Why did Wigan fans slaughter Sean Long? : Mon Oct 17, 2011 7:10 pm  

Not a fan of either side but every time i used to see a Wigan/St Helens game over the years Mr Long seemed to come for special attention from Wigan fans. His every touch being booed and some,shall we say, 'colourful chants' coming his way.

It seemed Sean was hardly bothered by abuse from Pie fans when he was picking medal after medal and winning accolade after accolade during his Saints career and regulary playing really well against Wigan in their derby games.

Now if Long had dumped Wigan to sign for their biggest rivals then fair enough,but the reverse was true,they got rid of him so he was hardly a 'judas' was he? Did he ever publicly slag off Wigan or it's supporters? No, so what was the reason for the tedious stick?

Re: Why did Wigan fans slaughter Sean Long? : Mon Oct 17, 2011 9:16 pm  

Because Wigan/Saints is a massive rivalry and Sean Long was an immense player in his prime, so of course they're gonna give him stick.

Re: Why did Wigan fans slaughter Sean Long? : Mon Oct 17, 2011 10:11 pm  

[quote="Bruce_Forsyth"It seemed Sean was hardly bothered by abuse from Pie fans when he was picking medal after medal and winning accolade after accolade during his Saints career and regulary playing really well against Wigan in their derby games.[/quote]

You'll find that Wigan had much the better of such games from Long signing in 97 all the way up to 2005, after which the derbies stopped being competitive for a while. Admittedly Long had a blinder in the 04 Cup final, in which he shouldn't have played, not that I'm bitter or anything.

Re: Why did Wigan fans slaughter Sean Long? : Mon Oct 17, 2011 10:31 pm  

Finfin wrote:

You'll find that Wigan had much the better of such games from Long signing in 97 all the way up to 2005, after which the derbies stopped being competitive for a while. Admittedly Long had a blinder in the 04 Cup final, in which he shouldn't have played, not that I'm bitter or anything.

I doubt Long will be too arsed at losing a few derbies between 97 and 2005 considering when he left Saints his personal trophy cabinet was collapsing under the sheer weight of silverware,medals and honours.

Rival fans rarely target crap players so i'm sure Sean took it as a compliment the abuse he used to get off Wigoon supporters.....and he loved nothing more than turning it on against the Pies and rubbing their noses in it.

Re: Why did Wigan fans slaughter Sean Long? : Mon Oct 17, 2011 10:34 pm  

To add to all of this, he was also probably the most recognisable player in SL at the time too, so every time he got the ball EVERYONE knew, so he got extra grief.

Re: Why did Wigan fans slaughter Sean Long? : Mon Oct 17, 2011 11:52 pm  

Same reason people boo Sam Tomkins, fear.

Re: Why did Wigan fans slaughter Sean Long? : Tue Oct 18, 2011 6:09 am  

Ski wrote:

Same reason people boo Sam Tomkins, fear.

I can't remember Sean Long getting booed by Wigan fans when he played for GB

Re: Why did Wigan fans slaughter Sean Long? : Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:08 am  

Of course not. The change of strip would be enough to confuse your average Pie muncher!

Re: Why did Wigan fans slaughter Sean Long? : Tue Oct 18, 2011 9:25 am  

Bruce_Forsyth wrote:

Not a fan of either side but every time i used to see a Wigan/St Helens game over the years Mr Long seemed to come for special attention from Wigan fans. His every touch being booed and some,shall we say, 'colourful chants' coming his way.

It seemed Sean was hardly bothered by abuse from Pie fans when he was picking medal after medal and winning accolade after accolade during his Saints career and regulary playing really well against Wigan in their derby games.

Now if Long had dumped Wigan to sign for their biggest rivals then fair enough,but the reverse was true,they got rid of him so he was hardly a 'judas' was he? Did he ever publicly slag off Wigan or it's supporters? No, so what was the reason for the tedious stick?

The same reason all top players get abuse (see: banter) from opposing fans.

And it wasn't just Wigan fans. Let's not let facts get in the way of another of your Wigan rants though.

Also, obvious troll account is obvious. Again.

Re: Why did Wigan fans slaughter Sean Long? : Tue Oct 18, 2011 11:32 am  

He is a Wigan lad playing for our biggest rivals and was a top player, so he took some stick. It was a compliment though as a previous poster said, only top players get this treatment. Gary Connolly took much more abuse from Saints fans which again was treated as a compliment.
We don't however boo any player, every time he touches the ball, while playing for England or Great Britain.