Why rugby has never been the self-proclaimed civilised sport

'Why rugby has never been the self-proclaimed civilised sport it believes itself to be' - by Aled Blake, 13 Nov 2014

Columnist Aled Blake on a week which has proved a reality check for Wales' national game.

It was always a shaky truth: that the game of rugby, that the culture of rugby, was founded on something called Respect.

For those who love the oval ball game, who live in the misguided notion that their sport is founded on healthy, manly, mutual respect, the events of this week must have come as a depressing shock...

Their game is actually just like “soccer”.

Amid the fog of wintergreened legs, the beery club houses, the picture-perfect Valleys village grounds, there has been a blinkered, misguided perception of rugby union – not just as a sport, but as a living, breathing cultural entity – and the supposed values that are fundamental to its existence.

Because those who love their game believe it to be both egalitarian and civilised, the brutality of rugby on the pitch a stark contrast to the gentlemanly behaviour off it.

But here’s the realisation this week: the beautiful game of rugby football is not so beautiful after all.

First came the outrage at, of all things, boos at the Millennium Stadium for one of our own – the substitute Rhys Priestland was apparently jeered when he came in to the pitch for Wales against Australia.

Then came altogether more unsavoury (alleged) behaviour at Twickenham, where the referee Nigel Owens was said to have been the victim of homophobic and racist abuse by certain members of the crowd during the England match against New Zealand.

Owens, who has done so much in helping to tackle that last taboo in sport – homosexuality – was naturally appalled by the allegations.

“I think there’s no doubt there are certain sections of rugby crowds which are changing,” he said afterwards, hinting that rugby’s glorious era of piety is at its end.

And then came a point with which I would definitely disagree: “You can sense the change in attitude and maybe there is an argument to say it is becoming more like football. It is still a minority but it is there.”

It’s time, here, to place on record (though I have done it many times before) the utter contempt I already hold for the game of rugby and all that it supposedly stands for. Because I am a bona-fide, unreconstructed, rugby-hating football fan in Wales.

There are an array of reasons behind my antipathy for our supposed national game, the self-serving ethical worthiness of the entire sport and the small coterie of back-slapping white men who run it, is one of the top ones.

It is the cliched contrast between rugby and football that is used to illustrate why rugby is a better sport and one we should all be proud to hold as Wales’ number one sport – a sport which supposedly embodies everything we stand for in our great nation – that annoys me so much.

The real truth needs to be told at times of crises like this... when football has to be used as the knuckle-dragging antithesis of the great game of rugby by the union establishment.

Of course there is an anti-social element in football fandom – but there is just as strong a streak of the anti-social in rugby. It is merely that we choose not to hear about it.

At my football club (Cardiff City) the other day, the pre-match minute’s silence for Remembrance was ruined by a small minority of Leeds United fans who chanted. They were roundly booed by Cardiff fans afterwards for their shameful behaviour.

And that is a contrast to the respected silences at rugby matches last weekend – but probably more importantly in the rugby-football narrative, it was in contrast to the respected silences at virtually every other football ground in the United Kingdom over the Remembrance period. Add up those attendances and that’s thousands more people respecting our war dead than at the international rugby matches.

Such unsavoury events at the Cardiff City Stadium are thankfully rare ones.

Football today is as safe as it has ever been, though the passions of its followers remain as fervent. More so than rugby can ever hope for.

There is nothing on earth like a great game of football, with two sets of supporters passionately cheering on their teams to victory. There is nothing quite like the feeling of victory, or defeat, that comes with those games.

Just like any great popular pastime football carries with it the demons of alcohol and disorder and disrespect.

And it is in this where football and rugby share a fundamental reality – it’s only the nature of their portrayal where they differ.

Rugby-associated violence is harmless hi-jinx or small-scale disorder; football-associated violence is dangerous hooliganism. In reality, the consequences and nature of both are virtually the same.

I suspect that as long as football and rugby remain popular sports, they will have a minority out to disrupt the peace of others – like it or not they BOTH always have.

Perhaps if rugby wakes up to that reality – as football did a long time ago – its authorities can begin to deal with its problem fans.

