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Glasgow fans' etiquette called into question after distasteful booing

By Online Editors
Glasgow fans during the Pro14 final. (Source/RugbyPass)

A number of Irish supporters were left unhappy with Glasgow fans after the Pro14 final, even after Leinster squeezed a tight 18-15 win over the Warriors at Celtic Park.

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Glasgow fans were referred to as ‘thugs’ for their lack of respect for the goal kicker, booing Jonathan Sexton as he lined up kicks in the sleeting rain. The fans were told to ‘grow up’ for their ‘disgusting’ behaviour by Irish supporters.

A record 47,128 fans, many supporting the home side piled into Celtic Park for a historic day in the Pro14 in Glasgow, giving the Warriors a distinct supporters advantage which they used to pressure Leinster’s kicker.

Booing the kicker in rugby is a contentious issue that seems to be a cultural difference depending on what part of the world you are from. Irish crowds are notoriously known for providing absolute silence for all kickers, whilst other countries are far less accommodating.

One of the more publicised accounts of perennial booing in recent times was New Zealand fans treatment of Wallabies flyhalf Quade Cooper, who was booed every time he touched the ball in New Zealand after multiple run-ins with local hero Richie McCaw. The treatment lasted for years and only really stopped once Cooper was no longer picked for the Wallabies.

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Glasgow’s fans were ultimately left disappointed as Leinster captured another Pro14 title on the day.

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J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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