To return to the hypothetical question...



The precedent is already set in football.



It will always be the club to whom the fans belong that is punished. The alternative would encourage such behaviour where fierce rivalries exist.



With regards to the fine for Cas, the justification for it was the clubs lack of action to address the issue by identifying and excluding fans with the evidence available.



I think Cas were harshly treated for what was an isolated incident, I think the RFL should have been stronger and made a statement that it was just that and that it would be treated as such. Instead they panicked at the potential for negative publicity and over reacted, the impression has now been given that there is a problem within the game.

Gareth Thomas (with the assistance of his agent) has also manipulated the situation. His statement which included the line "something had to be done" in the context of homophobia in RL as opposed to the incident itself does him no credit. An unpleasant fact of life is that alternative lifestyles will always attract negative/abusive comments from certain people (please note I did not say "lifestyle choice"icon_wink.gif. Thats not to say that it is acceptable, however I do not accept that Rugby League fans have an issue with homophobia or racism anymore than any other cross section of society and would go as far as to say it is more accepting and tolerant than most.

Absolutely correct , this is nothing more than a group of teenagers being a nuisance , and should have been treated as such



The words ' Sticks and stones ' comes to mind

Without wishing to be offensive to anyone, isn't it ironic that if the fans shouted at a heterosexual player "Hey, soandso, you big puff!" it would not be considered particularly offensive and no action would be taken but to shout the same thing at a player who actually is homosexual is considered offensive and demands action.

Aye, i've always thought the same. Every set of fans have been calling and chanting about other players being gay for years, our own 'Barmy' Army infamously chanting the very witty 'Holroyd is a homosexual' for years at his time at Doncaster for example. Chanting 'Thomas is a homosexual' now gets you a fine, even though factually correct.

Jokes aside, always the wrong thing to chant at anyone anyway, infact swearing and calling any rugby player a big jessy is just daft anyway, when they're clearly not.

.... but I thought Thomas was. Isn't that the point of the discussion?





Only joking (honest).