Re: The Ref : Fri Mar 08, 2013 8:20 am  

This forum makes me laugh. People come on here and spout the usual tosh about true, loyal fans etc. If you feel the need to come on here in an attempt to convince people you are a "true fans" you need to look at yourself.

In some peoples eyes I'm not a true fans because I wasn't there last night. Instead, I took my 2 girls to their swimming lessons! I also don't make 90% of the noise so again, I'm not worthy of fan status. I don't spend a huge amount behind the bar so again I'm not supporting the club enough. After watching a game for 80 minutes my girls are ready for off so I go home as oppose to going to the bar. I must be a terrible fan!

However, what I find really laughable is the people making these comments are hardly whiter than white. Harry Hill if I'm not mistaken talked about watching the Giants rather than the Cougars a season or two back because the Cougars were going through a bad run of form.

Harry is right though, being a fan will mean supporting the club through thick and thin but this is a forum and people should feel able to voice their opinion. However, that being said when I see people posting on here minutes after the final whistle it does make me wonder. It appears to me that people cannot wait to get behind their keyboard and make comment.

I can't understand all this issue with March's red card. It looked harsh but must have been for something he said to the ref. JD was lucky a few times over the last two seasons not to walk for some of his actions, but people seemed to accept that.

Re: The Ref : Fri Mar 08, 2013 9:43 am  

distantdog wrote:

Give over. He was ok for both teams, Keighley were just really poor and look to be in serious trouble now. Owen really puts the DR thing in perspective. Only thing he got wrong was the forward pass, which it was suggested was a call made by the TJ

We've been here before, we'll be here again - but so will you. Rugby in general is on it's uppers, DR is a complete nonsense.

PS How's the Mosque coming on, I've heard you are going to ground share with Dewsbury

Re: The Ref : Fri Mar 08, 2013 9:52 am  

The sad thing is it appears the end game is being played out before our very eyes.

There seems to be 2 very distinct groups of fans at the moment. Not every Cougar fan falls in to one. However these groups are now at each others throats.

1. The "support your club no matter what" group. They go to every home and away game, every event, most reserve games, buy all the merch. Some of them volunteer, sit on committees or chip in a few extra quid by sponsoring something or a player.

2. The "I'll support the club but I want to see the club give something back group" A lot of them also follow the club home and away they don't necessarily go to events or reserve games because they don't feel compelled to.

To be honest there has always been this kind of hierarchy of fan at the club. However in the last 8 months or so due to the club going through adversity the gap between these 2 groups of fans has widened considerably.

Group 1 have rallied around in defence of the club showing their loyalty. They also have got together as a clique. They defend each other and round on anyone who doesn't show the same level of perceived support as they do. "You are not a true fan" they cry in unison.

Group 2 are asking questions, sometimes demands of the club. "Why is the team playing badly?" "March out!" "What are the club doing about this?" they cry. They don't all necessarily all have the same point of view, the but they care about the club none the less.

If the club closes, which absolutely nobody here wants, the Group 1 fans will blame those Group 2 fans that have stayed away like myself and Obeone who are so alienated we've decided to walk away for the time being. For Group 2 fans the blame will lie firmly at the board of directors for not running the club properly.

In order for the club to survive I think the following has to happen.

The club has to unite the fans. The saying "you can't please everyone" it's true. However more needs to be done to give all fans a common goal to unite around. I want to come back to Cougar Park. Sunday afternoons are miserable without my rugby league fix. I still look at the latest scores to see how we're doing. I can't comeback to watch us as Cas' feeder club it's heart breaking.

The club and Group 1 fans need to stop looking inward on themselves. There is more to Keighley Cougars than just yourselves. Don't judge other people by the standards you set, in some peoples eyes there is more to life than Keighley Cougars, they don't have the time, the money or the inclination to do the appreciated thing you do for the club, but don't hold that against them. Most importantly, respect them and their opinions. They may be different to yours but in a democratic society they're entitled to it, and most of all cut the personal stuff out, it's more likely to drive people away if anything. I disagree with what you have to say but I will defend to the death your right to say it as Voltaire once said.

Group 2 fans aren't innocent either, running the club isn't easy. It's easy to get carried away when team's getting tonked. They also need to cut out the personal stuff, it helps no one. Can you do just a little more to help the club? Sometimes small things by many individuals make a big difference.

Re: The Ref : Fri Mar 08, 2013 10:25 am  

Stealth Comic wrote:

..... Snip.....

You've missed one group out - those that like a good argument

Your statements a bit black and white. There are many who fall outside those parameters, but the jist of it just reflects tribal human nature and is the same at most sporting clubs.

Any responses I make on here are not about defending individuals or regimes, more about defending fair play and looking at the REAL circumstances surrounding a discussion topic. Everyone has an opinion, and those opinions can change markedly with the availabilty of new facts. For example, according to one post on here March should be sacked for dropping Gav Duffy when it turns out Gav was unavailable due to work.

I disagree with what you have to say but I will defend to the death your right to say it as Voltaire once said.

