The Rugby Thread

Boisterous banter from the goys

Total scombags, goys.

Appeals for calm....loike

http://www.thejournal.ie/senior-cup-fight-3824291-Jan2018/

Het-field wrote: In fairness, I'm not sure football fans, as a collective can throw stones.

pre Madonna wrote: Het-field wrote: In fairness, I'm not sure football fans, as a collective can throw stones. But this is the point and is something I have seen throughout my life, especially in pubs that I am in, either working or socially. When rugby lads go on the lash and act the **** it is dismissed as 'high jinks'. A pub that is reasonably local to me has connections with the local semi-pro team, I have seen absolutely appalling behaviour from fans, club members and supporters alike, really horribly stuff, and yet it was never mentioned anywhere else.

PM, I disagree that it is hypocrisy, while not disagreeing that at some levels the behaviour can be the same. But the historical problem of football hoologanism has been a lot more dangerous than the general behaviour of unruly people who are attracted to sport. Problems associated with football social disorder are often a lot deeper rooted, focused, and in some cases disgustingly political (the involvement of the far right). That and the historical organisation of football violence. Rugby may get more of a pass than it deserves, but the history of football social disorder speaks for itself. I'm willing to call it out as it has impacted the manner in which fans can enjoy going to a game, or how you can attend matches, which has impacted all of us.

I didn't have to wait more than a couple of years of watching football before I saw hooliganism first hand (Lansdowne Road '95). And thanks to modern social media it shows old habits die hard. Think Russia at Euro 2016? Think the scourge of politically motivated hooliganism in Eastern Europe? England continues to have an undercurrent of it if you sit as an away fan at a game, or as a home supporter beside the away fans section. We continue to see elements of the nastier elements of football hoploganism in Europe, which makes clear it is not buried.

Both contemporary and historical football hooliganism are not the same as the worst elements of rugby thuggishness, and that's why it is not a hypocrisy.

PM, to me that's what exactly is being compared. Football hooliganism hasn't gone away. Bad behaviour amongst rugby supports is generally idiotic boorishness (and the superior attitude). Football hooliganism is more dangerous.

Like I said, rugby should get no more of a pass. But football has a particularly egregious past and present with hoologanism, and as a result it gets greater scrutiny. In this case, football fans were casting stones, and I dissented. I feel strongly about football hooliganism, as it has gone a long way to destroy some of the good elements of how to watch games, or to enjoy a game like in other sports.

Edited by Het-field - 30 Jan 2018 at 3:38pm

Well, the Gardai were called to the incident, which is exactly the same as would happen in any other case.

But football and rugby are different in terms of their history and present with violence. That is just a fact of life. Football brought upon itself this reputation, and improvements made are regularly undermined by those who use it as an excuse for a punch up. If it keeps going this way rugby will also be spoken of in the same tones. But football is a long way beyond that.

I've made it clear why I brought football into it. Glass houses and all that.

Edited by Het-field - 30 Jan 2018 at 3:57pm