The Booing in the Aviva Stadium

I have got to say that I was very dissapointed by the amount of booing during the kicks during the Welsh match

I know that it tends to be happening quite a bit now, but normally Ireland have been good sports.

It was the same at Murrayfield yesterday, but i was most surprised by Ireland.

Is this the end of sportsmanship or just a blip?

Huw, I agree with you but only to a certain extent.

It was just the final kick of the match from what I can recall. Still I thought a lot of Irish fans let themselves down especially as we all were getting people to shush when Sexton was taking his kicks.

Apart from that there wasn't all that much booing apart from the justified ones at Bradley Davies.

It was disappointing alright. I think silence works better anyway, it makes you overthink it.

Thomond wrote:It was disappointing alright. I think silence works better anyway, it makes you overthink it.

Correct HP felt at home with the booing and it probably steadied his nerves.

red_stag wrote:Huw, I agree with you but only to a certain extent.

It was just the final kick of the match from what I can recall. Still I thought a lot of Irish fans let themselves down especially as we all were getting people to shush when Sexton was taking his kicks.

Apart from that there wasn't all that much booing apart from the justified ones at that cowardly thug Bradley Davies.

Stag, thank you for not holding back about Davies. Too many Irish fans have been very nice concerning Davies I feel. Can I just add there were times when Ireland were kicking that I was wanting people to shush. I think things worsened though after Davies actions, followed by Ferris getting the same punishment. I probably would have booed too because I was screaming at my tv at home. My friends were begging me to calm myself!

I think its mainly from younger fans, or drunk 'fans' who arent used to going to matches. It only takes the odd shout to blacken the whole crowd.

Obviously there was consdierable booing during the last kick, given the circumstances understandable!

But overall I think we can get too precious about noise during kicks, bemoan the 'end of sportsmanship' It is a nice tradition in rugby, most fans firmly believe in maintaining it in Ireland, but why be quiet during kicks, yet shout and jeer during opposition lineouts, or when a player is about to catch a high ball? Where is the sportmanship there? The fact is there is no problem with these elements, its all part of home advantage, as would be booing the kicker if it happened.

In summery, nice tradition, I respect it, but don't really care if the crowd makes a noise or not.

Rory_Gallagher
Davies will get a long ban and I think everybody agrees with that,
Ferris will not get the same punishment and will probably not get cited.

You cant dismiss incidents just because one seemed worse than the other.

red_stag wrote:cowardly thug Bradley Davies.

That is a very unworthy comment by you Stag... Bad tackle admittedly

It's true Maestag though.

Can I just say in case we go off on a tangent, will we keep the Ferris/Davies bans discussion for the relevant threads?

Its my fault for refering to the Davies incident in first place but lets keep this thread for the sportsmanship/booing stuff.

Maesteg,

Apologies. The single act from him was cowardly and thuggish though Davies himself may not be.

Im gonna edit that comment.

I can think of two times when there was wide spread kick booing by Irish fans. For the Parks kick to win the game for Scotland in 2010. And for that kick today.

Maybe it could be an excuse that the crowd disagreed with the decision to give the penalty on both occassions and were booing that. Unlikely though. It's probably more likely that the Irish respecful silence for opposition kicks has a breaking point. i.e. when the opposition are kicking in the last minute to win the game.

It's worth noting that on both occassions the kicker knocked it over and Ireland lost. So maybe the crowd should have kept their mouths shut. I actually think the silence can be more unnerving for a kicker than booing. Especially if they're not used to it. I think a few French kickers have said they're spooked by the Irish silence.

I understand that the game leaves a bitter taste for you guys, but it seemed like the last bastian of "old fashioned values"

I agree that lots of other shouting goes on but kicking silence adds to the drama. I hope the booing public realise that its a thing that doesn't put players off and shut up and give the players a bit of thinking time as it must be a daunting task having the expectations of a country on your shoulders.

