Rugby Fans

[whack6 0]

hello all, just want to ask why rugby followers arnt treated as badly as football fans, watching the match tonight and rules for them are soo laid back compared to the rules for us. i know football fans have a bad reputation in england but do you think if they relaxed the rules a little, eg. let people enjoy a pint whilst watching a match, mixed crowds etc... would that create less friction between the two? be intrested to know others views on this i for one think this would work...

[Trent Canary 0]

Dont think it would work. The culture of rugby in the players and the fans is just far too different in my opinion. Ive been to several England rugby games and have never seen any trouble, despite the fact everyone is usually wasted. Football unfortunaetly attracts a certain type of person that just wouldnt suit this sort of thing. It might work with say Norwich v (Insert name of a friendly set of fans, Sunderland for example)  But West Ham v anyone, Leeds v anyone etc. Just wouldnt work.

[diabolicalmastermind 1]

I was discussing this the other day when I went to watch Bradford Bulls play Saints. We all mingled together before, during and after the match and the atmosphere is just so different. I dont know whether its because the whole thing seems to be more family orientated or what. But it is a shame.

[Ivana_rubyatitz 6]

[quote user="You What"]hello all, just want to ask why rugby followers arnt treated as badly as football fans, watching the match tonight and rules for them are soo laid back compared to the rules for us. i know football fans have a bad reputation in england but do you think if they relaxed the rules a little, eg. let people enjoy a pint whilst watching a match, mixed crowds etc... would that create less friction between the two? be intrested to know others views on this i for one think this would work...[/quote]

Oh that it could be thus.  However ask yourself when was the last time you saw two sets of drunken rival rugby fans kicking ten bells out of each other or hurling chairs at the police outside a cafe in some foreign city? Rugby for some reason has a completely different fan base who can appreciate that a healthy sporting rivalry can be enjoyed over a few drinks without the need to beat the sh#@ out of each other. Take a tour around a city centre on a Saturday night and you will see that that level of maturity is lost on a large slice of our population many of whom are to be found in football grounds earlier in the day.

Alas while the vast majority of fans would react sensibly and responsibly to what you suggest the moron minority still exist in football (check out reports of scenes after Coventry v Leicester last night or indeed our recent visit to Leicester).  Before we say it is a Leicester problem btw I can assure you it does not emerge at Welford Road (home of the Leicester Tigers) despite that ground having 12 bars.

[Rupethebear 0]

It''s the whole game, the players don''t chase the ref, fain injury or dive, we need to adopt more of this in football

[Big Jim 0]

It never fails to amaze me that this question crops up every single time there is a big international rugby game on terrestrial television, the answer is very simple and very obvious if you have even the slightest knowledge of the history and politics of sport. It''s a class thing pure and simple. From the time when the two codes seperated, football evolved as the sport of the working class male whilst rugby union remained a bastion of the upper/middle class privately educated elite. Thus both sports were subsequently shaped by their respective audiences, the rough, tough and dirty world of football developed on one side(crowd trouble is not a recent phenomenon incidentally, it has occured ever since professionalism & the first ground closures happened as far back as the 1920''s) while a more regimented, rules & etiquette obsessed world developed in the (admittedly still tough game of) rugby side of things. Obviously, in recent years the class profile of both sports have altered somewhat, there are certainly more posh people in our game now and during things like the rugby world cup many more traditionally working class people show an interest in the egg chasing, however the accents on show in the after match interviews with players from the respective codes still give the game away when it comes to the class bias. This is irrelevent anyway however as it''s it''s the history of the first century of the sports'' that have made them what they are today, not the last decades'' limited changes. 

Before anyone brings in the rugby league argument, don''t! You simply cannot compare it to either of the other sports, it''s a sort of halfway house that grew up in the Northern areas that didn''t embrace either football or rugby union from the start. Yes, they are(slightly) better behaved both on & off the pitch than we are in football, but the cow towing to authority is no where near as ingrained as it is in the union game. The same goes for crowd behaviour, it hasn''t got the same history of spectator aggro that football has had over the years but again they''re not the little angels from rugby union either. My family have links in Hull and games between Hull KR & Hull FC consistently create trouble for the local constablary, whilst a couple of recent cup semi''s have featured mass pitch invasions too. 

[YankeeCanary 0]

[quote user="Big Jim"]

It never fails to amaze me that this question crops up every single time there is a big international rugby game on terrestrial television, the answer is very simple and very obvious if you have even the slightest knowledge of the history and politics of sport. It''s a class thing pure and simple. From the time when the two codes seperated, football evolved as the sport of the working class male whilst rugby union remained a bastion of the upper/middle class privately educated elite. Thus both sports were subsequently shaped by their respective audiences, the rough, tough and dirty world of football developed on one side(crowd trouble is not a recent phenomenon incidentally, it has occured ever since professionalism & the first ground closures happened as far back as the 1920''s) while a more regimented, rules & etiquette obsessed world developed in the (admittedly still tough game of) rugby side of things. Obviously, in recent years the class profile of both sports have altered somewhat, there are certainly more posh people in our game now and during things like the rugby world cup many more traditionally working class people show an interest in the egg chasing, however the accents on show in the after match interviews with players from the respective codes still give the game away when it comes to the class bias. This is irrelevent anyway however as it''s it''s the history of the first century of the sports'' that have made them what they are today, not the last decades'' limited changes. 

Before anyone brings in the rugby league argument, don''t! You simply cannot compare it to either of the other sports, it''s a sort of halfway house that grew up in the Northern areas that didn''t embrace either football or rugby union from the start. Yes, they are(slightly) better behaved both on & off the pitch than we are in football, but the cow towing to authority is no where near as ingrained as it is in the union game. The same goes for crowd behaviour, it hasn''t got the same history of spectator aggro that football has had over the years but again they''re not the little angels from rugby union either. My family have links in Hull and games between Hull KR & Hull FC consistently create trouble for the local constablary, whilst a couple of recent cup semi''s have featured mass pitch invasions too. 

[/quote]

arrdee, arrdee, are you there? You seem to keep a watchful eye on all things on this forum. It seems Big Jim''s family are keeping a stock of sausages up there in Hull. It also appears the local policeman have been eating too many and it''s causing them stomach upset. It''s unfortunate that they don''t appear to have proper lavatory systems up there either as the police have to do their business on the pitch en masse. Is there no privacy anymore? Anyway arrdee, if the sausage inventory in Hull is considerable, Big Jim''s family may consider importing them to Norfolk. This won''t help the folk in Norfolk and it sure won''t do your business any good. The only consolation is that it may help the grass grow down the centre of the pitch at Carrow Road.

[Blainsey 2]

I concur. Too many lower class riff-raff involved in football. Shame as a 2 pint glass of Bass whilst watching Bristol rugby play is wonderful.