skin. Probably worse as they are seen as harmless fun.
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I'm hoping this post is a joke?
 
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