Hey, it happens.Rugby fans can be as gracious as saints but when it comes down to last minute kicks to win games or venting frustrations over refs decisions, you voice your disaproval by.........booing. Rather that than verbal personal abuse.

From someone who was there I was really disappointed in a section of welsh fans that continued to shout, whistle and jeer during sextons kicks. The guys by me were embarassed by One particular guy who continued to shout four! Just as he approached the ball.

The Irish fans got rowdy at the last kick because of the decision but I agree it was poor. Majority of welsh fans we re great and sang through Priestlands kicks so no jeering would have been discernible. Huwball are you a WUM because as someone who was there what you heard has absolutely no basis in what went on in the stadium. Poor form sir.

Stand I dont think its fair to call him a WUM.

Why is he a wum?

Because what he said went completely against what I experienced at the ground. Other than the last kick the only fans making noise during the kicks were a small minority of idiotic welsh fans who were doing their darndest to disrupt sexton and to my mind it beggars belief that anyone could have felt otherwise.

But why is he a wum? Could he not be mistaken.

This is something I find a lot on this site nowadays. If you say something that goes in the face of things you are either "biased" or a "wum".

Sometimes people just have another view of things.

I would imagine on TV the thousands of Irish booing during the last kick despite insisting on Sexton to get silence was louder than the dozen or so drunken Welsh boys.

I disagree stag. Some plank shouting in a completely silent stadium is worse to me.

And I disagree with you on that. Does that make me a wum?

Im just trying to figure out why you think someone is trying to wind you up? It makes no sense to me.

"I would imagine on TV the thousands of Irish booing during the last kick despite insisting on Sexton to get silence was louder than the dozen or so drunken Welsh boys."

Hmm looks like you are trying to undo what you said about Davies by doing a bit of bootlicking Stag.. Sexton being booed during his kicks is entirely unjustified, unlike the last kick of the game after the events that had happened.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:
Hmm looks like you are trying to undo what you said about Davies by doing a bit of bootlicking Stag

Yup course I am. Night lads.

Sorry we are all trying to wind you up

Haven't a clue what you are on about but sure. Night stag!

red_stag wrote:And I disagree with you on that. Does that make me a wum?

Im just trying to figure out why you think someone is trying to wind you up? It makes no sense to me.

To bring up the last kick of the game in a charged atmosphere as a rod to beat Irish fans when some (I hasten to add very few) welsh idiots were hell bent on putting sexton off all game strikes me very definitely as WUMish. How the shouting didn't come across on tv in a completely silent stadium when sexton was kicking beggars belief.

No Stand it really did as I noted at the top. It was very noticeable.

After 3 straight losses to wales in 12 months I expect no less, bad losers.

I hate this holier than thou attitude toward kickers from quite a number of Irish fans...

You are more than happy (and very proud of at the RDS) to roar with fury during opposition lineouts, and oooh and ahhh at up and unders and generally gain an advantage every other way, but when it's kick at the posts time, how dare anybody do anything but freeze to allow a sporting environment! It makes no sense, your either all about the winning or your all about the sportsmanship, you can't pick and choose your situations and police it how you feel.

Plus how can you justify going 79 minutes policing drunk welsh fans for making noise and generally enjoying themselves, as it's not the thing to do, well unless you really feel agreived then it's ok, because you really really wanted to win!!!!

I personally don't boo, no matter how tight the game is, or how much I feel agreived, I tend to hold my head in my hands then either cheer or clap, but in now way would I be arrogant enough to tell someone else to shut up for booing, as most Irish crowds do to visiting fans...

There is no place for booing in rugby, it belongs on the terraces with football fans. However since professionalism and the advent of rugby for the masses gone is the social distinction that allowed rugby to be enjoyed by gentlemen. now any fecker is involved and together with the ignorati on here comes the lower echelon dross in the stands.

Blah blah blah...

All I heard then was 'how dare the working class man enjoy my game'!!!!

thebluesmancometh wrote:Blah blah blah...

