The Watcher believes that the only reasonable punishment for Widnes is a 2 year ban from the challenge cup. Then they might try & do something about this recurring problem they have.

I really don't understand why people think these people were football fans.

It is a standard get out clause.

What happened does not surprise me as I have not seen so many drunks milling around town at 12.00 in my life.The Whistling Wren was full at 11.30 and the Thomas Burke was packed early doors. I heard trouble was brewing outside The Brittania which was full of Cas fans who were being goaded by a gang of Widners fans.



No excuse at all but not a surprise as all the elements were there,I do admire the Cas fans who did not raise to the bait and there were some big lads there who I'm sure would of relished getting stuck into the Widnes fans on the pitch.



Side issue but I think the RFL will have been made up at the LSV ,it looked great on TV ,the pitch was as good as any in the country and it was full,and the atmosphere came across really well on the TV.

No condoning the minority who caused these scenes but the lack of stewarding was a worry. Iv seen clips up to 8 minutes in length and can see only a hand full of stewards actually on the pitch and none of them seemed to be taking any kind of action. Sure widnes will deal with the culprits if any of them are actually regular fans.

Stewards are generally encouraged not to get 'involved' as such as it can just escalate the situation. As it is, given the numbers involved, there would have had to be an incredible number to have prevented the disorder. And not ones on minimum wage, either.

Not much the stewards could have done against the sheer number of idiots running onto the pitch. They did a good job at keeping them out of the Cas fans though which is most important, though that was no doubt helped by the Cas fans rising above it and not getting involved.

The stewards looked totally out of their depth, when the invaders were approaching the celebrating Cas players the stewards should have had the nous to get between them. Well done to the young lady in a steward's jacket who tried to stem the tide.



A fair percentage of the stewards look too old or too unfit, most hadn't a clue.

Its a problem that is more associated to football than it is to the family game. However I did not refer to them as fans.

Talking (as you did) of get out clauses.. Another is to blame the stewards. Unbelievable.

Where in my post did I say the stewards were to blame? What happened was caused entirely by the Widnes morons. Having watched the videos a few times the response of the stewards was shall we say lethargic.

May be the perceived “family game” is the issue then. Stewards taking a nice Sunday wage instead of being prepared for incidents like this. Yes the majority of the blame lies with the Widnes minority but these people are getting paid to protect and contain crowds, for one female steward to be surrounded by a large number of fans is a shambolic.