When England won the Rugby World cup just over four years ago, comparisons were drawn between the behaviour and attitude of rugby players and footballers, not only for their acceptance of the referee’s decision but also their deference to the referee himself.
This time round, with the Rugby World Cup played in France, the comments were about the yawning gap between the supporters of rugby and the fans of football. Drink is sometimes blamed but this is nonsense. Drinking has always been part of the tradition for rugby supporters but it doesn’t turn them into hooligans. Not only that, rugby supporters will quite happily share a stand with rival supporters. Try doing that at any football ground in this country. But it hasn’t always been the case.
As a boy, I could stand on the terraces of Elm Park with my blue and white scarf amongst a crowd of visiting supporters without a fear of belligerence or that any harm might come to me. I wouldn't like to try it today. Look how rival supporters even at the Madejski Stadium shout inanities and point with punched fists in the air at one another, from the safety of their segregated pens.
When I refereed in senior football, I used to get my fair share of stick from the spectators, much of it quite humorous. They would look up my name in the programme and some wag would make comments like, 'Sawdon Smith - you should be sawn in half,' or 'Sawd-on, you should have it sawn off'. And we would all laugh. Today, individual wit is as rare as hen's teeth. Comment is orchestrated and institutionalised.
Nowadays when the crowd feel that the referee has made a mistake against their team, they sing in chorus 'The referee is a w….r'. Not very original and not very funny.
I remember a Reading fullback being sent off for pulling down an opponent in the goal area. You couldn’t envisage a clearer case of denying a goal scoring opportunity. As the referee came off at half-time, an enraged spectator rushed down to the edge of the tunnel screaming the most unimaginable abuse. I don't think I have ever seen a face so contorted with hatred. Alongside him was his young son who like many will have grown up thinking this is normal behaviour. All the referee had done was his job. Everyone expects football supporters to be passionate but does hatred have any place in football?
But it’s not only referees who are getting insulted by the fans. Players are increasingly being abused from the terraces. Remember the hateful things that were shouted at David Beckham when he was still in English football. Sol Campbell has said that fans behaviour and foul language has spiralled out of control. He accused the FA of ‘letting players down by burying its head in the sand and ignoring vitriolic terrace
chanting. ‘We can all take the booing,’ he said, ‘but when it comes to the realms of personal abuse it’s a bridge too far. It’s violating my human rights’.
Managers too have complained and I heard Campbell’s manager, Harry Redknapp, being personally abused by an idiot fan on Portsmouth’s visit to Reading.
There was a great deal of amusement recently when China announced it was having training programmes teaching spectators how to behave at the forthcoming Olympics. Why the laughter? When I was at Alfred Sutton School, we had a new headmaster who not only introduced rugby but a code of conduct for watching games. ‘Cheer your own team, applaud the opponents, and if I catch anyone booing they will get six of the best.’
Perhaps ‘spectatorism’ ought to be included in
the school curriculum but brought up to date by adding ‘no hatred or insults to be aimed at players, managers, rival supporters and most of all - referees’.
Dick Sawdon Smith
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© R Sawdon Smith 2008