There is so much drivel on here... Firstly... Players were not fighting with their own 'fans'. They were sorting out some people that came along for the day who rarely attend any games whatsoever.

I've been watching Salford home and away for over 30 years, and talk of Salford having a history of this is crap. I've seen comments about trouble at The Willows which stopped people going... 30 years I stood in that ground and I've never seen bricks thrown from Salford supporters, and can only recall one incident in that time... which was started by Saints fans singing 'Munich'.

At worst it's usually a some idiot tanked up and throwing a beer following a decision that they don't understand. I'm also led to believe that one of the key people in the images is actually a Wigan supporter who came along for the day... so should we look at having a pop at Wigan fans too ? Answer... no.

I've refused to comment so far because I wasn't involved... But I'm pretty sure there are some people on those pics that were also in the middle of this trying to stop the situation from getting worse that have been caught at the wrong time by the photographer... which then will make them a suspect when perhaps they shouldn't be. A photograph doesn't always tell the full story.

The club will see video footage of this and make a decision on what to do next.

Every club has it's balloons... But every clubs supporters by majority are good, decent and honest people... and Salford are no different.

Bank Holiday games bring out an excuse to get tanked up. I'd be more than happy to see a dry ground... but of course that will never happen because of the money involved. Crowds and profits would dip... But I'm all for that... coming to a game should be about watching the sport rather than an excuse to have a few pints... Trouble often follows a few beers... and I'd imagine this is no different.

Salford will need no encouragement from anybody to investigate this. They won't need warnings, fines or points deductions... they are on it and will do what ever is required to ensure it doesn't happen again. A club shouldn't be punished because a few people who came along for one game and ruined it for everyone. The club will be hurting right now, and the real fans will hurt too.

I've said the same thing before - but there has to be some sanction from the governing body and since they have no power to sanction the individuals involved, the club has to be the proxy; Salford will face censure, just as Castleford did when a few idiots chanted at Gareth Thomas, and more recently Wakefield, when a tiny minority of supporters misbehaved at the MPG.

Sadly there was a steward and a child hurt in this. It wasn't just those at the front either- stewards had to go into the crowd well before this incident and deal with two seperate incidents with two seperate groups towards the back of the crowd, then before this melee someone near the front set off a flare. To suggest "they weren't Salford fans" is rubbish. They were sat with Salford fans in the Salford side of the ground so were Salford fans. I can understand decent Salford fans trying to distance themselves from idiots- but they are your idiots and there were more than one group of them. Last May the Salford club stated they would give life bans to fans who caused trouble in the game between hudds and Salford at the AJ bell. (Fighting in lumps outside the stadium then too) So looks like they still have problems.

When you put a dog in a stable... Is it a horse ?

No , but the horses in it would kick it out

I have the utmost sympathy , most clubs can end up attracting ' numptys ' with a bit of success , hope it and they can get it sorted

Without having multiple camera angles and video from different sources it is impossible to say how serious this incident was or how many involved so comments about it being blown out of oroportion etc are ridiculous

The big issue is how this actually looks.

For a game that prides itself on
being a family game
female friendly
good links with players and fans
looking good on TV
needing good publicity
this is an absolute disaster.

Whilst the 50 or 100 people on here might try to put it in it's context this is irrelevant

IT is all over the BBC, Guardian, Dai;ly mail, sun internet, twitter etc

What hundreds of thousands will see is morons fighting, women and kids being scared and hurt, players fighting in the crowd

unfortunarely this means that the RFL will have to make an example of the players the fans and the club.

Anything less will be picked up on as weakness and not sending the right message.

I feel very sorry for the players because they responded in the way that anyone in their position would and i actually applaud what they did in the same way that i did with eric cantona but they will have to be punished to set an example.

I hope the editors of 'Horse and Hound' magazine are aware of the fact that horses don't like dogs



I think you'll find that the 'Horses' in the stable will do whatever they can to kick out the 'dogs' and stop them from ever coming into the stable again.

I concur , and wish you the best of in achieving it , there but for the grace of god go all of us

I don't quite see who was in danger when Eric Cantona kung fu kicked a spectator shouting abuse at him?

I can't see anything happening to the players to be honest. It would cause outrage if a player is fined or banned for protecting their family... Unless their family were being provocative, which I haven't heard any reports of.

