Grow up and stop booing Owen Farrell

Being booed by the opposition can be seen as a badge of honour for many elite sportspeople. In a gladiatorial environment, it is a hat tip from those who are baying for your blood.

Some of the greatest athletes across the sporting landscape have not always been loved. Go to any football ground and the opposition’s talisman will be treated like they are Europe’s most wanted fugitive. Novak Djokovic has never won over the Roger Federer or Raphael Nadal faithful in the tennis world. Even Michael Jordan used the chorus of boos he was greeted with as a motivating factor. It’s a mark of respect.

What is not a mark of respect, no matter how you spin it, is being booed by your own fans. That is the position England captain Owen Farrell found himself in on Sunday in Marseille ahead of their World Cup quarter-final victory over Fiji.

WATCH as French captain Antoine Dupont spits the dummy about some of referee Ben O’Keeffe’s decision in their one-point loss to South Africa

WATCH as French captain Antoine Dupont spits the dummy about some of referee Ben O’Keeffe’s decision in their one-point loss to South Africa

How many other fans at this World Cup have booed their captain?

That question can be phrased in a variety of ways: How many other fans boo their country’s all-time leading point scorer? How many other fans boo their third most capped player, or, how many fans boo a centurion? The treatment becomes all the more bewildering with each different way of phrasing the question. It is not only baffling, but it is damaging for England.

The England crowd were otherwise in good spirits at the Stade Velodrome, and some might even argue that booing still beats the funereal atmosphere that has pervaded Twickenham over the past year. But anyone who has the optimism to truly believe that positive spin on events deserves the greatest ovation of them all.

It did not go unnoticed at the time. Former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio took to X immediately after the boos rang out with a message to England’s fans at the stadium. The former No8 was not too dissimilar to Farrell in the way he comported himself on the pitch – vocal, confrontational, and an earful for any referee – but he is held in the pantheon of English rugby greats, and would never have received that kind of reception across his 85 caps for England.

He wrote from the Stade Velodrome: “Sincerely hope no England fans were booing when Owen Farrell’s name was read out – you might not agree with his selection but he’s our captain and leader.”

The bleak reality is they were England fans. Not only was the bulk of the stadium comprised of England fans, but Fiji is one of the few countries where there does not seem to be much enmity for the No10. Granted any non-English fan was an honorary Fijian for two hours on Sunday, and would therefore give England’s talisman and figurehead a frosty welcome, but the volume of these jeers made it quite clear that they were of an English origin (with a smattering of French too).

Sincerely hope no England fans were booing when Owen Farrell’s name was read out – you might not agree with his selection but he’s our captain and leader.

— Lawrence Dallaglio (@dallaglio8) October 15, 2023

Dallaglio gets it though. He recognises what Farrell represents and how crucial he is to England. In fact, it is hard to find any coach, player or opponent that has brushed shoulders with the 32-year-old that has not showered him in praise. Further, plenty have not been shy to put him on a pedestal alongside the very elite of the game.

You only need to look at Steve Borthwick’s glowing assessment of the fly-half after the Fiji match to get a glimpse of how he is regarded in the England camp.

“I reiterate the words I have said many times about the man sat next to me,” the England head coach said.

“I think he is a fantastic leader. He is the kind of leader I know I would want to follow onto the pitch. I think he is a brilliant player who thrives in the contest and especially in these big occasions he just gets even better. We are very fortunate to have Owen as a player in this team and as our leader. He should feel very proud of his performance and the way he led the team.”

A cursory look online provides plenty of similar appraisals. Farrell’s England and Saracens teammate Jamie George has labelled him as “one of the best players that has ever played the game,” he has been described as “incredible” by his Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall, and has staggeringly even been hailed as “best rugby league player of the last ten years” by recently retired England rugby league great Sam Tomkins.

It is fair to say that Farrell has won over those within the game of rugby, but he has found winning over the stands a tougher nut to crack. Not every great player is universally liked, but has any player ever had a harder time winning over his own fans, let alone the opposition’s?

Of course, it would be naïve and tin eared to wonder why fans would boo- they have plenty of ammunition. From his vociferous nature on the pitch, to his disciplinary record, to even his style of play, England fans all will have a reason for their heckling.

