Homophobic Chants = Huge Fine For Rugby Club

The Rugby Football League has issued a £40,000 fine for the Castelford Tigers, after fans repeatedly shouted homophobic insults at openly gay rugby player Gareth Thomas. Though the club is set to appeal the ruling, it still sets a nice example for sports fans everywhere.

Apparently, Gareth’s manager Emanuele Palladino agrees with me on this point: “Today has been an historic day… It is not about the fine, but rather recognition that this behaviour from a small section of the Castleford fans is not acceptable in 2010.” All I’m gonna say is amen to that!

UPDATE: I took the damn “[sic]” out. Are you happy now? According to the rules of grammar and the way I pronounce the word “historic”, this would have been the wrong usage of “an”. Then again, it’s really not that big of a deal, guys.

– Dewitt

28 thoughts on “Homophobic Chants = Huge Fine For Rugby Club

  1. damn does he really have to take that are the fans upset because they were losing and had nothing elde to say or couldnt come up with a good saying and the team was sticking up foe one of their own no matter his sexuality

  2. DAYUM…what a hott, sexxxy body on this one…nice…I wouldn’t let him outta bed.

  3. Why put a “(sic)” after the word “an”??? In correct (or proper) English, “historic” is treated as though it begins with a vowel, so “an historic” is correct and “a historic” is wrong. ’nuff said!

  4. Correcto, Island guy!
    As far as the article, so much for freedom of speech. But I guess that is England.. Never mind.. I’ll go back to my corner now.

  5. That’s hilarious, island guy. I thought the same thing. My first thought reading this was “what the fuck is the (sic) for?” The phrase is pronounced “an istoric day” with the h being silent. It’s just like saying “an honest man”. The “sic” just screams out “I’m a idiot with bad learnings.”

  6. :-).

    ´don’t know how many times i have to say that there is no such thing as “total freedom of speech.”

    at the very least, there can be no such thing as Freedom of Speech, without Accompanying Repercussions.

    i am free to call your mother a “cum-slupring, dirty bitch of a worthless Whore.”

    and you are free to ignore me.

    attempt to retort with an equal-strength insult.

    or, punch me out.

    and i can press charges if you pursue the latter-most option, and hope that you will be held to account for aggravated-battery, and assault.

    (if you’d like, you may make an attempt to hold me to account for Slander, if my “free speech” was made in the presence of others who have a demonstrable ability to understand what i had proclaimed.)

    now, do you see how That works?

  7. @ island guy, tam, marx, and aaa: you are all wrong. and stupid. the reason historic traditionally was prefaced with a consonant was because inhabitants of the UK, especially ireland but also england, always dropped the “h”, pronouncing the word like “istoric.” therefore, if you are NOT from the UK and DO pronounce the letter H, “an historic” is completely wrong. it is pedantic and pretentious (look those words up, morons) and doubly bad because, in trying to show off your learning, you are revealing your own ignorance. i already suffer through this “an historic” bullshit with every journalist in TV and print who thinks they’re educated. i don’t need it from a bunch of gay blog readers. douchewitt is 100% correct on this one. look it up!

  8. this is actually a great thing. in fining the club it means that the fans have essentially cost their club 40 grand, money which could have been spent buying or developing new players.

    So this way the fans will feel responsible for costing their club and any subsequent delinquency could be met with hostility from other fans and also it means the club is gonna try to clamp down on it so they dont get fined again

    Hopefully they gave the money to an LGBT or AIDS charity

  9. It is sad that the fans would do that. Fining the team doesn’t seem fair but it does send a message to their fans. I hope Gareth (and his team) were able to rise above it. Good for him for coming out and living out loud. Boo to all those 12 year old fans.

  10. what do you mean SIC???

    “an historic” is 100% correct, whereas “a historic” is ignorant and incorrect

  11. wow, what a hottie!!! wish i had him in my own bed right now….such a studmuffin

  12. Zan Wonder is 1000% percent correct. Seeing as how English was one of my majors in undergrad and I study grammar quite a bit (Just putting my geekiness out there), it irks, me when people use “an” before words like “historic” with a clearly pronounced “H”. If one wants to go to the authority on what the proper grammatical rules are for this word and words like it, consult the Oxford English Dictionary, which clearly states that we should use “a” before this word.

