Re: Club statement : Tue Aug 18, 2015 10:16 pm  

Bully_Boxer wrote:

Well if I was a Wakey fan I'd be pleased to see my club taking the complaints seriously and I genuinely hope they can find a solution. Posters using the excuse that it's just sour grapes because of the result are I'm afraid talking nonsense. We're meant to be a family sport and we should fight hard to make sure it stays that way. Good luck for the rest of the season.

I was stood in North Stand, and shared friendly banter with Bulls fans. I hate the nastier chants, and can't believe fans are allowed to get away with them (all teams do it, without exception, so please everyone quit the holier than thou rubbish). But I hate that bloody drum even more!

Re: Club statement : Tue Aug 18, 2015 10:46 pm  

I guess the incidents of the recent past are what is making the club twitchy on this and in this case rightly so, there is no excuse for racial chanting. And yes it happened because i heard it and it made me cringe with embarrassment. Yes there was other so called 'banter' between the two sets of fans which you expect but the valley parade one was another that overstepped the line. Whether segregation would make any difference to these dead heads chanting this type of thing is debatable though. But like it or not our reputation and a club and as a set of fans is now poor and continually diminishing and something has to be done.

Re: Club statement : Wed Aug 19, 2015 12:09 am  

JINJER wrote:

I'm afraid the days of being a family sport have long gone, we've spent games in the thrupenny stand at Hull, in the South stand at Headingley etc, not a chance nowadays, you'd get lynched if you stood in the middle of away fans and gave banter as you did 15yrs since.

Jeez Jing, over 50 years ago at the age of 14 I was offered outside at Hull just because I was sporting Cas colours. (a scarf).
Theres always been banter and \I hope there always will be its just that over the years the mindset of what is acceptable has changed. Think back to a very popular programme called "The comedians" The so called comedians including a black Yorkshire man called Charlie Williams who said much worse and we all laughed.

Re: Club statement : Wed Aug 19, 2015 1:41 am  

Theres a fine line between banter and hostility these days. Old school will call it banter and laugh it off,new generations will see it as hostility and not be on the same page.

Re: Club statement : Wed Aug 19, 2015 5:38 am  

I agree that what is alleged to have been sung was inappropriate, offensive and out of order.

However can Bradford fans honestly tell me that they've never, ever, ever heard such offensive singing at any other rugby ground? Because if they say they haven't they'd be lying.

Let's not stick our head in the sand and pretend this is an isolated incident. The only significant difference here is that the club (Wakefield) have publicly acknowledged it.

How long did it take a team like Widnes (just one example) to admit they had a problem with violent fans 2-3 years ago? There were incidents at Bradford, Wakefield, Hull FC (to name but three) and the club said nothing. It was only when there was trouble at Warrington did they finally make a statement.

Whilst Widnes took a while to acknowledge they had a small number of hooligans, not many clubs acknowledge they have a minority of bigoted, offensive fans.

Maybe Wakefield are a little bit more open about these things. That is good and bad. Good that it is brought into the open and not swept under the carpet. Bad in that it creates negative publicity which makes small minded people think the problem is unique to us.

I've never had any training in how to be a steward. However I guess the problem is difficult to tackle there and then. A bunch of 10-15 people (or maybe more) are difficult to be told "don't say that or I'll eject you". In the heat of the moment approaching such a group could lead to a much more significant disagreement.

Re: Club statement : Wed Aug 19, 2015 7:53 am  

wildshot,
I've never had any training in how to be a steward. However I guess the problem is difficult to tackle there and then. A bunch of 10-15 people (or maybe more) are difficult to be told "don't say that or I'll eject you". In the heat of the moment approaching such a group could lead to a much more significant disagreement.

and this is why segregation is a must.... also it's easier to eject individuals with pop bottles

Re: Club statement : Wed Aug 19, 2015 10:47 am  

Theboyem wrote:

But like it or not our reputation and a club and as a set of fans is now poor and continually diminishing and something has to be done.

If it is, that's only because certain individuals have created the myth - and the club has been naively paternal in its responses; as Vastman has suggested, playing the angry Dad routine and making idle threats via press releases is an admission of guilt before any formal process has been carried out - and that's not how to handle complaints at an organisational level. It feeds into the perception that Wakefield as a club has a 'problem' with supporters - which it doesn't, any more than any other club does.

For example - every single time Leeds are on telly, the much lauded South Stand will sing a chorus about what a merchant banker the referee is; it's clearly audible on Sky microphones and yet is never mentioned by the commentators and there's never a public apology from the club. If there were any complaints about it, I can absolutely guarantee you that Hetherington would *not* issue a press release condemning the chanters and promising to ban them for life - partly because it's an admission before the facts and partly because he knows it's a) part and parcel of the modern world and b) impossible to enforce.

The modern phenomenon of social media is a perfect vehicle for the creation of faux hysteria and faceless outrage at the actions of others who we perceive to have offended us - I agree that there are lines which should not be crossed, but being offended is not fatal, nor are we protected from it under law; so if Mr Carter wants to make BV an offense-free zone, then he needs to bite the bullet and despatch a large number of properly trained and empowered stewards to police the crowd and remove anyone who is perceived to be misbehaving - good luck with that though - it's literally impossible to achieve.

I can't wait for my next trip to Odsal - I will take a notepad, write down everything that offends me, and demand a meeting with their Chairman to lodge all of my grievances - let's see if he responds in the same way that we have.

Re: Club statement : Wed Aug 19, 2015 10:53 am  

newgroundb4wakey wrote:

Jeez Jing, over 50 years ago at the age of 14 I was offered outside at Hull just because I was sporting Cas colours. (a scarf).
Theres always been banter and \I hope there always will be its just that over the years the mindset of what is acceptable has changed. Think back to a very popular programme called "The comedians" The so called comedians including a black Yorkshire man called Charlie Williams who said much worse and we all laughed.

Regarding Hull,all I can assume is that you look a bad 'un!

Re: Club statement : Wed Aug 19, 2015 12:08 pm  

Well in typical style MC has managed to crush a huge positive on Saturday with an overblown negative as far as I can see.

On the plus side that means another positive is on the way.

I'm beginning to wonder that if this is the methodology that runs through the club it's no surprise the teams attitude was so defeatist.

[PopTart]

Re: Club statement : Wed Aug 19, 2015 12:12 pm  

I'm certain that methodology and attitude has affected the players directly Vasty.
I don't think carter gets that at all.