: Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:44 pm  

I think the idea of making this weekend an unofficial -

"fans respect players weekend"

is a fantastic one.


We totally forget that players are people, with families, feelings and all normal human traits; if only for one weekend we should respect that, and the sacrifices that they make for our entertainment.

: Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:58 pm  

Some of you may be surprised but I’ve been invited to attend a meeting with Leeds Rhinos Match day management on Monday 30th to put forward my ideas to promote healthier banter.

I just want to see a stop to vile chanting like “you dirty Yorkshire b****d”, “shoot the scum” and “we all hate” along with similar ones like it. This stuff I feel belongs in the pubs and not in stadiums where rugby league prides itself on been a family game. Its not family banter that goes on at some games at the moment.

Will let you all know how it goes!

: Tue Mar 24, 2009 1:50 pm  

what happened to leon really puts everything into perspective, whilst we on here constantly bicker and verbally abuse each other. a player sadly dies and we then show our human sides, being concerned and indeed brotherly,

to add to what has already been said about chant's song's etc etc, i totally abhor the mindless morons who make ambulance noises when a player is carried off, and i'm sure everyone feels that this type of moronic behaviour has no place in our game.

: Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:23 pm  

underground wrote:

I think the idea of making this weekend an unofficial -

"fans respect players weekend"

is a fantastic one.


We totally forget that players are people, with families, feelings and all normal human traits; if only for one weekend we should respect that, and the sacrifices that they make for our entertainment.

Good idea, or maybe the weekend after for the cup games

But not a hope in hell of holding it off for Good Friday

: Wed Mar 25, 2009 6:43 am  

For me the "cheering of injured players" is the pitts, we all have players form other clubs we want to see get smashed, but to cheer when a players hurt is bang out of order.

90% of posters on here and at games don't have the bottle to pull on a shirt and take a hit, but feel it's ok to disrepect them, keyboard warriors is a term i often see on here and it fits the bill in most cases.


Respect.

: Wed Mar 25, 2009 11:54 am  

BIGAL1 wrote:

For me the "cheering of injured players" is the pitts, we all have players form other clubs we want to see get smashed, but to cheer when a players hurt is bang out of order.

90% of posters on here and at games don't have the bottle to pull on a shirt and take a hit, but feel it's ok to disrepect them, keyboard warriors is a term i often see on here and it fits the bill in most cases.


Respect.

I agree with your sentiment, although I do think we need to be careful that chanting and songs don't start getting perceived as anything other than the tongue-in-cheek banter that it usually is.

The last thing we need is crowds just giving everyone and everything a warm round of applause, it's not the theatre at the end of the day.

Go to a liverpool/man u game if you want to hear some real vile nastiness. We don't have anything like that in RL so let's keep a sense of perspective and not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

: Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:32 pm  

underground wrote:

I think the idea of making this weekend an unofficial -

"fans respect players weekend"

is a fantastic one.


We totally forget that players are people, with families, feelings and all normal human traits; if only for one weekend we should respect that, and the sacrifices that they make for our entertainment.

A good idea for one week maybe but it would never go beyond a week and may struggle to stay respectful if something happens on the pitch.

I'm sure everybody in RL or anybody who has heard this story is saddened to hear of the death of a young man and our condolences go out to his family and friends at this time but people who are inclined to shout verbal abuse at players, officials et al. will do it anyway, death or no death within the sport.

Hopefully this weekend's minute silences across the domestic fixtures will give Leon the send off he deserves.

: Wed Mar 25, 2009 1:48 pm  

That makes my blood boil when opposite fans cheer when a player is down. So I salute you.

As for the 90% of posters not putting a shirt on, I fall into the other 10% because I played from high school onwards at amateur level for 9 years in total, got a nasty injury at age 20 and couldn't carry on

: Wed Mar 25, 2009 4:08 pm  

underground wrote:

I think the idea of making this weekend an unofficial -

"fans respect players weekend"

is a fantastic one.


We totally forget that players are people, with families, feelings and all normal human traits; if only for one weekend we should respect that, and the sacrifices that they make for our entertainment.

If I was you I'd be tempted to forward that idea to the RFL. An official Fans Respect Players Day' would be even better.

: Wed Mar 25, 2009 9:36 pm  

Well here is what I’m going to put across at the meeting on Monday. If anyone can proof read it for spelling mistakes / grammar mistakes then I’ll be most grateful. Hopefully in time I’ll get into the RLF and my dream of bring the play offs to midseason can become a reality! -

Introduction

First of all I would just like to show my appreciation what you have set up here to make the match day experience at Headingley Carnegie a pleasant one. You are the unsung heroes whose presence is great to be in. It is a privilege to be invited here today to express both my concerns on a match day and my ideas.

Thank you for this opportunity

My Concerns

My first concern is when both teams come on the pitch its like a pantomime. No players deserve to be booed onto the pitch at any level. I want respect for all teams involved including the referees (more of that further down).

Another concern is some of the vile chants that go on in our ground. Chants like “watch your mouth my son” and “We all hate ***** scum” along with many others. This stuff doesn’t belong in a place that promotes itself as a family stadium. The “this a family game” voiceover clearly isn’t working for some reason or other.

The other concern is some of the unnecessary extra pressure both set of fans put on the referee. The ref isn’t a robotic mediator that we put in the middle of the field. He is like most of us who have a job to do and the last thing he needs to have is people getting on his back. Everyone makes mistakes and the same rules apply to referees.

My Suggestions To Prevent Such Happenings In The Future

Match day crew (right influence whilst their young)

The match day crew is basically a kids club on Headingley Carnegie Match days I thought up. Parents drop off kids from both teams say at like 6:30 to a kids crew rep.

Once all the kids have been collected the rep then takes the children to a room that’s spare within the grounds. Once in the room the rep puts up a session of fun, games and a sing along with the kids as well as with a meet up with Ronny and the other teams mascot. But also in the session the rep can also drill in respect for all teams that take the field.

Hopefully if this crew was to come to light long lasting friendships will be built up between these kids who in like ten/fifteen years time will hopefully be standing together in the stadiums singing much friendlier songs than the ones that we put up with today. This will be all thanks to the Match day Crew!

Leeds Met Music Department & Southstander Get Together Day

What we want is a day or night session every other month where rhino fans and songwriters within the Leeds Met Music department get together and come up with some new songs for match days with a friendly agenda. Throw a few Leeds Rhinos players into the night and it’ll be a right one.

A Media Push By Players, Journalist And Editors Of The Match Day Programme!

We need a massive push that will get to the conscious of every fan that attends match days at Headingley. Ask the Boots n All team to do a feature on one of their shows, get Peter Smith to do a column on it in the YEP, have a reminder of it in the match day programme, get players to have their say on calendar/Youtube along with encouraging organisations like RLFANS/Southander.com to join in with this campaign.

Thank you for reading and accepting me at this meeting today.

Damo-Leeds