Sifflets et huées, la nouvelle sale habitude du rugby
Chambrer, d’accord. Manquer de respect, non. On avait déjà remarqué cette étrange et sale nouvelle habitude qui envahissait les stades de rugby à l’occasion de la Coupe du Monde de Rugby 2023 en France.
Chaque fois qu’Eddie Jones, alors coach des Wallabies, apparaissait sur les écrans d’un stade, il était largement conspué. Dès le millième de seconde où son visage apparaissait, des dizaines de milliers de sifflets se faisaient entendre.
« Apparemment, je ne suis pas populaire ici », avait-il souri en conférence de presse suivant la victoire de l’Australie sur la Géorgie (35-15). « Il y a ceux qui le sont et ceux qui ne le sont pas. Je fais partie de ceux qui ne sont pas populaires ici mais ça ne me dérange pas. »
Ben O’Keeffe, Owen Farrell…
Outre l’arbitre néo-zélandais Ben O’Keeffe – dont la prestation sur le quart de finale entre la France et l’Afrique du Sud n’a jamais été digérée – le capitaine de l’Angleterre Owen Farrell a vécu la même chose lors de la victoire de l’Angleterre sur l’Argentine dans la finale de bronze (26-23).
Lorsque lui avait été posée la question en conférence de presse juste après, il avait fait mine de balayer ce phénomène : « Je ne suis pas surpris. Lors du Tournoi des Six Nations, c’est pareil. C’est toujours un peu différent de botter ici, en France. Mais ce n’est pas un problème », avait-il alors répondu. Quelques mois plus tard, il mettait sa carrière en pause.
Cette triste pratique qui a éclaboussé la Coupe du Monde de Rugby était une conséquence, pensait-on, de l’élargissement du public du rugby à l’occasion du tournoi mondial. La figure de « sport de gentlemen » en avait pris un coup par ces réactions de mauvais esprits.
Le rire jaune d’Ugo Mola
Sauf qu’on a retrouvé ce même phénomène dans les tribunes du stade Marcel-Deflandre à La Rochelle samedi 30 décembre pour la réception du Stade Toulousain (victoire de La Rochelle 29-8). Chaque fois que Ugo Mola apparaissait à l’écran, sifflets et huées se faisaient entendre.
Le manager du Stade Toulousain l’a d’abord pris à la rigolade en conférence de presse : « Ce qui est sûr, c’est que je vais annuler mon compromis de vente à l’Île de Ré ».
Ensuite, il a pris la mesure et est devenu plus grave dans son propos : « C’est peut-être la limite en ce moment du côté populaire du rugby où nous avons besoin d’avoir une figure qui vous empêche de tourner en rond. Après, qu’est-ce que vous voulez que je vous dise ? Je vis ça depuis que je suis gamin donc une fois de plus, une fois de moins, j’ai presque envie de vous dire que c’est comme ça.
« Je n’ai pas envie de vous dire qu’ils continuent parce que ce n’est pas agréable. Voilà, il y a l’effet de masse et l’effet populaire qui parfois dépassent ce que pensent les uns et les autres. Tant que je suis détesté à ce rythme-là, c’est que nous allons peut-être empêcher La Rochelle une paire de fois de gagner encore. Après, ne vous inquiétez pas, ils me siffleront moins quand ils nous auront roulé dessus comme ils l’ont fait ce soir. »
Pourquoi Ugo Mola a tant été sifflé ?
En retour, Ugo Mola s’est à un moment retourné vers les tribunes et a mimé le geste de lever le bouclier de Brennus, répétant une scène qui s’était produite quelques mois plus tôt au Stade de France lorsque Toulouse avait battu La Rochelle en finale du Top 14, 29-26.
Est-ce pour cette raison qu’il a été sifflé ? Est-ce parce qu’il avait choisi de faire tourner son effectif pour cette dernière rencontre de l’année, laissant au repos ses mondialistes (Thomas Ramos, Antoine Dupont, François Cros, Cyril Baille, Peato Mauvaka) malgré le retour de Julien Marchand alors qu’en face Grégory Alldritt faisait son grand retour comme remplaçant ?
Est-ce qu’il faut remonter encore peu plus loin lorsqu’Ugo Mola avait qualifié le Stade Rochelais d’épouvantail ? Un qualificatif qui était mal passé alors qu’il partait d’une bonne intention.
Début juin 2023, Ugo Mola évoquait en effet le bon parcours de La Rochelle en Champions Cup alors que Toulouse avait été éliminé en demi-finale.
