I would have preferred a statement about B V if we are staying or going, or even an announcement regarding B Smith.
I have no idea why we have to jump in making statements without knowing the facts or even before we have gained information from an investigation.
Incidents happen at every ground every week end and almost all go without any further action or rushed in to statements from the club concerned.

Perhaps its because of previous moronic behavior fro some of our fans which has resulted in fines, suspended fines that the club need to be seen to be dealing with the issue in a very pro active way.

So thats the Wakey Express headlines for Friday.

Ok, fair enough, it's just that for a few years I've not noticed any amount of away fans in there.

If the club wants to find an enclosed area for away fans to stand then the area in front of the east stand is perfectly suited and should be designated the away fans area.

get to specsavers

I wasn't at the game,Bullseye,but I'll go with your post and I bet it's not far off

We were on the half way line also and heard nothing.

I was on the edge of North Stand and I didn't hear anything either.
I don't condone it but it can't have been very loud.

I was stood behind the sticks, however at the other side of the stands to the Bradford lot.

Whilst I understand that there were chants going back and forth (yes the Bulls lot who sing were guilty of using the F word etc.) the worst of it came from a small group of Wakefield fans just behind us.

This involved racist chants and 2 or 3 idiots also mocking the Bradford City Fire. Three girls near us informed the stewards and in the end moved for another area of the ground due to the behaviour of a -very small- number of fans.

I don't think the Bulls fans singing 'you're all one family' helps and I feel it is completely pointless, however it's a completely different thing to alienating a section of the community - surely we all want to see the game do well and that involves promoting the game to everyone!

I certainly don't think you can blame away fans for choosing to stand in a certain area - HKR and Hudds fans always seem to gather on the pop side at Odsal but I can't remember it ever causing any issues.

No it should not.

Many of us season ticket holders are sat in the stand. I don't want my home match experience subject to just the sound of away fans and some of their drunken idiots. Every week will feel like an away match and frustrate the hell out of me.

The away fans can go to the western terrace which was previously designated to them.

I appreciate fans who used to enjoy standing on the western terrace (I used to also stand there as a kid) have been inconvenienced by the locating of away fans there.

As small consolation there are other places to stand around the ground. As a seated season ticket holder there is nowhere else to sit.

Also, the east stand has been previously designated as the family area.

What I don't understand about this situation is that, a minority of supporters from both clubs were involved in the "chanting" at each other.
There was language used by both groups and yet, because there are complaints from some Bradford supporters, Wakefield are in the dock again

Surely, the stewards who were present in he Northstand can give the club full chapter and verse on what went on.

I don't condone any of the language used (by both groups) but it was noticeable that a few Bulls fans were getting into the stewards ears and one can only presume that this is where the complaints have originated.

IF there was any unacceptable behaviour, surely the stewards took or would have taken the appropriate action ???

talk about burying your heads in the sand and pretending nothing's happening
you all deserve the stick you get and whatever befalls your club,
pathetic, rather than address the problems facing your club you'd rather just abuse other fans posting on here.

enjoy dewsbury

... and the real Meast arrives. Gets some stick for blatant trolling and starts crying.

Wow.



Are you blind, or stupid, or both?

No one here condones anti social behaviour or have you missed that bit. Don't see any head sticking in the sand here.

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.

You are right that complaints should be taken seriously but, group's of BOTH sets of supporters were as daft as each other.
I don't condone the chanting by the Wakefield fans but the "banter" (I think that's the modern phrase for insulting someone) was going in both
directions.

So lets root out the culprits and deal with them.

Having said that, there were several hundred Bulls fans (women and children included) joining in with the "same family" chant, or was that one ok because there weren't any expletives in it.

What message does that send out to the families that were at the game

I would like to know that my club takes complaints seriously; I would also like to think that they have the organisational maturity not to immediately assume that any complaint is 100% true - so they would carry out a proper investigation before making stupidly over the top public statements admitting full liability.

And as for this family sport nonsense - don't make me laugh; every RL ground in the country is a seething cauldron of foul and abusive language - even the bastion of holier than thou supporters that is Odsal.

So yes, I'm afraid this is about sour grapes.

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.

Will all users please stop quoting meast, I'm fed up of its pooh stirring rants so I've added it to 'foes', but that doesn't work if you quote it.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.