Don't judge rugby players/supporters by the people who attend wales/other nations rugby internationals. Most genuine rugby/sport fans don't attend games at the millennium stadium anymore because of the idiots who now seem to fill the ground. Locally rugby has always been a working class game in wales, at times in the past there has been an eliment of violence on the field, fired by local rivalry, but the supporters have always behaved because 90% of them are ex players with an empathy for the game and how hard it can be.

You will be surprised to know dentil how many former. Rugby players don't watch rugby anymore and are watching cardiff and Swansea .its just not the game anymore they were brought up on and I know that for a fact

It's nothing to do with the games. Men are men.

I am trying to find a research article on the percentage of how much tickets go to local rugby clubs across the country and how many are often given away for competitions, I was shocked by how many people actually buy tickets online or in a ticket office for the games.

mentioned the Leeds fans in the minutes silence most people seem to think they were under the stand

Let's not forget the heartless tw*t in our end against Birmingham who was in the stands aware of the minute silence and shouted 'blue army' and thought he was funny

Football fans claiming idiots watch rugby

I go to most welsh rugby games and if the people around me around me are idiots then god knows what the people around me at cardiff games are.

The main difference is one set of fans is having fun, whereas the other is just doing it out of purely being uncivilised. Grown men screaming over a throw in for example

I think it;s important to remember that the "disrespectful" fans chanting at CCS were in the concourse and likely to be unaware the minutes silence was taking place.

In fact, their own supporters in the stands made a point of telling them to shut the f**k up when they came up to the stands and they did so.

As for rugby, I've never liked it. Not sure if it's to do with me being a small chap in school or the fact that our teachers (in England) taught less about the sport and Rugby "The Game" just became Rugby "Localised violence in a confined space"

There is a LARGE "d**khead" elemend in football, there has been for a long time. Racist, Sexist, homophobic, xenophobic... the list goes on. There are a LOT of idiots who come to watch the games even in Wales (where I've generally found people to be affable and pally).

There have historically been far fewer of these k**bends in rugby crowds. But that doesn't mean the bravado testosterone driven antics aren't present. Not usually from professional players any more but certainly from the crowds.

Unfortunately for folks like me, who aren't big many men but rather smaller liberal types, both Rugby and Football are the same. Full of macho a**eholes who think you have to drink ten pints to be classed as a proper man and of course, you should always shout and swear at the refs... it doesn't matter if somebody's 12 year old kid is sat two rows in front, of course he won't hear you "f**king ref you f**king c**t he was never f**king offside, why don't you get some f**king glasses you c**k nosed piece of sheep s**t"

Still. It's not everybody. there are a lot of genuinely nice people who watch both sports, who prefer to include rather than exclude and who generally embrace the spirit of camaraderie... obviously you don;t hear about this as much because the tossers ruining it for everybody are much better gossip

I go to most welsh rugby games and if the people around me around me are idiots then god knows what the people around me at cardiff games are.

The main difference is one set of fans is having fun, whereas the other is just doing it out of purely being uncivilised. Grown men screaming over a throw in for example

Most people at the rugby don't really care. They haven't invested a lot of money in watching it.

Much as I despise Welsh egg-chasing, this debate is getting boring now. Must have been a quiet day in the Western Mail office, but then again, nothing much happens in Wales. They dig out this Aled bloke to stir things up from time to time. He's nearly as bad as Abbandonato. The worst kind of hacks.

I once went to a Welsh rugby match in 2012, cheap tickets and thought it would be good to see Wales play for once.

They lost v Samao.

I'm sorry but as a supporter of Cardiff City and Football, the passion is something that draws you in and it's the first thing you fall in love with this sport.

Too much respect in Rugby from the fans and you may as well support the other team on times the way they just watch them taking penalties for fun with no any attempt to put them off.. not a fan of that.

Where I was sat there was a lot of kids in one area with their back turned to the game where the parents were taking a gazillion photos for a good 5-10 minutes.. like can't you save that for half time or before the game?

For me a lot of people just watch some of the games just to have some bragging rights and to build some sort of high class ego like the New Zealand and England games.