Like they did following the problems at the AJ bell last May?
Either it's the same dogs so the horses have been ineffective, or you have a problem in that you are attracting new dogs and need to find out why. Don't bury your head in the straw. This isn't a one off- don't pretend the dogs are just one off visitors.
All clubs have idiots. Don't pretend they aren't fans.

The only way RL can get lead story on the BBC Sport website, a few idiots fighting, nice.

There are a number of one off visitors in those photos... Just have to believe me on this one. This is a new problem not an old one rearing it's head again.

You think the Daily Mail [idoesn't[/i have an agenda? The Daily Mail?

I'm not saying you're right or wrong but these idiots have put a stain on your club that will stick for a while. The RFL have to do something and that will be in the form of a fine / sanctions for the club. If the RFL say there is nothing we can do, these weren't RL fans then they will look more incompetent than they usually do.

It was a rugby league match, inside the stadium, involving people who had attached themselves to Salford, be it for the day or lifelong fans.

It's a disgusting sh|thouse purveyor of hate, racism and aggression. And sadly is only slightly worse than the other billionaire-owned newspapers and media.

It's made the main radio 1 news item.

Front page of BBC News website now as well.

Read your own post and mine again- point bloody proved. Talk about the actual incident for ****'s sake

Great. Well done those drunk losers. Whole sport's image battered again because a few brain-dead blowhards can't hold their drink.

I know I'm in a minority on this, but I'd support an alcohol ban in all stadium on match days, and also allow the exclusion of any fans believed to have had a few too many prior to a match.

I don't blame the players at all. I do hope there's a way we can get the culprits arrested, charged, and banged up (as well as obviously being banned from any form of rugby league, professional or amateur, for life).

I agree with this mostly, but I'd far prefer a ****head ban to an alcohol ban. Most folk have a beer, enjoy the game and have a laugh with their mates. Beer doesn't turn decent blokes into ****heads, it turns ****heads into even bigger ****heads.

I have talked about the incident. I've read your post. So I'll ask you again, do you really think the Daily Mail [idoesn't[/i have an agenda?

The problem for me is Salford will most likely be fined for the actions of a few brain dead idiots.

I’m not sure what the travelling club can do if a couple of “supporters” decide to take a flare to an away match, or some decide to drink above their limits & act like divy's

Sure, they can slap bans on the culprits after the event, but whatever kicks off in the ground should be dealt with by the home club.

It’s a sad state of affairs if we have to go down the non-drinking route or even searches before entering grounds, but if needs must.

Yes, then let's complete segregation in the grounds, and next let's have hundreds of police escorting separate sets of fans to and from the ground, in fact let's be football. I so look forward to being treated as an irresponsible and potentially dangerous oaf.

This wasn't caused by drink inside in the ground. I was there and whilst the majority of lads had been drinking during the game (one or two), it would have happened regardless.

It all started by setting a flare off towards the end of the game, once the stewards came in, it was thrown onto the pitch. Once the game finished, a couple from this group managed to get on the pitch and were quickly escorted out of the ground by the stewards. It seemed the rest of the group took exception to this and rushed down to the bottom to confront the stewards. At the same time, a Salford fan had gone over to confront the lad who lit the flare and basically told him to leave that kind of thing at Old Trafford, next minute more pushing and shoving. So at the same time you've got two separate instances of people pushing and shoving whilst the wives and young children of players who had moved down to the bottom of the stand to congratulate their partners/fathers ended up getting caught up in the middle of it. Naturally Carney and Sa'u jumped in to get their families away from the trouble and it resulted in Junior restraining one supporter (I am sure you've seen the picture).

I'm not defending the actions of those involved and I hope that they are identified and banned accordingly, not only for their actions but for bringing the sport of RL into disrepute BUT the media coverage has been the biggest overreaction to an incident I have ever witnessed before in my life. If you have chance to look at the videos and photographs, take out the stewards, players and coaching staff and you're left with 10-15 or so "fans" most of which were trying to get in the middle to calm it down.

I didn't see a single punch thrown, just lots of pushing, shoving and shirt grabbing. It certainly wasn't this mass brawl the national newspapers are trying to portray.

As a temporary measure I'd support an alcohol ban and even security searches as each fan enters the ground for flares/smoke bombs etc