  13. Zan is correct. My mistake. However, he didn’t have to be so rude in his posting. Geez. He’s the one that’s a moron if the label needs posting.
    Now, St. Impatience, you seem to still be taking difference with me for the sheer fun of it. It’s still freedom of speech! You did nothing illegal by saying those things! The crime is in the last response. So you really made my point for me. Thank you.

  14. ah — come, Tam..
    ..i really don’t seek out strife.

    nor do i want to pick with you, for mere Posterity.

    the point that I, personally, wanted to make was: i am happy that the RFL assessed that fine, on behalf of gareth’s opposing team.

    we are free to say whatever we’d like.
    and others are free to respond as they’d like.

    the goal is, trying to avoid as much unnecessary controversy as feasible.

  15. I would agree with your last statements, St. Impatience! I HATE arguments! Especially when an argument is started just for the sake of an argument! I hate it! So, kudos! We agreed again!

  16. :-D.

    for the two of us, it shall be rare when we will consent to “agree to disagree.”

    actually, i think i’d like to see you pour forth with passion about some topics that strike your fancy.

    i might or i might not go along with your views.

    but…

    ~||~

    …there wouldn’t be arguments without a base from off of which there is a disagreement.

    we have some rather disparate opinions.

    the thing with me is, i’m tired of not having my voice heard; i’m tired of being afraid of expressing what’s on my mind — especially when i’m sure that Mines, is reasonable.

  17. But, St. Impatience, just because YOU think they are reasonable does NOT make them reasonable!! Have you ever considered that maybe you were wrong at times? It’s the “Know-it-all” attitude that turns the majority if not ALL of us off! It lends itself to make us not want to even read your posts! Again, the use of big words and acting like you know it all does nothing to help your agenda! And I agree with navysausage. YOU HAVE AN AGENDA!! Unfortunately for you, one that not all of us agree with!

  18. but, Tamsters..
    ..the sausage man probably wouldn’t have thought to use the word “agenda,” if i hadn’t employed it myself, first, when i mentioned promulgating the Gay Agenda…..

    (…..other than that, i really do know it all..
    .. ;-).

    Saint’s Privilege.)

    so you suggest that i should dumb It down, for that majority/entirety you continue to presume to speak for?

    (but if these individuals’ minds are already set in their incorrect mold, then my words will almost certainly mean nothing to them anyway.)

    another question i have: what is my Agenda?

  19. First of all, you us parentheses when they are NOT needed! Secondly, you have to put down others to make yourself feel better (saying navysausage would not have thought of the word “agenda” had you not used it). Thirdly, why should I say what your agenda is??? You are the one (according to you) that said you used the word first! So therefore, you should know what your agenda is!
    Notice how I used the parentheses properly? Oh. And another thing. When you start a sentence, you are supposed to capitalize the first letter. Just trying to help you out there. You know: Being a self-proclaimed know-it-all, you should have already known that..
    Also, the word you were looking for was “promoting”, not “promulgating”! Unless you were announcing (the definition of promulgating) or decreeing (also a definition of promulgating) the agenda for the gay community. However, I didn’t see you doing that. So, in your huge desire to show off how smart you are, you proved your ignorance.
    I won’t even start on how you continually use run-on sentences as well as the lack of punctuation!
    Now! Back to the original topic! I still stand by what I said, which, unfortunately, I had to go back and look to remember what I had written, since Mr. Gay Agenda took us so far off track!

  20. Pardon me! I should have typed “use” instead of “us”. Wouldn’t want to confuse St. Ignorance.
    Also, since I’m still (for whatever reason) correcting, you should ALWAYS capitalize the word “I”! Sheesh! And we are the ones that need to have posts “dumb downed” for?

  21. (i’ve previously declared that i’m not interested in following the traditional capitalization scheme, tam-tam.

    specifically, i’m not interested in using it, unless i am in fact writing a Formal Paper.

    i don’t know why you’re still interested in quibbling over that little detail; but in case my [disregard] of “proper capitalization”—and unusual parenthesizing—does, in fact, prevent you from apprehending these very words…)

    …I’ve previously stated that I am not interested in following the traditional capitalization scheme, tam-tam.

    Specifically: I’m not interested in employing it unless I am, in fact, writing a formal paper.

    I don’t know why you’re still interested in quibbling over that little detail; but in case my intentional disregard for “proper capitalization” does, in fact, continue to bother you. . . . .

    ~||~

    . . . . .i know one or two “big words.”

    i know one or two “uncommon words.”

    why should i be afraid to use them, when others may do the same as well?

