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It's about time rugby kicked out one of its values
Last Saturday, after Mark Tele’a carried several English players on his back en route to a blockbuster try in the right corner, Damian McKenzie lined up the touchline conversion to nudge New Zealand ahead in the match with four minutes to play.
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Just then, three large words were emblazoned on the big screen at Twickenham; Respect The Kicker.
Of course the English faithful inside the self-anointed Home of Rugby obliged. Actually, no, they didn’t. Quite the opposite in fact. They whistled and jeered, doing their best to put McKenzie off his stride. These English fans, who had provided near total silence whenever Marcus Smith or George Ford took aim at the poles, ignored the directive and chucked out convention as they ratcheted up their menace.
This was a good thing and hopefully puts to bed the antiquated and pompous notion that this sport we love is somehow above a bit of pantomime nastiness. Respect the kicker? When a Test is on the line? When a visiting player is about to beat your country on your own patch? As if!
This pearl clutching plea espoused around the world has its roots in rugby’s ancient past. Rugby Values (always capitalised) were born in the Victorian era where middle class English lads in posh schools were educated on merits of Corinthian ideals. Where proper conduct on the pitch translated to proper conduct across the empire, whether that was running a tea plantation in Ceylon or murdering natives on the battlefield in Sudan.
Showing deference to the referee, playing hard but fair, refusing to win through underhanded tactics; this was what it meant to be English. This is what it meant to be a rugby player.
Of course, this is all a facade, a lie that turned into legend. The British did not establish the largest empire in human history through gentlemanly conduct. The same is true for rugby, where matches, since the very first, have been won thanks to cheap shots, players in offside positions and blatantly forward passes. At every level there are high tackles and late shots, tussles off the ball and foul words exchanged.
So why the insistence on ramming Rugby Values down our throat? Again, this stems from an earlier age. With the sport’s classist history, where only affluent amateurs could afford to risk their brains and bones for no pay, union’s bosses and marketers positioned the code against league and football. Especially football, where mostly working class fans have long been derided by the rich and powerful. As Oscar Wilde is supposed to have said, “football is a game played by ruffians”. Contrast this with the quote attributed to Winston Churchill – “rugby is a hooligan’s game played by gentleman” – and a clear image emerges.
This isn’t all bad, nor is it founded entirely in myth. One of rugby’s best qualities are those so-called virtues that insist on respect for the referee, a handshake after a bloody game and beers shared by players who only minutes earlier were tearing lumps out of each other. If this side of the game were to disappear entirely the whole enterprise would be poorer for it.
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But let’s not pretend that deferential silence as a fly-half attempts a match-winning kick is the answer. Not only is it not practical – as those noisy fans at Twickenham proved – it actually cheapens the spectacle.
Two years ago, when the Springboks played France in Marseille 12 months out for the World Cup, the Velodrome was a teeming, heaving swirl of light and sound. Just about every Springbok who played in that 30-26 defeat – that incidentally saw two former World Rugby Player of the Year recipients red-carded – said that it was one of the most vibrant atmospheres they’d ever experienced.
And did the French partisans keep quiet when Chesline Kolbe, Faf de Klerk and Damian Willemse teed up the ball? Of course not! They raised their voices and hurled abuse down from the enveloping stands. And even though I was there as a neutral journalist, I couldn’t help but feel a chill and the sudden urge to shout down support for my fellow Saffas who cut lonely figures down on the pitch. I didn’t, of course. I’ve always been able to maintain a degree of professionalism in the press box. But the hostility directed at my compatriots stirred something deep within me. Something primal and prickly and uncontrollable.
And isn’t that the point of all this? Isn’t international sport supposed to be theatre that flirts with jingoism and violence? Orwell said that sport was war minus the shooting. This was meant as a criticism and there are times when passions run over and become toxic. (I’ve read the comments sections under some of my articles. I know exactly how ugly fandom can be).
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But if this fervour can hold the line, if it remains on the right side of nationalism, everyone wins. The circus has meaning. The entertainment has jeopardy. It gives fans something to talk about and, perhaps most importantly, doesn’t hold them to unrealistic standards of behaviour. Let them shout! Let them boo! Let them whistle and jeer! If McKenzie or any other kicker needs absolute silence to split the uprights then they don’t belong at the elite level anyway.
So as we kick-off the Autumn Nations Series in earnest tonight, with all teams involved over the weekend, let’s dispense with the faux humility. If you’re an Irish fan at the Aviva, don’t be afraid to clear your lungs and let every All Black attempting to put points on your boys know exactly how you feel. Same for the Scots in Edinburgh, the English in Twickenham and the Welsh in Cardiff. Away fixtures are supposed to be challenging. They’re supposed to be unequal. Why pretend otherwise?
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Great article Daniel. It's actually even worse than you describe - the so-called 'Posh Boys' still rule the roost over there (although I hope Starmer will finally break their hold) at all levels and not just rugby. Having run away from the place as soon as I graduated but was dragged back there by my Saffer wife twice in the last 25 years (but am now thankfully back in SA) I can vouch for everything you say and more!
