Rage fuels the rugby machine
Mere minutes had passed since the All Blacks had trounced the Springboks at South Africa rugby’s spiritual home. I knew it wouldn’t be good for my sanity. I knew that the healthier thing to do would be to put my phone away, switch off from all social media and disentangle from the white noise emanating from the disappointing result.
I couldn’t help myself. With the embers of that defeat still smouldering I opened up Twitter and searched for the accounts that I was certain would boil my blood. I was desperate to know what the New Zealand writer Ben Smith had to say. What evil entity was the South African journalist Mark Kehone shaking his fist at? Had Stephen Jones of The Times not already blocked me for having the temerity to stand up to him, I would have clicked on his account too.
Once the instantaneous hit had subsided, I went in search for more. I found friendly accounts such as Squidge Rugby and A-P Cronje. Not because I thought that they’d be peddling anger but because their popular takes are often a breeding ground for vein popping hot takes. Every accusation of bias, every instance of a fan blaming the referee, every incoherent, misspelled, frothing retort injected something deep into the lizard part of my brain and I couldn’t help but enjoy it.
I know it’s wrong. I know that I’m not adding to the discourse in a meaningful way with this column, but I know I’m not alone when I say that I find the virulent emotions that spiral out after the final whistle to be entertainment gold.
It is important to distinguish between the harmless and the harmful. Any personal attacks or jingoism can, in the modern parlance, go in the bin.
What I’m describing is junk food, not food laced with poison. This is bad for you, in a gross, indulgent, moreish way like a double cheeseburger with extra bacon. And, if we’re honest with ourselves, it is this rage that helps fuel the machine.
Rugby is a sport that evokes so much emotion as a consequence of the action that plays out on the pitch. Football is unrivalled in its ability to build tension. This is partly due to the low scoring nature of the game where a single goal can feel like the expulsion of a cork from a charged champagne bottle. It was Socrates, the great Brazilian midfielder, who once likened a goal to an “endless orgasm”.
Rugby is a different beast. Even boring matches are filled with scores of brutal body blows and acts of violence that would see participants locked up if they were committed in the town square. Every ruck, maul, line-out and scrum reaches into our psyche and prods our id, reminding us of the savagery that lurks just beneath the civilised veneer.
Oh sure, we can delude ourselves with the notion of ‘rugby values’, but this is a smokescreen. Ultimately we want to see behemoths clatter each other for 80 minutes. We want to see forwards grab each other and hurl diminutive backs as if they were medicine balls in the gym. This is what gets the blood pumping. And why should the end of the match see that burning urge for violence dissipate into the ether? Thanks to social media I can get my fix from those who know how to provide it.
Smith, Kehone and Jones are far from the only ones. There are countless accounts from journalists, commentators, former players, current coaches and regular punters who just know how to rattle your cage.
They don’t hold any real power. We’re perfectly capable of locating the ‘unfollow’ button on our Twitter app. But we don’t press it. We might not follow them ourselves, but we keep them there. Locked away in the kitchen cupboard like a secret bottle of whisky we pretend no one else knows about.
Why subject ourselves to this torment? Why do we help drive their traffic while emboldening them to say something even more outlandish and antagonising? Because we love it.
We’re so numbed to the infinity of choices that Netflix, Amazon and Uber Eats offer. We’re desensitised to the horrors in the world, the effects of our warming planet, the encroaching seas and the moral decay of our culture. Level with me here. When was the last time you thought about the war in Ukraine?
And so we turn to sport to yank us from the mundanity of it all. And we turn to those provocateurs to keep the fires blazing. We shouldn’t feel guilty. We shouldn’t have to rage-scroll in shame. These agents of chaos add hype to the sport. You might believe that they turn people off this wonderful game but I’m confident they have helped generate interest just as much as those podcasters and vloggers who give us fuzzy feelings inside.
When the All Blacks meet the Springboks, I’m no longer just thinking of the on-field protagonists, of the coaches who edit hour-long videos on the referee, of the retired legends or the pundits I can’t stand. I’m now also thinking of the journalist who wrote some pithy column about a player I like and the team I support.
I’m thinking of Ben Smith. You may argue that this New Zealand scribe with a sharp turn of phrase is living rent free in my mind. You’d be right. He’s not alone. My mind is a multi-storey apartment complex that’s filled with numerous characters that make this rugby ecosystem a more entertaining place. And I make no apologies for that.
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood 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.
24 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.
9 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.
24 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?
11 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.
11 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 comments