Twickenham behaviour has got to be addressed

[AlphaWiseOwl]

Another journalist has made his views felt on the appalling behaviour at Twickenham last weekend. We are being dragged (down) into the same category as the round ball brigade and surely, something has got to be done. See: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyu ... -fans.html

[Trueleicester]

Talk about being blown out of all proportion. Whilst I don't in anyway agree with homophobic behaviour, I was at the game and never heard anything and I would be very suprised if nothing would have been done about it at the time.This article is a classic case of a journalist jumping on the band wagon my guess would be he wasn't even there.
Yes lets kick these idiots out of the grounds but lets put it into context there were 80,000+ people at the game,the odds are there will be 1 or 2 fools in amongst that lot

[Sajerj]

Another journalist has made his views felt on the appalling behaviour at Twickenham last weekend. We are being dragged (down) into the same category as the round ball brigade and surely, something has got to be done. See: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyu ... -fans.html

Oddly, people like yourself and this journalist don't see the irony of using condescending and inflammatory discriptions of football supporters, despite the fact the game is supported by millions of decent men, women, children, of every creed, colour, sexuality and disability.

[AlphaWiseOwl]

All I will say to Trueleicester and Sajerj is that words such as ostrich, head and sand spring to mind. Others take this more seriously and see the creep of this type of bad behaviour as a lamentable situation. I went to my first rugby league game last summer and was appalled at the behaviour of both men, women and 10-15 year olds who thought it was perfectly OK to yell (and I mean yell) foul-mouthed abuse at players and officials with no apparent concern by those around them. When I told a friend, a lifelong RL fan, he confirmed that whilst not endemic at all grounds, this was quite normal at some. I do not want rugby union to go down this road.

[Sajerj]

Alpha, I agree with you. Cricket is the same over the last ten years or so. It's reflective of society. It's not good to see the trend.

What I specifically dislike though is your, and others, condescending and derogatory reference to football supporters, that number decent people in their millions. You can make your point, as can others, without such puerile reference. Nigel Owens himself is of course also well know for doing it when refereeing.

[drc_007]

It is obviously topic of the week, there are numerous article in all the newspapers and online. The crowd will be under the spotlight at the weekend and I think Steve Walsh is the referee.....

[AlphaWiseOwl]

Sajerj, I could equally accuse you of being derogatory and condescending (both subjective terms) in your remarks to me but the fact remains that some football fans have a terrible reputation and cause a lot of damage to towns and cities they visit. I remember all shops and businesses being boarded up when certain teams came to town. At one point, stadia were caged to stop 'fans' throwing things such as seats and other heavy objects onto the pitch. The behaviour of their managers on match day both along the touch line and in their approaches to officials, is hardly something you would want to see emulated. The FA has not covered itself in glory in recent years either as it has tried, without much success to halt racism, homophobia and corruption in the game. If you see that as commenting from a moral high ground then, sorry, but I'm happy to stand there and will encourage others to join me. No - I certainly do not want rugby union to mimic the football environment.

[4071]

Frankly, if the journalist is going to use the singing that Twickenham does to counter the challenge of the haka as an example of disgraceful behaviour then he's struggling to come up with much to support his theory.

This certainly sounds like a man unfamiliar with the sport and the traditions:

Twickenham Man decides to drown out the New Zealand haka with his tuneless rendering of 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' - an Oklahoma slave anthem that has about as much as in common with English patriotism as the bonus sixth verse of La Marseillaise

Mind you, it's odd that the journalist who derides Twickenham's singing over the haka is the same guy who wrote this article in the week before the game: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyu ... -days.html


It's almost like he's just a golf reporter who has been given the job of writing a few rugby columns on the strength of having a watched a few games, but doesn't really like the sport that much.

[Rizzo]

Isn't this already being discussed on this thread?

http://forum.leicestertigers.com/viewto ... =1&t=38449

[mol2]

It's a shame the allegations about homophobic insults have occurred - they will be a distraction from the comments about his ineptitude.

[Hot_Charlie]

All Twickenham care about is that they get 82000 through the gate and they spend as much money as possible. Whether that turns them into a semi-abusive drunk or upsets any one else's experience is immaterial to them, as they could easily sell out most games twice over.

The dullard music they play after every score sums the place up. Artificial.

[MrPartridge]

On my last trip to Twickers a woman threw up all over 2 guys sitting in front of her. The group were hammered. To be fair I've never seen that ever before but you always get some drunken muppets don't you? Worst of it was the stewards didn't boot her and her mates out!

[G.K]

I can understand that. Watching England also makes me feel sick.