All I heard then was 'how dare the working class man enjoy my game'!!!!

Well I'm glad you got the gist of it, did you go to grammar school?

yep, y?

I am not a fan of booing but what are you going to do? People are going to go to a match have a few drinks and let the occasion get the best of them.

I heard it yesterday from both sets of fans, didnt like it but it certainly didnt ruin what i thought was a great game.

Gatts wrote:There is no place for booing in rugby, it belongs on the terraces with football fans. However since professionalism and the advent of rugby for the masses gone is the social distinction that allowed rugby to be enjoyed by gentlemen. now any fecker is involved and together with the ignorati on here comes the lower echelon dross in the stands.

If there's no place for booing what's the alternative? Hissing?

If Irish fans want to remain silent then fine, but you shouldn't be demanding silence and then suddenly change when it suits.

Huwball wrote:I have got to say that I was very dissapointed by the amount of booing during the kicks during the Welsh match

I know that it tends to be happening quite a bit now, but normally Ireland have been good sports.

It was the same at Murrayfield yesterday, but i was most surprised by Ireland.

I'm not sure that I understand generalisations about which nation's fans are better 'sports'.

Surely it depends whether, on any given day in any stadium, you get a load of adults who love the game or a load of monkeys who just want to neck a few jars and shout at people.

And if you don't think that each nation is embued with a healthy smattering of each kind of fan, then I'm afraid that you are selling yourself whoppers.

Yeah it was pretty loud booing at Murrayfield aswell.

Im afraid im old school with regards to this and think both sets of fans should show respect and keep totally quiet....

To be honest i don't really care about booing or silence during kicking. As a kicker i would actually prefer booing or at least a litte bit of noise! Silence would kind of put me off.
I actually think the best is when people don't really pay attention to the kick and just keep talking while a few people boo. Why do we have to focus on the kick anyway? its a pretty boring part of the game.

What actually quite annoyed me was when Leicester and Clermont were playing in Clermont. The Leicester supporters were telling the Clermont supporters to be quite. Im sorry but who are they to tell the home crowd what to do. Its part of French culture to bang on the seats as the kicker takes the kick. The funny thing is when it was the return fixture in Welford Road the Clermont supporters didnt make a sound.

Gatts

Find me a post where I have said Wales didn't deserve that game. Had Ireland sneaked a win it would have been a travesty as at no point were they the better team. I am actually of the opinion we should all start clapping like the French do during kicks but booing or screaming out in a silentstadium annoyed me massively.

I agree Stand, if I were kicking I would want my fans clapping and cheering for me. Not only would it hopefully inspire me and give me some sense of why I'm trying to kick the penalty, but it would also down out any boos or shouting idiots.

Gatts wrote:After 3 straight losses to wales in 12 months I expect no less, bad losers.

That's a tad harsh. I haven't seen any Irish fans being bad losers. Most of them are understandably angry about B Davies thuggery but otherwise they seem to be congratulating the welsh on winning what was a great game of rugby. There was more chat after the last 6n game which was deserved because wales had only won by cheating at the lineout.

As for booing, it's happening everywhere now. Personally, I mix it up a bit - usually I'm silent but if I have had a few and the game is close then I might admittedly, find myself omitting the odd boo. However whilst it might be disrespectful, it isn't intended that way. It's just pantomime. I may be wrong but I doubt that a test level place kicker is going to be put off or even aggrieved by a bit of booing!

Appalling hypocrisy from the Irish crowd. But not unsurprising.

This never used to be an issue in Ireland... It all started when Leinster started to do well in the HEC and dragged the herds of the great unwashed that are glory hunting Leinster fans


Waiting for Gibbo's abuse

What we got was booing for one kick because, wrongly, the crowd didn't think it was a penalty - other than that it was near silence.

