We have a tradition at lansdowne road....

Third_Echelon

uberwolf wrote:

I'd a thought this was an all or nothing kinda thing though. And unfortuantely as with any things teh will of the minority can rule. The PAs request met with applause on every instance. The schoolboys terrace is the one who makes the most noise, which reflects the mentality.

All or nothing kind of thing? I dont really know... perhaps.

So are you saying that other rugby nations supporters who do this have the mentality of school boys? Thats a bit unfair i would think???

Perhaps they are competitive? Passionate?

RuggieBear

Third_Echelon wrote:

All or nothing kind of thing? I dont really know... perhaps.

So are you saying that other rugby nations supporters who do this have the mentality of school boys? Thats a bit unfair i would think???

Perhaps they are competitive? Passionate?

diferent culure perhaps...altho that opens up the whole cultural imperilist argument..... :eek:

uberwolf

all or nothing? - no such thing as half silence really.

disrespecting the will of the majority of the crowd is childish IMO, particularly in reflection of teh half silence thingy.

Trojan

Those announcements were met with huge applause.

Politics, pickled eggs and "cookery", whatever that is ... this thread is now getting silly. I think the main points have been answered, it's been explained why we do so, and it has been strongly suggested that the overwhelming majority of people in Lansdowne, excepting the under-16s, appreciate the respect and manners we show to the opposition. If you don't like manners, please feel free to discuss your issue on this thread.

Closed.

Trojan

Re-read this last night - on reflection I may have been too quick to close it - apologies. I'll leave it open a while and see if anyone wants to keep it on-topic

RuggieBear

Trojan wrote:

Re-read this last night - on reflection I may have been too quick to close it - apologies. I'll leave it open a while and see if anyone wants to keep it on-topic

so you're not infallible.....

EDIT: on topic'ish: Just watched an NBA game and you could see all the fans putting off the players taking free throws...

Trojan

How dare you! I'm completely infallibel.

Third_Echelon

Trojan wrote:

Re-read this last night - on reflection I may have been too quick to close it - apologies. I'll leave it open a while and see if anyone wants to keep it on-topic

Things are often different on a second read alright. Nice to see a decent moderator who can be 'human' for a change and admit an error...

Anyway I had a few points to make last night, but on reflection I can't honestly remember what I was going to say...

Rugby is a changing sport. Since professionalism came into play, changes have been creeping in with regards to sponsorship, corporate whore mongering (as another thread suggested BOD was doing), the fans that are now attracted to rugby, merchandising, TV coverage, European Cup etc

Basically its a lot more accessable to a wider amount of people. This means that people who have traditionally been 'other-sport' orientated have taken more of an interest in rugby in this country.
Traditions should be carried on as much as possible, but in an ever-changing age of the game, perhaps some new practices with regards to 'fan behaviour' are not such a bad thing.

I understand the whole 'silence thing' in lansdowne road. I dont think that people should be 'looked down upon' for not knowing this.
In general though, the Irish crowd at Landowne and at Leinster games, need to be a bit more lively at times. There are too many occassions of no fan noise at all during the match. But this is a topic for another day and another thread perhaps...

Trojan

I agree with you that people shouldn't be "looked down upon" for not knowing about it.

Where you may not agree with me is that I do think that people should be "looked down upon" for knowing about it and disregarding it anyway - to me, that is completely disrespectful.

For the record, I've been to 2 soccer matches in Lansdowne. The first was Croatia, a friendly about 2 years ago. Despite regularly viewing Premiership soccer on TV (as well as GAA, cricket, rugby league, NFL, athletics, snooker, golf and a myriad of other sports) this was the first live soccer match I was ever at (I've been to Croker ~25 times). I mention it so you have perspective here. The reason I play rugby and not other sports is that at 5'7, 14 stone I have some natural tendencies toward certain positions, and am limited in GAA and soccer - I was never good at either. Ok, back to the south terrace and Croatia...

It was a beautiful evening, and from the south terrace we had an amazing view of a sunset against clouds hovering over the gasworks. I mention it because it was so beautiful it made the cover of the Irish Times the following day. Oh, and the game was so terribly boring. I think it was a 1-1 draw in the end.

The 2nd soccer match I went to we played Russia on a nasty cold evening - this time I was on the north terrace. I remember a couple of things - the 40ish Russians waving their flags in the usual away spot off to my right, in the north end mid-level in the West Lower, and the fact that the Russian team were not the strongest of opposition.

The other really strong memory I have was of the Irish soccer fans, who I thought were welcomed worldwide and acknowledged as the best travelling supporters (Jacks Army), chanting at the Russians loudly, coherently and continuously "You're crap and you know it - go home! You're crap and you know it - go home!"

I never, ever want to see that happen in rugby - not in the name of professionalism, competiveness, sportsmanship, tradition, or any other excuse anyone can think of. It disgusted me that I was associated with them by virtue of my green jersey. To you this mightn't seem such a big deal, but the fact that we were so disrespectful to an international team that had travelled thousands of miles to play us in a friendly was sickening.