(However, could I please ask you to speak to the people that insist on playing loud music, at Loftus particularly, to maybe tone it down a bit? It's really a bit skommie to say the least. Thanks!)
What a load of dribble. I could only read the first 3 paragraphs. Everything we do needs standards of behaviour acceptable to a peaceful society. Adults have a responsibility to show the way for children to achieve these standards. Next you will be trying to convince us that Trump has values we need to accept.
After match interviews with either csptains always has them thanking the fans as without them the task in winning is harder. So keep on booing and cussn the opposition as home crowds are always an advantage.
You are trying to justify bad sportsmanship. However, all the shouting by the English supporters only makes a sweeter victory for the Australians. Well done Australia for playing better rugby. Oh, and well done England fans for being able to shout louder. Great skill 🤗
What a load of drivel.
Well rugby definitely isn't tennis! There is a ridiculous moral position taken that attempts to elevate rugby above other sports. Totally class based. It's a spectacle. Players are entertainers and they know it. However there IS a developed and developing sense of decency in the sport that is really not comparable to many others.
What the hell is wrong with you?!
"Respect is pompous"?! Really? I guess you're what's wrong with the world today...
And "The British did not establish the largest empire in human history through gentlemanly conduct"?! Remember when the british empire killed millions indians? That's the way to go, right?
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/04/04/the-british-empire-was-much-worse-than-you-realize-caroline-elkinss-legacy-of-violence
Just image a German saying stuff like that, in the year 2024!
Again: hat the actual @#$& is wrong with you?!
If this should become the prevailing opinion, let that big asteroid come!
English invented fair play ! For the others to use...
Not booing the kicker is about respect, honour and integrity. Some nations lost these values long ago to be replaced by the God of their team winning at all cost. That's not what sport is about and its no reason to force us all to be disrespectful.
I remember an incident in a Wales v england schoolboys international, when an england conversion was met with thousands of Welsh schoolkids banging their seats. The kicker duly missed the conversion, so the Welsh referee, Alun Wyn Bevan, ordered it to be retaken, due to the unsportsmanlike behaviour of the crowd. The kick was good at the second attempt. More referees should do the same. Clermont also have dead silence for opposition kicks, so it can be done.
Respect the kicker, respect the haka.
There are plenty of other opportunities to cheer and jeer.
I would love to see Australia beat arrogant England.
Tell me, how many actual real Englishmen are in the English side?
I've watched England play for 30 years and that's the first time I've ever experienced a handful of fans booing the away kicker. I'm guessing it was some of the millions of Australians now living in Clapham. I jest of course.
It's obviously the first time this journalist has noticed it too and I'm guessing he will be at Twickenham booing the English kicker when we play the Boks this month. If you do find yourself booing the opposition kicker you should probably look at supporting a football team, you will find many more like minded people and you can make hand gestures while they take corners.
At a Waitemata Vs Ponsonby game a few years back, some lads sat on the hill with a duck caller and let rip every time ponsonby’s kicker took a shot.
They changed kickers twice and still missed everything.
It was never not hilarious.
think it was James hook who said he preferred it when the crowd were noisy, cos they weren't all paying attention to him and his kicking
Ha! Manners and respect, those antiquated, colonial things.
The whole 'respect the kicker' thing must be purely a northern hemisphere 'value' cause I haven't ever seen us kiwis GAF about being quiet in any games I've watched. Bring back the booing. Boo the kicker. Boo the haka. Boo all of the things.
Respect is not a big thing in NZ clearly. I remember in Wellington the stadium resounding with cowardly noise whenever Ireland were taking a kick. The media then spread fake news about Irish supporters fighting after the match. Just because NZ were beaten. Honor and integrity are universally good values to be aimed for. NZ lost their soul when they went corporate.
Booing a opposition kicker or player is a fan's right , payed for by ridiculously expensive test tickets
Booing kickers is a great Crusaders fan value. As is kids holding up Carlos Spencer signs (cough cough).
The is a directive about how to respond to the Haka.
Is there not also a law about feeding the scrum down the middle? Some things are applied, some aren't.
There's no official directive on how crowds respond to the haka, cibi, sipi tau, or siva tau though. Which imo is how it should always be.
But having "respect the kicker" signs dotted around the NH stadiums while crowds are booing the haka seems a bit hypocritical. Just remove them all & boo, whistle, whatever, the kicker, I say.
I think we should add; being allowed to shine lasers in players eyes like we used to when we were lighties.
Lasers, sirens, gongs are all fair in my opinion. I don’t even mind light concussion grenades flares or fireworks.
Hell, I’d fly a plane overhead trailing a giant banner telling the kicker his mum is actually his dad.
Kickers should be training for th is sort of thing.
Noise is one thing and I agree it is okay. But shining a blinding light in some ones eyes is just pure bad taste and says a lot about anyone who would even suggest doing such a stupid act.
Agree
It can also be good for the kicker to have booing!
Should be able to boo, whistle and shout at the golfer as he/she goes to put or swings at their tee shot!!!
100% agree!!!