« On sait tous que notre championnat n’est pas adapté aux compétitions européennes, donc quand une équipe y arrive, il faut la féliciter. Je ne suis pas jaloux des gens, mais admiratif quand ils font bien. Il y a peut-être des choses à observer, parce qu’il y a peut-être des choses qu’on ne fait plus bien. On a été l’épouvantail pendant quelque temps, aujourd’hui c’est La Rochelle », avait-il alors dit.
Reste que, à en croire les échanges entre supporters, « la moitié du stade ne savait même pas pourquoi ils sifflaient ». Beaucoup rapprochaient ce phénomène à celui observé dans les stades de foot. Sale habitude dont le rugby ne sort pas grandi.
Comments on RugbyPass
It’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
6 Go to commentsDon’t pay a blind bit of notice to Lukie… he likes the sound of his own voice and is always looking for something controversial to say. He has been banging on about Leinster's defensive system all season like he knows something Jacques Nienebar doesn’t. Which is the reason why he didn’t apply for the job obviously
14 Go to commentsWho got the benefits out of Schmidt, Lowe, Aki, and Gibson Park?
14 Go to commentsWhat’s new its a common occurrence, just the journos out there expecting a negative spin. The outcome will be beneficial to jordie and Leinster. The home grown lads hav got some experience to step up to and be more competitive, that or spend the 6 months keeping the bench warm.
14 Go to commentsI’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. As a Saffer following SA teams in the URC - I now watch virtually every European game played on the weekend. In SR, I wouldn’t be bothered to follow the games being played on the other side of the world, at weird hours, if my team wasn’t playing. I now follow the whole tournament and not just the games in my time zone. Second, with New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. Thats why I think Japan’s league needs to get in the mix. The international flavor of those teams could make for a great spectacle. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? We’ve measured down to the average no. Of seconds per game. Where the measurement of the impact on the fanbase? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
3 Go to commentsThose are pretty good draws for the two top Aussie teams. I certainly wouldn't want my Chiefs to have a quarter final in Brisbane. None of the top teams will want the Crusaders.
1 Go to commentsHonestly, I am a bit lost here …. Ireland - RSA was (at least in my opinion) perhaps (from a purely technical / rugby-skills-show point of view) the pinnacle of the RWC2023 - almost flawless playing (putting aside the kicking of RSA which was the difference between the two teams), rugby at it’s very best …. if I were a Bok and after the game some Irish lads came around saying “see you in 5 weeks same place”, I definitely wouldn’t have thought of it as being in any way “arrogant”, rather a sort of jolly “if we both continue to play like this, no one could stop us” - besides, few of us fans would have, at that time, been surprised to see the same teams playing on 23 september and 28 october 2023 ….. well, we all know Ireland chose to hit a slump to keep the QF curse alive …..
136 Go to commentsThere’s value gleaned from having an All Black star running and training with your team. How many games he starts (or even where he plays in the backline) will be decided on a week by week basis based on the needs for that week. But the overall learning and growth for all concerned, I’d think, is massively beneficial. Especially for Irish players.
14 Go to commentsSon, whith just " raw athlete “ , you are able to beat “ better rugby players “ by 74 points…. May be England should recruit in athletics….
1 Go to commentsPffft. It’s not a one-way street bud and Irish teams don’t seem to have had an issue taking kiwi players previously.
14 Go to commentsParticularly great to have captain Scott Barrett back after going off last week for the Crusaders. Codie Taylor a real leader and mighty Tamaiti Williams join Fletcher Newell in the front row. Those 2 will make a big difference. Great bench with the likes of Tom Christie, Jamie Hannah etc who are playing well. Should be a great derby.
1 Go to commentsDoes a blitz defence not have a weekness against a well-placed grubber kick, perhaps angled cleverly. All the defence is up and the full-back can only cover so much ground. Thoughts?
28 Go to commentsWhile Iose is destructive in the Canes set-up, he is not big for an international 8 and could struggle against the top teams. With his speed, he could be developed into a seven but, as Ben points out, he doesn’t show a scavenging game with the Canes or make dominating tackles. Sotutu has shown a step up this year and attitude plus motivation seems to be the big areas of growth. Deserves another AB shot imo.
4 Go to commentsNaholo is my only question mark for this side. He wasn’t the only one who had a forgettable game against the Brumbies but he was passive, defensively poor and generally lacked energy. Needs to get a whole lot busier for me. I would have liked to see Sullivan on that wing with Higgins on the bench (if staying with a 6-2 as BeegMike points out on here!)
3 Go to commentsWell, I am sure that Eben said exactly what he meant to say, exactly how he meant to say it. Does he strike you as a man that doesn't know arrogance when he sees it. He should know it because he has shaken the arrogance out of many foes before.
136 Go to commentsPls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
136 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
6 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
136 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
14 Go to comments