Scotty

nope, that ship has well and truly sailed I am afraid in so far as using it as "banter" with RC fans. I am sure some could argue you were and others could argue you were not. Personally I agree with you that this is over the top in terms of PC bull**** and I can be as pedantic as the next man in supporting some "PC" things ! My own personal opinion in all of this - and I dont just mean the debate over the word "gypsy" - is that interpretation and context are the key. There are a lot of grey areas in most (but not all) "PC" decisions and unfortunately the law does not accomodate things on a sliding scale like that ... it is either within or outwith the law, nothing in between and we are all so scared of falling foul of the PC stuff that no-one really challenges any of it to any great degree. As far as I am concerned personally, I do not have an issue with the "G" word being used as banter towards County fans, but I do/did when it was being used towards Marius. It might smack of double standards, but in the case of County it is a word used as light hearted banter in the same way as we get accused of being orphans who are over familiar with our ovine friends ! (had to slip in the PC wording) whereas in the case of Marius we felt it was being used as a personal insult due to the origins of the Roma people. Same word, different scale, context and intention in my opinion. You could argue the same about the "N" word ..... I personally do not use it, ever. It would not be appropriate for me to do so in any circumstance I can think of and we do not and would not allow it on here. However, being one half of an inter-racial couple and socialising with my wife's siblings I hear it used in music her brothers listen to and in conversation between her brothers and their friends all the time .... it is not an issue for them as its part of the "banter" between many young black adult males but if I used it there would be an almighty ****storm ! So its OK on some levels, but not on others .... I can live with that if the people who are having it used against them can ..... just as the vast majority of County fans dont seem to mind the "G" tag and accept it as banter. The bottom line however is that now that we have been told that the use of "gypsy" as an adjective at least is off-limits, we will need to be vigilant over its use in this forum. As I explained in another thread, this has nothing to do with our own personal opinions, it is to protect ourselves legally.

thinks we are confusing the "3" in this and other threads (or maybe I am) From reading various threads, it is my understanding that 3 fans attended last nights meeting along with reps from club, police and trust ... but it was TWO complaints that led to all this, one written, one verbal.

Cant argue with that .... I could go into another long-winded comparison between Toronto FC and ICT in terms of how the fans are treated (either by club, stewards, or police) but I am not going to ..... Suffice it to say that at TFC (and elsewhere in MLS), fans are encouraged to enjoy themselves at games, whereas the various powers that be in the UK seem to be getting massively over sensitive and trying to legislate or apply hastily thought up national association or club rules to every little thing that has (or even has not) happened ..... As several people have already said, this nonsense is killing the game as an enjoyable spectator sport. Whilst ICT will always be my #1 team, I can honestly say that the banter, craic and in-game experience at TFC is miles ahead, even if the play on the park is just as frustrating at times !

probably because i chose them as a dead cert for the naps this weekend !

As ridiculous as it seems when applied to County as "banter" rather than at someone like Marius where it could realistically be interpreted as potentially personally offensive remarks, the fact that the police have highlighted it to be "on the offensive list" means we do have to crack down on it I am afraid. Regardless of our own personal opinions on this "law" - and I think that the best description I have seen in this thread is "blunt instrument" - we have no choice as we have a legal responsibility to keep numerous -isms, including what we have now been told falls under the category of racism, off the boards. Personally, I would say it is alright to use the word itself in the contect of a discussion like this, but unfortunately we have to ask all you guys to not use it as an adjective to describe County or anyone else, even if you mean it as banter. If ICT blog means this site, find the member and ban there IP...... I noticed the use of the word blog and my first reaction was to correct them as IMHO blog minimises a 15 year old site with 2000 members but at the end of the day its not worth worrying about. I would listen to this advice if I were you

we already have a wind-up thread

I believe the meeting took place tonight and have just received the following email which I have been asked to post by the club's safety officer (not Mike Smith): Its not 100% clear (perhaps someone at the meeting can unspin it a bit) but I take it from that statement that the word "gypsy" in relation to "banter" with County or their fans is to be deemed racist in the same way as it could genuinely be regarded as racist when applied to someone such as Marius Niculae. Tread carefully folks, someone could be made an example of !!!

I have a cheap multi-region DVD player hooked up to one of our TVs so I am good with PAL format - having it in NTSC format would be good though as it would save me moving the DVD player to our main TV to watch it and because I could also bore educate my Canadian friends on that wonderous night :) without having to take along my own player Stuart Cosgrove was supposed to get me a copy from his "contacts" when I appeared on "on the ball" and "off the ball" the weekend after the game ..... never materialised :( - I do however remember playing the "night to remember" video on a few busses I organised after that game .....

Here's the article we added on SportNetwork (linked above) - but with pictures Lets All Laugh at County !! County fans andCaley Thistle fans have always had plenty banter on the go overthe seasons in the SFL. Recently this hotted up on the Internetwith County sites choosing to put up warpable pictures of theirfavourite enemies Charlie Christie and Jimmy Calder. Not to beoutdone, several clever Caley Thistle fans responded with theirown ways to laugh at County. ICTChris gets the gold award for his attempt with the CountyAirpicture which made the Highland News' country cousins the North Star scream loudly with anoutrage, that wasnt actually echoed by County fans, who all saw itas just another part of the banter ..... local councillors spokeof him as irresponsible in saying that County were providingflights from Alness to Dingwall with free supplies of methadonefor those on board. But, dont worry Chris, we all enjoyed your 15minutes of fame. The picture that caused all the furore is shownbelow. Not long after the County Airarticle was the County Air disaster, ably captured on film by theGringo, which saw the demise of County air following the loss oftheir one good flying caravan. Not to be outdone of course,another fan came up with this exclusive picture that shows CountyAir to have branched out into "Cowavans" And just recently,Oz has discovered that they are now trying to cash in on the localproperty boom by providing fully furnished penthouses for thosethat can afford them in Dingwall ..... For those thatcan't afford the new red/white & blue houses being built inDingwall by Tulloch, they have been packing their belongings intotheir mobile homes and moving out of town, as shown in thispicture which was supplied anonymously. Where will thefamous County Caravans, Tractors, and Transits appear next .......(send your snaps in for inclusion in this social investigation) all content ?caleythistleonline.com The original article was on Chris' site at http://www.geocities.com/ictfcuk/ ... not sure if it still works as geocities is blocked at work

