Du'Plessis Kirifi should be free to salute crowds with or without abuse
Hurricanes flanker Du’Plessis Kirifi has revealed he had unsavoury comments yelled at him from the stands following Saturday night’s victory over the Waratahs.
Kirifi was caught on camera flipping off members of the 11,000-strong crowd after the come-from-behind 22-18 win and some would have unsurprisingly jumped to conclusions about his behaviour.
Those critics will now have to eat their words following Kirifi’s revelations about his entirely justifiable behaviour – but should it really matter whether or not Kirifi copped abuse in the lead-up to him flipping the bird?
Rugby has long lagged behind other sports when it comes to allowing the individual involved to let their personalities shine through.
Few would disagree that Kirifi was right to feel frustrated after what went down at Leichhardt Oval.
“Abuse from the sideline is part of our job, and it’s a part I personally love – however this doesn’t justify racial slurs or comments about my family,” he posted on Instagram on Monday.
But what if Kirifi hadn’t copped abuse of quite as personal a nature? What if Kirifi had been criticised for the way he performed, or simply for being on the winning side?
If you want to encourage fans to get along to games or simply to tune in on TV then it’s important to avoid intentionally homogenising the product.
Many professional rugby players in New Zealand (and, really, the world) are afraid to step out of line and say anything that could indicate they have thoughts, feelings and opinions of their own. If that’s simply who they are as a person then there’s nothing wrong with that, but players who break the mould shouldn’t be forced into line.
The NBA is just one of many sporting leagues awash with characters who aren’t afraid to speak their mind or throw a little bit of shade towards opposition players and fans.
In the tennising world, while the ongoing battles between the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic make for interesting storylines in of their selves, a player like Nick Kyrgios attracts just as many headlines, even if he’s not quite as accomplished a player as the aforementioned stars of the game, simply because he’s such a big personality.
Fans of a sport will tune in if there’s a good game to watch but non-fans can be enticed throughout the storylines that bleed into the narrative of the everyday.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a sport espousing values such as ‘respect’ and ‘discipline’ but the one that really draws people’s attention and gets fans excited is ‘passion’.
Rugby needs passionate players and sometimes that means going against the grain and not behaving like a robot.
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Kirifi had a very good reason to throw caution to the wind and flip off some ill-behaving crowd members (to call them fans would be doing the game a disservice) at Leichhardt Oval.
In his Instagram post, Kirifi has said, “If I had my time again I’d definitely act in a different way” – but it would be wrong to quell the Hurricane’s passion, especially given the words he allegedly received from the crowd.
And what if there hadn’t been unsavoury comments? What if the truth had never come out and Kirifi had just taken umbrage with some particularly wordy Waratahs fans?
Well, so what?
There was nothing wrong with Andrew Mehrtens flipping off the Pretoria crowd after nailing a match-winning drop goal when the Crusaders pipped the Bulls back in 1999.
Rugby needs heroes, it needs villains, it needs storylines to draw in the interest of those who aren’t quite as interested in the game as they were one, two or three decades ago, and those who wren’t yet born during the so-called ‘golden era’ of the sport pre professionalism.
Kirifi had every reason to respond to miscreants in the crowd when the Hurricanes bested the Waratahs on Saturday – and even if he hadn’t, it’s the kind of behaviour that many would remember for years to come, which sometimes is exactly what you need to reignite a flame in a sport which isn’t necessarily attracting the same attention it once did.
Comments on RugbyPass
Good to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
17 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
17 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
7 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
7 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
17 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
17 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
7 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
17 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
17 Go to comments