In terms of atmosphere, that's how!



Be honest with yourself, the game has always been intended to be played in front of a live crowd at the ground. A live crowd made up of home and visiting supporters cheering, chanting, ooohhing and arrghing throughout the game. The atmosphere is a big part of what we love about or sport!!!



We don't want supposed fans sat on their backsides at home thinking 'well I subscribe to SKY sports....so I've done my bit for my home team and rugby league....they'll get the money from SKY anyway'. We could all choose that option, and where would the game be then.



What we want is vibrant games and game atmospheres that gets the next generation of supporters and newcomers to the game hooked, and keeps them coming back to watch their team, home or away!. Frankly when some of the afore mentioned teams are in town that atmosphere, that addictive atmosphere...just isn't there. Credit to the 20, 50, 100 or so visiting fans from these teams, they do their best to contribute to the atmosphere but it's the impracticalities or easy options making others stay away from the game, that is killing the game.



Sadly as a game we live so deep in SKY's pocket that we have no choice but to follow the future which they are setting out for our game.....atmosphere or no atmosphere! Perhaps we could even see a future franchise rulling by SKY...teams must be located in a SKY catchment area of above 100,000 subscribers! Scary!



=#0040FFEdit by Bonzo - quote fixed. Don't mess with them unless you know how.

Whilst this may still be a sensitive subject with some, posts like this which contain personal insults are unacceptable. This response could also be considered as condoning the actions for which the club has been subsequently fined and you'd be wise to consider the content of any future posts on the subject. In the meantime, you might like to review the [url=http://viewtopic.php?f=1&t=438945AUP[/url.

Well, tbh, I was thinking of something beginning with t when I typed idiot, but restrained myself in light of tge AUP and the swear filter. Still you've managed to make it clear that homophobia and homophobic abuse aren't in any sense a real issue.

Quote tigers67="tigers67" your and even bigger fool that i had you down for if you think GT hasnt mentioned it quite a few times since the day he was so terribly mentally scared,'"

Like I said, the only people I see constantly mentioning it are Cas fans having a go at another club and their fans, or very rarely Wakey and other trolls using it to have a go at Cas.

Quote tigers67="tigers67" the chanting was pathetic nothing at all to get upset about. not even really offensive, we can see you holding hands doesnt really bring a grown man to tears does it.'"

If the chanting was just 'we can see you holding hands' you'd have a case for it being nothing serious and just banter. We both know it was more than that. It was abusive, including the lovely 'Gareth Thomas takes it up the a***"

Quote tigers67="tigers67" stop being a know it all pr1k. '"

aw …

Quote tigers67="tigers67"were you there no i doubt it. '"

No. Despite being a season ticket holder, there are still sometimes games I can't get to. On this ocassion I was on the Orient Express on my way to Venice as my 50th birthday present









Gareth Thomas is not the reason we got fined. Crusaders club is not the reason we got fined. Crusaders fans certainly aren't the reason we got fined. You don't blame the victim for the crime, you blame the perpetrators. The reason we got fined was some of our own moronic element deciding it would be big and clever to abuse a rugby league player because of his sexuality.



As I've said before, from its statement, the club has a good case for an appeal based on the fact that we do take homophobic abuse seriously and did take relevant and necessary steps. That case is undermined by people pretending that homophobic abuse is not an issue – that just makes the RFL's case for it: it's not taken seriously enough and the governing body needs to take strong action.





if you agree its not relevant, why mention it?



'"

"Hello, hello. What's going on? What's all this shouting? We'll have no trouble here."





tb>>>>tigers67 "You're my wife now Dave".



Sorry, couldn't resist.

The reason I don’t want them in the league is simple, they haven’t got the support the solid base of fans to exist as a SL club, without the funding and money being pumped into the club they would fail, the RFL cant get enough interest in Sheffield, North Yorkshire, even London are looking shocking in the attendance scheme of things. So why waste probably millions in a area destined for failure at the minute. I also think RL is the most dynamic impact game in this country, but you also have to realise after 100 years of playing the game the M62 corridor is still its life blood, for whatever reason the country hasnt taken it to their heart and in all honesty probably wont now, people cannot have RL thrust upon them like in wales, they have to grow to love it, enjoy it for its skill levels needed in both attack defence and the strategies employed. The welsh prefer RU fact southern England prefer RU fact.

I went to Cornwall last year, my son went into a sports shop and bought a lovely Cornish pirates RU shirt, I was chatting to the bloke in the shop and he'd never seen a game of RL. this is someone who coached RU locally. We are a minority sport in so many areas, National TV. National press in many ways. Expansion yes but a progressive expansion, where teams have to earn their place in the SL not a god given RFL right. Not placed in front of teams that can offer more to the sport, to the spectacle. This is where we will disagree to my last breath. As a note I never said anything about their away support being relevant to ANYTHING you did, I stated it was disgusting and it is, what part of that are you struggling to understand??????????? try to stop restraining yourself, let it out, i promise i wont go whining on and on and on like some touchy Homosexuals i know of

Expansion until they challenge my team, then.

I think that franchising has taken the word 'challenge' out of that point tbh.

There would be no grounds for this Ill feeling if expansion teams were actually challenging the more traditional clubs without receiving a hand up at their expense.

Hi there,

Looking forward to the game...which I think you will win based putrely on you need it more than we do......and I happened to see this thread.



Whilst I can understand that fans of any club will feel threatened by expansion teams such as us and the welsh, pointing out weaknesses only highlights your own shortcomings.

To prove a point about away attendances, with each team having 1 home game left this year, would anyone want to hazzard a guess at how many of Crusaders away games this year have resulted in the lowest gate for the home team? I'll save you the trouble of hopping over to SLSTATS....the answer is none...nada....nil!

As it is, Quins (Leeds/hudds/celts/Wakey/Salford) and the Frogs (Quins/Bradford/Castleford/HKR/Wigan) are even on this score with 5 worst gates each........followed by Wakey (2- Frogs/FC)) and then Salford (1-Saints)) and Castleford (1-Warrington)).

Temper this with Quins being present for the 2nd biggest gate at Wire, 3rd biggest at Wigan, 5th biggest at Saints and 6th biggest at FC, do these stats prove that:

A/ Quins fans travel in huge numbers but only for 4 games a year

....or

B/ The clubs concerned know that the taxi is coming and therefore Market the game accordingly.



Take your pick, but as others have pointed out, away fans don't count for much in the new licence system.......





As I said, looking forward to getting up in the middle of the night and listening to the game...should be a good 'un and if you're lucky, we might smuggle your coach into the taxi on the way home

Smuggle? If we lose some of our fans will happily present him to you trussed up like a Xmas turkey and gift wrapped.

Well I'm watching!!! Your place is supposed to hold 15,500 and there is a strong St's support present yet the ground is still less than half full. So as I said earlier, your increased support this year is visiting support.



Hence credit to the travelling support...a statement which isn't reciprocated for your away games sadly!

5,374 tonight.