You mean this one ???

every game is important and although I can see what Chibber is getting at, the fact that the game on Sunday is against "them" makes it massive. I think that some of the teams at the top right now will fall away during the season and we can only hope we wont be one of the fallers .... Queens were top of the division last season or the season before for a long time but when it came to the crunch they didnt have the strength in depth.

Charlie Christie certainly had the class to break into the first team at Celtic but came home instead, only to tear them a new ar****** a few years later seriously though - rather than ask how good certain players might have been if they hadnt ended up plying their trade at ICT, why not go to the opposite end of the scale and wonder how many players ICT have actually helped or improved over the years by turning around a flagging career, by developing them or by showing faith in them

nahh, interplanetary version is better

County Air add new routes (and branches, and leaves) :002:

The BBC has perfect timing - crashing their Top Gear airship (with caravan cabin) just ahead of the County game .... I am sure we can have some "fun" with this :D

You underestimate the diaspora I think -- but still probably not enough to justify NTSC I agree. Dont think so - I remember the club having to jump through all sorts of hoops (no pun intended) to secure the footage. Hard to tell from the video box itself - says Chris Campbell / John Williams and there is no mention of ICT or Celtic as the distributor (which is a company called "SBL" from Glasgow)

maybe it could be re-issued - on DVD this time (and in both PAL and NTSC format) - to celebrate 10 years ???

A typical day supporting TFC - pub before game, craic with fans, a bit of banter with opposition fans, is very like ICT with one simple exception - the "ambience" created by the club before/during and after the match. At TFC you are encouraged to make it fun and if you are in a designated supporters section you are allowed, even encouraged to stand, wave flags and banners, make a noise and generally enjoy yourselves. Do some get carried away? Yes. Do Police/Stewards have to remove/arrest people on occasion? Yes. Do the vast majority of fans behave themselves? Yes. Dont get me wrong, there have been incidents in MLS both in Toronto and outside at other clubs but by and large, the 20,000+ crowd at every single home game since 2007 has been well behaved. We have seen undercover cops in the stands and some heavy handed policing or stewarding in the early days but that was simply because the cops/security had little or no experience of dealing with a "soccer crowd" which is a whole lot different to a baseball, basketball or Hockey crowd and something never really experienced in Toronto outside a few celebrations in certain ethnic neighbourhoods of the city during a world cup or Euro championships. As they have learned, incidents have dropped as they can now better detect what is "boisterous soccer lads" and what is more serious trouble brewing. It is a good experience and I can honestly say that the club has listened to fans all along the way. The main supporters groups have a meeting with the club and team captain each month or as required and concerns on both sides are discussed and dealt with. Anything for further discussion is spread across the message boards and dialogue is two-way. It reminds me a lot of how ICT used to do things - but sadly, despite the best of intentions on the part of some, it seems that there is no desire to do that any more.

banter is good, craic is good and stewarding - which has had its moments in the past - has gotten a whole lot better .... best I can suggest is to go to youtube and do a few searches for "u-sector", "toronto fc" etc and you will see for yourself ..... or ask Big Stew who has experienced it in person as well :D

I can see how allowing fans to take photos, video etc and to allow standing or flags/banners etc just kills the atmosphere .... it shouldnt be allowed .... it will lead to mass riots, subversive behaviour and rampant enjoyment and we dont want that now do we :D As an example, I cite Toronto FC who have a 20K capacity stadium and have sold out the 16,000 seats they make available as season tickets for the last 3 years and also have a waiting list of 14,000 for new season tickets ..... Here is what was on the season ticket renewal page I just got sent ....... note the disclaimer at the bottom Here is the camera policy - basically meaning professional cameras must have clearance, others can do what they want so long as it is not a commercial venture .... Another hobby site I set up at http://tfcpics.com will show that I have never had any hassle with taking pics ! And finally, here's the definition of "supporters section" .... It just makes sense !!!

Tannadice ! - we played Rangers there in a "home" cup fixture

5th Stand - just stop it. You seem to be attempting to hijack this thread so that you can back-seat moderate it in an apparent attempt to deflect attention away from your own actions in another thread. That thread resulted in a complaint from the poster and we are dealing with it. Should this thead result in a complaint by the OP, we will also deal with that. Further attempts at back seat moderating in this or any other thread will result in your warn level going higher or a 24 hour site ban as that is also not acceptable under our rules. I am not in the mood to pussy foot around with passive agressive bullshit at the moment as we have our own problems on the site due to some actions by our service provider. Your crap on this and other threads is a distraction I am not willing to put up with today as we have to check and recheck a heap of config files to fix errors our provider has caused by moving us to another server.

no comment however, for a correct table you can go to : http://stats.caleythistleonline.com/tpl/index.php

thread closed - nothing more than personal slagging going on here. the main culprit will hear from the mods privately.

There is very little difference between a bottom half SPL team and a top half SFL1 team and to call them a "pub team" is arrogant in the extreme .... I guess WE are the pub team now ... after all, we ARE in the bottom half of the SFL1 ! Wasnt playing !!!