But there are plenty of popular ‘sinners’ out there who seem to have overcome their past or even current reputation. The recently retired pair of Johhny Sexton and Dan Biggar are perhaps the two fly-halves that are chirpier than the Englishman- both adored by their own fans despite their notoriety, none more so than Ireland’s captain Sexton, who only returned in time for the World Cup following his ban for an unsavoury encounter with referee Jaco Peyper.

Then there is Farrell’s disciplinary record, which is hard to gloss over. But he is not the only player that has found themself frequently on the wrong side of the law. If there was one Irishman more popular than Sexton this World Cup, it was Bundee Aki. Now the centre’s disciplinary record does not read much better than Farrell’s. Even the All Blacks’ superstar Ardie Savea was the centre of an unpleasant throat slitting gesture aimed towards the Melbourne Rebel’s Ryan Louwrens earlier this year.

This is not a witch hunt, nor a name-and-shame. It’s the opposite actually. It is pointing out that there are many players that have a shady past that are loved by their fanbase and even fans outside their own country, and rightly so.

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Maybe the biggest cause for this sour attitude towards Farrell is the club he plays for. Saracens have not ingratiated themselves with the English public over the past few years for obvious reasons. But then why did Maro Itoje receive one of the biggest cheers from the crowd in Marseille? A third of England’s starting XV against Fiji was made up of Saracens players. If they have truly made enemies of themselves with the English public then the team announcement would have sounded like a protracted window-shattering foghorn. Or is it just Farrell that has to bear the brunt of this anti-Saracens approach?

Possibly this attitude from the fans is because Farrell has always been seen as the opposite of the public’s desired No10. Be it George Ford this World Cup, Marcus Smith over the past few years, or even flamboyant playmakers like Danny Cipriani in years gone by, Farrell has always been seen as the gritty, pragmatic alternative to these players who are regarded as the paragon of attacking rugby. The dark side. The fact that Ford and Smith received two of the biggest cheers from the Marseille crowd suggests this.

Or maybe after years of enjoying the mild-mannered World Cup winning choirboy that was Jonny Wilkinson, Farrell is the uncouth, leather-jacket-wearing punk who has usurped him and that has rankled some followers. But no matter who has been his England competition, Farrell has always come out on top, and the stats prove that.

The six-cap British & Irish Lion has even spent half of his England career playing in his less comfortable position of inside centre in order to accommodate players like Ford and Smith at the expense of his own reputation. Every fanbase questions some decisions made by coaches, but as Dallaglio pointed out in his post, whether you agree with the selection or not, you back your captain.

Maybe there is a more sinister reason behind this animosity. Who knows?

What the likes of Sexton or Biggar lack is a pile of various transgressions to tarnish their name. Farrell is not the most egregious offender in any area just listed, but with each flaw that he is perceived to have, a trifle of disdain is effectively created which is why he has found it so hard to win over his own fans. But exceptional characters therefore need exceptional performances, and he has delivered those time and time again. A burgeoning trophy cabinet with Saracens, 1,240 points in Test rugby and three nominations for World Rugby player of the year, to name just a few of his accolades. These put him in the conversation for being one of England’s greatest ever players, and there is no doubt that the figures who would join him on that list would be met with a cacophonous roar from supporters. What more does Farrell have to do for fans to extend their unwavering support?

One of the greatest features of this World Cup is the support teams have received. Social media has been plastered with Ireland fans singing in packed stadia as Andy Farrell’s side lit the tournament up. While England have not played a style that has created quite as must hysteria, it is never a good look for any team when their own captain receives the kind of response that most rugby fans would not even reserve for the opposition’s captain.

Sit through the team announcements of England’s fellow semi-finalists at the Stade de France, the All Blacks, Argentina and opponents South Africa and it is unimaginable any set of fans would behave as England’s did. ‘Cohesiveness’ is a word that is thrown about a lot, but this display of disunity between the fans and one player mirrors the lack of cohesiveness England have been accused of having this tournament. At the very least the fans could get on board.

Farrell responded in the best way possible on Sunday with 20 points and a player of the match performance in England’s 30-24 win. But after 110 England appearances and countless displays of that nature, that was never going to be the tipping point where he is suddenly venerated in the way he deserves to be. England are somehow two games away from a World Cup final, and should they lift the Webb Ellis Cup it would go down as one of the greatest feats in sporting history and Farrell would be at the helm. It is scarcely believable, but steering England to that unlikely victory seems the only way Farrell will get the support he deserves.