    (and, since you’ve ostensibly volunteered for the Grammar Police Squad, i shall trust that you will also go out of your way to bust each and every other violator who have committed, and will commit, Faux Pas far more egregious than i ever made.)

    prom·ul·gate   
    1.
    to make known by open declaration; publish; proclaim formally or put into operation (a law, decree of a court, etc.).
    2.
    to set forth or teach publicly (a creed, doctrine, etc.)

    that seems about right.

    ~||~

    i am piqued by your claim, though: show me 5 cogent examples of run-ons, and i will give you the very shirt from off my back.

    additionally, i’ve no real interest in showing off how smart i am — not anymore than you, in your semi-regular efforts to debunk lil’ old me.

    (if any person has enough in one’s self to find this blog and rummage around in it, for example, then that person also has enough to go to dictionary.reference.com to look up a word one does not know — i didn’t “magically” have all of that downloaded into my brain..
    ..i had to take the fucking time to learn it!

    i will not be made to feel bad because other individuals aren’t able to keep up..
    ..or, perhaps i should conjecture, because you [don’t want to] keep up.)

    i can argue that, since it seems that my argument for there being no such thing as total Freedom Of Speech is a success.

  22. Laugh out loud!
    First off, I don’t care to take the time to have to re-read your drivel to produce the five run-on sentences. Neither do I want your shirt. You can keep it.
    I have not proclaimed myself to be the Grammar Police Squad. That would be more than one person. I am only one. I don’t care to take on that job. I just can’t stand when a person tries to make himself look so smart and totally make a fool of himself instead!
    Your decision to totally disregard proper punctuation only proves your ignorance. You don’t care if others can keep up? Then why post? Isn’t the purpose of posting to let others know how you feel? If others can’t understand what you are saying, then you are only speaking to yourself. Which, I guess, I should consider a blessing.
    There IS Freedom of Speech! You are (unfortunately, in this case) free to say whatever you want! And have proved it time and again! Now, if only you could write it so all of us could understand it! And I’m not talking about not knowing what words mean. There is a reason for proper punctuation. It is so that statements written can be understood. Then again, I don’t think I want to understand your “logic”. So…. Continue on.
    Your argument is NOT a total success! Only in your mind.

  23. my opinion: in spite of my not completely agreeing with the methodology, if the RFL’s action will discourage irrelevant taunts, then good for them — you gotta do some unpleasant things to make Omelettes, y’know.

    my argument: people need to understand there is no “total freedom of speech, without repercussion.”

    the implication: “none of us should feel that we are untouchable, nor infallible, nor beyond reproach.”

    the problem: mass amounts of people seem to be under the illusion They’re infallible, and therefore untouchable.

    “But, Citizen Impatience, YOU are the worst offender of them all!!!”

    (another one of the many Hyperbole i anticipate your likely digging up, for use against Yours, truly — because you’re going to convince the 2 or 3 other people who are even bothering to skim through our on-going spat that i am in the same league as Hitler, bin Laden, Mussolini, Castro {de Cuba}, et al.)

    (p.s. — there is a difference between

    • volunteered for the Grammar Police Squad

    and

    • volunteered to be the Grammar Police Squad.

    this leads me to believe i’ve caught you in yet another of your Comprehension Errors, there, if i had interpreted “That would be more than one person. I am only one. . .” correctly.)

    non?

    ~||~

    i have no problem with admitting that i will need you to explain what this “proper punctuation” business is about.

    (the irony? you are, likely, as inflexible as i am … if not more so.)

    in the meantime, i am going to need you to hold everyone else to that same Language Standard which you seem to be placing on me.
    whether you happen to agree with these individuals or not.

    of course my cadence is unusual; but i know it’s not incomprehensible — i’d like to see *you* use semi-colons and em-dashes, proficiently. (thus far, your writing style strikes me as unimaginative — a diagnosis that actually explains a lot about why you say what you say.)

    _\|/_

    your chance to air your issue(s) with my Gay Agenda opened when i presented it within one sentence; if you don’t agree with it because you’re conservative or believe we should still be oppressed, then just say that.

    as a matter•of•fact, i can’t recall any instances of your ever offering any (decent) solutions to the LGBT Problems *yet*!

    (or if you ever had extended any words towards advancing our cause, all these other Lovely Things you say have long ago overshadowed them.

    {i don’t want to be like you, and completely disregard anything positive you might contribute.})

    why is that, Myers?

    *sigh*

    this tires me.

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