The uncomfortable truth revealed from the Squidge vs Goode spat

Squidge is wrong and Goode is correct.

As I said previously; anyone with a weave on his head is clearly a questionable decision

Goode was a mediocre player and is now a mediocre commentator….and anyway playing the game does not automatically qualify you to commentate or coach. he should go back to drinking with that other yob Farage.

This is such a stupid discussion when you have Eggchasers posting a video about an actual discussion topic like bring EPCR into the first world as far as video replays go, by suggesting the TMO has no access to the footage.

That’s what Squidge should be making his point about (of course his frustrated twitter post was just as a fan)!

Many ex pro pundits seem to still be on the pitch and trying to win the games, but through commentaries. And that’s tiring to me.

You can be an ex pro without any capacity of analysis, or any capacity of vulgarisation, or even just vocabulary.

Some can be incredible rugby brains, but still unable to deliver the message.

Watching Eggchasers talk about South African or French rugby, about players from around the world, what a delight.

Squidge literally started from nothing, and he became a renown and respected voice of the rugby world, with a recent cross-over with another non ex pro French pundit, Aymeric Milan, to promote a rugby game in Iceland.

I’ve seen so many ex pros unable to deliver quality commentary or even insights

So when a passionate person who has those skills can propose that kind of content, adding wit, fun and lighthearted energy, it’s way more appealing than a “listen to me I’m the best just because”. In addition, Goode’s anti-French positions have been there for as long as I remember listening to the podcast (although less and less).

Chauvinism can be appealing to some. For me, it’s really limiting.

I personally love when French pundits can recognize and admire the skills of non-French players/opposite teams players.

But that’s just me.

In the end, Squidge gets invited to a podcast with… ex-pros (Youngs and Cole). Ex pros who genuinely have the love of rugby, and can appreciate clubs and players from other countries without feeling attacked in their masculinity.

The best of the 2 worlds in my mind.

Squidge is a sour little Anglophobe and Goode isn’t much better. Rugby fans deserve better.

If a point is a good point, it doesn’t matter who makes the point.

Rather than appealing to his own authority, Goode could’ve made a proper reply explaining why he thought he was right and why he thought Squidge was incorrect.

When people resort to insults it generally means they don’t have any worthwhile points to make. Goode came across as an emotional wind bag with his ‘nothing’ reply.

Some ex players mostly talk nonsense e.g. The Breakdown, while some like Aotearoa Rugby Pod make some pretty logical points.

Everything ok… but Squidge was right in the most important issue: the commentary was incredibly boring, focused solely on the refereeing, which is a real drag. Leave the referees alone, let's not be like football.

Thing is, there wasn’t clear evidence of head contact from the angles we saw, though I’d argue that there was sufficient evidence to investigate further. So Goode can’t simultaneously claim there was clear head contact whilst bemoaning the absence of angles that would prove or disprove it. Plus, he was pretty rubbish in that game, offering little insight or analysis. And his lived experience is as a player, not a ref.

Is it too much to ask that articles on a rugby site, focus on the rugby?

Articles about pseudocelebrities having a tiff belong in tabloids.

I found Goodes constant carping during commentary, extremely tedious as well.

And he's not alone in being a bore, Austin healey in commentary is constantly saying “Ooh they need to go back and look at that, yeah of course because there arent enough stoppages already is there!!.

If every 50/50 incident was reviewed, a game would last 3hrs, its getting harder & harder to watch union.

The game could learn alot from league re officiating.

I say we have each side assemble a team, the Squidge NPC team, and the Goode ex player team, and go at it in the “It's a knockout” format from the 80’s.

What nobody gets about Andy Goode is, he doesn’t care. He’s like a maverick. He’s out there by himself saying what no one else can. Just saying it like he sees it and if people like Squiggle have a problem with it, then they can just stuff it. I mean has Squiggle ever even played professional rugby? No. How can you have a better opinion than a man whose played for like over 5 professional clubs? He’s basically the pope of rugby.

It’s probably a very nice basement probably nicer than my house making assumptions about his schooling and you know certain sections of the tweed English rugby crowd if I am wrong I apologize on the bright side of my housing situation weather here on the East coast of NZ is still the biz this far into May warm enough to get in the ocean again as I did today great waves clear water atm

Much prefer their commentary from the forums that suit their core competencies, so we should offer both of these guys some cheese with their whine and tell them to get on with it.

Also, its about time guys grow a pair. There will be days where things go against you but you have to tighten up, maintain your discipline, take it on the chin and just carry harder the next time.

The simple fact is that former players and non-players both have their strengths and weaknesses. Ex players can speak with authority about the challenges of the sport but are often reluctant to criticise current players they know personally. Also, just because you played the game doesn’t make you an expert on tactics. Those who have not played the game at a high level will never understand the real challenges of being on the field but have probably watched and analysed way more footage and have a take that is less driven by emotion. Personally, I think there is space for both in punditry.

I haven’t got a particular problem with Goode although I did find his ‘blatant head contact’ comments to be a bit strange. One of them didn’t look like any head contact at all never mind blatant.

The “something” that ex pros have is name and face recognition. I find pundits like Squidge, Eggchasers and two cents to be on the whole more informed and neutral. I know a decent amount on Irish rugby and I find the above degrees more knowledgable on that. Punditry and communications are themselves talents and a good pundit can inform himself to a high degree about rugby. The opposite isn’t necessarily true.

I find a pundit who has been a recent coach (rather than player) to be potentially excellent. Look at Bernard Jackman. I would also point out ex players like Ian Madigan who are scholars in the sport after their careers.

Fans are more into the analysis now and there will be diminishing returns for laddish low level (Biggs aside) shows like rugby pod or the one eyed jingoism of a Mike Tindall.

Who’s Nigel Farage?

Haha just the fact that he used that line should get a laugh out of everyone, a classic!

Brilliantly written, and I have to say, I agree. Even though I am a Squidge Rugby diehard, and although I don’t particularly like Andy Goode or his commentating or the way he said it, the reffing wasn’t good enough, and French TV need to do more to enable better refereeing.