As Stand says the thing that stuck out was the single Welsh fan who shouted out every time Sexton took a kick. To be honest Welsh supporters are in no position to take the moral high ground when ot comes to silence at kicks.

geoff998rugby wrote:What we got was booing for one kick because, wrongly, the crowd didn't think it was a penalty - other than that it was near silence.

There was massive booing at the final whistle too. The crowd was more like a soccer one than a rugby one.

To be honest Welsh supporters are in no position to take the moral high ground when ot comes to silence at kicks.

I'm not aware of any Welsh crowds that demand silence at kicks though. Munster fans for instance are very adamant that silence should be administered at every penalty kick.

This seems to change if the kick is for the opposition to win the game in the final few minutes.

Booing at the final whistle is completely different.

I suspect it was much disappointment at the Irish performance as anything else

Chunky Norwich wrote:Appalling hypocrisy from the Irish crowd. But not unsurprising.

Sorry, care to explain that?

eirebilly wrote:

Chunky Norwich wrote:Appalling hypocrisy from the Irish crowd. But not unsurprising.

Sorry, care to explain that?

Irish rugby in general has a tone of hypocrisy about it. From the way the forwards play, and look oh so surprised when they are penalised, to the way the crowds behave.

Donb't even get me staretd on the bitter Irish media.

sorry, i heard booing all game long for most kicks at one point or another, whether they were a few idiots or larger sections (or the wholes crowd for the last kick). and that was from both sides.

and the Irish, are no better or worse than any other countries fans when it comes to it, however, they do tend to deny that, and all of a sudden 'its ok to boo cause we didn't agree with that decision'. doesn't fly sorry lads, its cool though, welcome to our world.

just to mention the Davies thing, what he did was wrong, and he will be cited, and banned. no question. however, there was a lead up to it, its not like Donnacha Ryan was wondering along picking daisies and big bad Davies came along and dumped him on his head. Ryan went in to charge Adam Jones when he was standing at a ruck vulnerable the same way Botha did when he broke Adams shoulder/arm on the Lions tour. Davies saw red at that, he shouldn't have did what he did, but I wouldn't have minded him giving Ryan a smack, what Ryan did was dangerous and id be surprised if he wasn't cited and banned aswell (again, like to clarify I'm not condoning Davies actions).

Chunky Norwich wrote:

eirebilly wrote:

Chunky Norwich wrote:Appalling hypocrisy from the Irish crowd. But not unsurprising.

Sorry, care to explain that?

Irish rugby in general has a tone of hypocrisy about it. From the way the forwards play, and look oh so surprised when they are penalised, to the way the crowds behave.

Donb't even get me staretd on the bitter Irish media.

Show me a team of players that dont looked suprised when they have been knowingly been pinged for a penalty? Thats seriously a poor comment to make.

As for Davis. Silly reaction and he will get banned but i also expect that Ryan will be called up for his part in it and expect a ban for him as well. Shame incidents like that happen in such great games.

Booing in the Aviva. I watched the game yesterday with about 30 welsh in the bar and about 150 + Irish. The welsh sang there national anthem with pride and when It came down ours I was expecting the ceiling to be lifted less than 10 sang it including myself a fraction of the dB of the welsh. The welsh felt so sorry they say Irelands Call for us. Is this the level of patriotism, pride and passion are country is made of consider the many who died so we have a National Anthem.

In summery, nice tradition, I respect it, but don't really care if the crowd makes a noise or not..

If it's the tradition of the team or the club to be silent for the kickers then that should be observed at their ground. Really annoys me that at Welford Rd when there's an away fan making an a$$ out of themselves. They generally get a sharp word but I'd prefer the officials to just eject them. Not fair to ask for that kind of committment to the silence at the grounds of clubs who aren't fussed though.

Sadly I find that trips to national stadiums seem to show a lack of concentration of rugby supporters and more of a mix between supporters, bored locals, people on the drink looking for something to do or people on sponsorship free tickets. They are rarely a great mix of hardcore fans, sadly.