He also said: "Opinions have caused more ills than the plague or earthquakes on this little globe of ours."

and: "Life is bristling with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to cultivate one's garden."

Re: The Ref : Fri Mar 08, 2013 10:58 am  

Dreamer wrote:

You've missed one group out - those that like a good argument

That one I can make a sweeping generalisation about, all of us

Re: The Ref : Fri Mar 08, 2013 11:41 am  

Harry-Al-Hill wrote:

The team is going through an injury crises, you can not seriously expect them to play as if the full first 17 were out on the field. People aren't happy

This is where I am getting a little confused or maybe it's just me, can someone please list the players we are missing due to the injury crisis we have. It would be really interesting to see who is actually out and then for those of us that aren't actually sure who's it might becoame clearer.

This has been addressed by bringing in DR reg players. People aren't happy

I agree and disagree with DR, I don't mind how we are doing it as it seems controlled and on Marchys say so. It doesn't look like he is been forced to have players he doesn't want. The one thing I do wonder is if the club are going to sign this new document that Fev, Halifax, Sheffield and Leigh have come up with because looking at it it seems pretty simple and makes it fair for all clubs until the end of the season.

As Guess Who rightly pointed out on another thread, would a different coach under the fact existing conditions be able to have the team play any better? I doubt it very much.

This is a tricky one to answer, depending on who we got in then yes possibly and I also think that if we had kept JD then we wouldn't even be talking about this now. I don't really think its the players for me its the coach, the way we are playing. At the fev game certain players played really well as individuals but as a team the organisation wasn't there for me.

Under JD we lost games to London, South Wales and others with a full first 17 that included some top names that we should have walked. As I said we also lost more convincingly at Fev away twice too, any comment on that?

100% correct, I agree with all of that but JD had character, authority, presence on the field, leadership and organisation skills which I am sorry and only an opinion I have not seen any of this from Marchy. yes we had some bloody awful games at times and even JD made bad choices but they were put right. This is just a guess as I am no coach but maybe it was all down to the deals and contracts that JD had sorted out in order for him to land some of the players he got, yes I think a lot of it was down to freindship with these players but is this what we are missing can Marchy not put a squad together like that. On paper our current squad doesn't look bad at all but have we got that player that can win us games, turn a game around and most importantly keep the lads heads up, we don't in my opinion.

Put that into perspective,

When was our last won competitive game? Well before the end of last season
When was the last time we actually gave a team a real thumping? Workington promotion win
Are we playing the same team's as last season? No, we are playing against the feeder clubs with top names from Sl
We have Cas, just! They are not a top 6 Sl team so their fringe players are not head and shoulders above championship players as other DR SL players are.
To top it off let me remind you of the injury crises we have again

Now can you see why we are struggling to keep our heads above water?
Or are you still looking for a scapegoat?

I aren't looking for a scapegoat, look you are stating some pretty good facts Ive no argument with that but at the end of the day we got promotion and finished in a playoff spot under JD. I'm not saying we always played excellent rugby and we smashed every team that doesn't bother me. For me I don't care how we win yes it would be great to watch us play fancy football but as long as we win then a wins a win. I would much rather be winning ugly every week and fighting, digging deep for a win which is what a lot of our games were like under Jd than what I am seeing now.

Yes I want wins against York and Barrow but I also want wins against Dewsbury Hunslet workington Halifax Batley and the rest, we all want wins

Being a real fan means supporting your team through thick and thin, not playing a blame game

[color=#008040]Fair play to you and good on you but how much longer are you going to be satisfied with the current situation, say for example we lose at home to york and we lose to barrow and so on. How long will it be before you start wanting change. A couple of seasons ago we could probably handle been relegated it wasn't nice but we could always bounce back. This time for me relegation is not an option, according to gary's last update in the keighley news about 5-6 weeks ago we had sold 100 season tickets, how many do you think we'd sell if we got relegated.

Mock all you like, I will be at cougar park shouting my team on every week

I have to say Stealths last post is spot on but does anyone have any ideas how you get a board of directors that aren't bothered about what the fans think, say or do to make everyone feel apart of the club again and more importantly put the heart back into KEIGHLEY COUGARS that was slowly coming back under JD.

Re: The Ref : Fri Mar 08, 2013 1:17 pm  

HalifaxCougar wrote:

Very good post.

Ditto

And I will be booking my Travelodges for Gloucester and Hemel Hempstead if it comes to it

Re: The Ref : Fri Mar 08, 2013 6:34 pm  

avebullswon wrote:

HalifaxCougar wrote:

Very good post.

Ditto

And I will be booking my Travelodges for Gloucester and Hemel Hempstead if it comes to it

I give last night a miss. I will.never step foot in fev again after what happened to my friend David when they played Halifax a few years ago.

Roll on next week.....

Re: The Ref : Sat Mar 09, 2013 4:05 pm  

Harry-Al-Hill wrote:

Being a real fan means supporting your team through thick and thin, not playing a blame game

Mock all you like, I will be at cougar park shouting my team on every week

Good man.