A close friend of mine is English and a mad Spurs fan and told me that I was completely overreacting - this kind of stuff happens all the time in football matches in England. I don't honestly believe it bears any relevance that this is acceptable in soccer - fine. Lets make sure it does not become acceptable in rugby.

At the beginning of this post I used the same phrase "looked down upon" as it makes it easier to follow, but I might choose a different turn of phrase if I gave it some more though. Just pointing this out in case someone picks up on the phrase.

Aside: I haven't gone to, and I'm not sure if ever will go to, another soccer game.

Like I said, maybe some people will think I'm overreacting, but that's my perspective.

Borzoi

Third_Echelon wrote:

Things are often different on a second read alright. Nice to see a decent moderator who can be 'human' for a change and admit an error...:)

It's well known that all mods are in fact super mutants, and meer human standars just don't apply

Third_Echelon wrote:

Rugby is a changing sport.

Basically its a lot more accessable to a wider amount of people. This means that people who have traditionally been 'other-sport' orientated have taken more of an interest in rugby in this country.
Traditions should be carried on as much as possible, but in an ever-changing age of the game, perhaps some new practices with regards to 'fan behaviour' are not such a bad thing.

Yes to change, yes to new people. But that doesn't mean you throw all that was good away. One of the things that attrated me to rugby years ago was the attitude of the fans - in the main they are supporters. That means they don't boo the other team every time they get the ball, they don't make 'monkey' calls etc, unlike some other sports. But this isn't a my sport is better than you sport arguement, that's nonsense, but it is why I like the games. I love the atmosphere at Lansdowne, the fact that both sets of supporters mingle before, after and during the game.

As for new people, I never walked into any place of work, culture, recreation, and expected to be able to carry on at will without deference to the existing people and their traditions and ways. That's pure bad manners - and it has no place anywhere, least of all in rugby

Phew, 2c over

Third_Echelon

Trojan wrote:

I agree with you that people shouldn't be "looked down upon" for not knowing about it.

Where you may not agree with me is that I do think that people should be "looked down upon" for knowing about it and disregarding it anyway - to me, that is completely disrespectful.

True

Trojan wrote:

The other really strong memory I have was of the Irish soccer fans, who I thought were welcomed worldwide and acknowledged as the best travelling supporters (Jacks Army), chanting at the Russians loudly, coherently and continuously "You're crap and you know it - go home! You're crap and you know it - go home!"

I'm sure this was a small section of mutants. In general I have found the irish soccer fans to be well mannered and not throwing this type of abuse at opposition support or teams. You just got unlucky in this instance unfortunately.

I was in Paris for the recent France vs Ireland world cup qualifying game. The nation can be proud of the behaviour of the irish people over that weekend. Approximately 40,000 fans travelled for that game and not an ounce of bother.

Trojan wrote:

I never, ever want to see that happen in rugby - not in the name of professionalism, competiveness, sportsmanship, tradition, or any other excuse anyone can think of. It disgusted me that I was associated with them by virtue of my green jersey. To you this mightn't seem such a big deal, but the fact that we were so disrespectful to an international team that had travelled thousands of miles to play us in a friendly was sickening.

Agreed its not right, but as I've said above, this isn't commonplace.

Trojan wrote:

A close friend of mine is English and a mad Spurs fan and told me that I was completely overreacting - this kind of stuff happens all the time in football matches in England. I don't honestly believe it bears any relevance that this is acceptable in soccer - fine. Lets make sure it does not become acceptable in rugby.

The english soccer stadium is indeed a sight and experience to behold. Abuse and racism are commonplace. I can honestly say that I've never heard such behaviour in lansdowne road or away from home

Trojan wrote:

Aside: I haven't gone to, and I'm not sure if ever will go to, another soccer game.

You had a bad experience on your first game... its not always like that.

the fnj

Third_Echelon wrote:

You had a bad experience on your first game... its not always like that.

Only when there is a Rangers player on the pitch.

I think the majority rule will continue at Lansdowne road and the tradition of staying quiet will remain, as other people have said there is always a big round of applause when the announcer asks people not to make noise during kicks.

The silence during kicks is respected at every level of Irish rugby, so why should it not be respected at Lansdowne road.

You have already heard quotes from players saying that Lansdowne road is one of the hardest places to take a kick, your original reason for making noise was to put the kicker off, the silence is doing that, so why you continue to argue is beyond me.

I agree some traditions need to change but not this one.

CJhaughey

Not just Landsdowne ,Thomond is also pretty intimidating in deathly silence.
thats not to mention Muzzer and Ravers.......

rugbug86

i know this was ages ago that this thread started but im gonna post anyway!

the other day at the womens international in marys i started to sing after france scored a try, just to raise the moral of the irish girlies. however i was ssshed because the french girl was taking her kick. grrrr.