Saddened! wrote:
Plus Wire and Saints are very similar fan bases. Very close geographically and both clubs supporters grew up in the shadow of an a dominant local rival (Widnes then Wigan). Saints had our breakout in the late 90s when we started winning titles, burst of very cocky fans with no concept of what went before or how to act turned up. Warrington will be exactly the same when the titles eventually arrive.
There's probably a sociology study to be done on the subtle differences between different rugby league fan bases. I suspect they reflect different cultures in the different towns.
Saints have a kind of swaggering arrogance that rubs people up the wrong way, they know it and they enjoy it. But also there's a sense of humour underneath and they don't take themselves quite as seriously as they do on the other side of the Pennines, or in Wigan. In that sense they are similar to us.
I lived for several years in Leeds while they were dominant and went to Headingley a lot and watched Sky in the pubs their fans use. There was definitely a different culture there - they take rugby league and themselves way more seriously. When things go against them they aren't able to see the funny side and put it in perspective in the way that our fans can. Bad refereeing, or their own players making mistakes, are seen as unforgiveable injustices. They expect success but don't have the same swaggering in your face cocky attitude that Saints do, although this could be that I don't notice it targeted at Wire as much, they like to lord it over Cas and Wakefield. The part I could never understand was why, when watching a team that was so continuously successful, their fans always seemed to be in such a bad mood. They were angry with Brian McDermott, angry with the way the club was run, angry at whoever was their scapegoat on the field at the time.
The difference between Saints and Leeds fans, is when the other team scores their first try and they play the team's try song, you'll get Saints fans dancing to the other team's try song with smug grins on their faces, taking the mick out of the other team fully expecting that they are going to win anyway. In Leeds, they'll all be stood there with faces like slapped booties shouting at the ref/their players, conceding a try is an unforgivable sin and there must be repercussions.
I always found that Cas, Wakey, Hudds fans were much more down to earth but they seriously hate Leeds.
Wiganers come across to me a bit more like the Leeds fans in terms of taking themselves a bit more seriously than Saints but they don't have quite the swaggering obnoxious edge that Saints fans do.
