Rugby v Football players' attitude

bobbyss · 28-10-2019 11:10AM #1

In general the attitude to decisions of the rugby players to referee decisions is mature and accepting. The footballers could learn a thing or two from them. We still remember Roy Keane going after referees and shouting in their faces.

Feigning injuries.

Even football managers after a game harrassing the referee is not a rugby thing. In fact rugby coaches are not on the side line. They are elsewhere letting their players work things our for themselves.

What explains this deep chasm in these professional sports?

Mad_maxx · 28-10-2019 11:15AM

The smugness surrounding the alleged superior respect culture towards the referee is perhaps the worst aspect of rugby people

is_that_so · 28-10-2019 11:20AM

bobbyss wrote: »

In general the attitude to decisions of the rugby players to referee decisions is mature and accepting. The footballers could learn a thing or two from them. We still remember Roy Keane going after referees and shouting in their faces.

Feigning injuries.

Even football managers after a game harrassing the referee is not a rugby thing. In fact rugby coaches are not on the side line. They are elsewhere letting their players work things our for themselves.

What explains this deep chasm in these professional sports?

Rugby players just embrace a different kind of shenanigans whether through persistent fouling, slowing the ball, standing in the way of opponents or ignoring laws that are not policed well. The referee thing is moot in soccer now as it will bring sanctions.

Dravokivich · 28-10-2019 11:24AM

bobbyss wrote: »

What explains this deep chasm in these professional sports?

There is no chasm. They are both exploiting things that can gain'em an advantage. Whether in football you're tripping yourself up after getting a shove, or in rugby you're wrapping yourself around someone to stop them from rolling away after a tackle.

How a referee is managed by the players, is just another way of trying to exploit an advantage.

bobbyss · 28-10-2019 11:24AM

I have never seen rugby players surround and harrass a referee due to unpopular decision or even a wrong one. This can not be said for footballers. We see this constantly in footie.

L'prof · 28-10-2019 11:27AM

bobbyss wrote: »

I have never seen rugby players surround and harrass a referee due to unpopular decision or even a wrong one. This can not be said for footballers. We see this constantly in footie.

Because football refs allow it to happen and the footballers in turn feel that they can influence further decisions by behaving this way

daheff · 28-10-2019 11:28AM

In rugby if you harass or backchat a referee they have the power to reverse penalties or move them 10m further forward. thats why you dont see the ill discipline in professional rugby. go to a lower level /underage match and you'll see it

Dravokivich · 28-10-2019 11:32AM

bobbyss wrote: »

I have never seen rugby players surround and harrass a referee due to unpopular decision or even a wrong one. This can not be said for footballers. We see this constantly in footie.

1 swallow does not make a summer. You can't just point out 1 difference between Rugby and Football and think the Rugby players attitude is superior, when a big part of the game, is trying to get your opponent to concede penalties.

is_that_so · 28-10-2019 11:34AM

Dravokivich wrote: »

1 swallow does not make a summer. You can't just point out 1 difference between Rugby and Football and think the Rugby players attitude is superior, when a big part of the game, is trying to get your opponent to concede penalties.

You can see this with all the roaring when a penalty is given in the contact areas.

razorblunt · 28-10-2019 11:37AM

Football allows it.
The refs have mics, activate them to TV audiences. The sponsors and Sky wouldn't be long asking the FA to clamp down heavily on the abuse.
The refs were also apparently enabled to punish for dissent, I think if I've seen this half a dozen times done in games it would be a lot.

bobbyss · 28-10-2019 11:37AM

Dravokivich wrote:

1 swallow does not make a summer. You can't just point out 1 difference between Rugby and Football and think the Rugby players attitude is superior, when a big part of the game, is trying to get your opponent to concede penalties.

A footballer has a ball kicked towards his stomach and goes down withering in pain clutching his face. Such shamelessness. And young kids watching and aping this.

Fanny Wank · 28-10-2019 11:39AM

Apart from having a huge chip on your shoulder and trying to present a superiority complex what's your point OP?

For the record I'm not a rugby fan or a football fan

Edgware · 28-10-2019 11:40AM

is_that_so wrote: »

Rugby players just embrace a different kind of shenanigans whether through persistent fouling, slowing the ball, standing in the way of opponents or ignoring laws that are not policed well. The referee thing is moot in soccer now as it will bring sanctions.

Chck out the dirtbird attitude and language of the Alex Fergusons wannabee any Saturday on the sidelines of underage soccer.

Dravokivich · 28-10-2019 11:40AM

bobbyss wrote: »

A footballer has a ball kicked towards his stomach and goes down withering in pain clutching his face. Such shamelessness. And young kids watching and aping this.

The same concept is applied in rugby. You bend over too much after a tackle, the other team will pull you in and pin you down. You can't roll away, you either concede a penalty or lose a body in the defensive line, leaving a gap somewhere they can run through when the ball comes out.

bobbyss · 28-10-2019 11:41AM

Fanny **** wrote:

Apart from having a huge chip on your shoulder and trying to present a superiority complex what's your point OP?

The point is to have a discussion on the attitudes of professional rugby players and footballers.

As per thread title?

is_that_so · 28-10-2019 11:42AM

Edgware wrote: »

Chck out the dirtbird attitude and language of the Alex Fergusons wannabee any Saturday on the sidelines of underage soccer.

Yeah, often players are the best-behaved in a match. This kind of aggression is in the GAA too.

ceegee · 28-10-2019 11:47AM

bobbyss wrote: »

A footballer has a ball kicked towards his stomach and goes down withering in pain clutching his face. Such shamelessness. And young kids watching and aping this.

It's professional sport, everything is about risk Vs reward.
Rugby players don't dive because there is no tactical advantage in doing so, not because of honour or manliness.
Eye gouging, deliberate stamping on the head of an opponent, fish hooking have all been far more prevalent in rugby over the years compared to other sports, which would seem to rule out the idea rugby players are all gents. (Video refs have seen a reduction in these incidents as, once again, risk v reward)

Is it a worse example for our kids to watch someone feign injury than it is to watch someone deliberately inflict injury on am opponent? How many times have you seen teams choose "catch the no. 10 late" as their chosen tactic to negate players like Sexton?

fergiesfolly · 28-10-2019 11:51AM

I think a lot of rugby fans actually believe that saying...
"Rugby, a thugs sport for gentlemen. Soccer, a gentlemen's sport for thugs"
Seen some tackles and fowls in this world cup that were cynical, nasty and downright dangerous. You have professional players constantly being told they're breaching rules yet no sanction is imposed.
As the stakes and salaries go higher, it'll be interesting to see how much "respect" the players continue to show the referree.

blue note · 28-10-2019 11:54AM

It's entirely to do with what they can get away with. In soccer and GAA they can back chat a bit to a ref and they do, in rugby they can't. Whereas there is very little off the ball stuff in soccer compared to rugby in particular. Stuff that would be regarded as handbags in GAA would get you a lengthy ban in soccer. And in rugby you have a few digs thrown that don't even get commented upon. I think this is partly because it's such a physical game it's not taken too seriously, but mainly I think it's because they get away with it.

While I scoff at soccer lads getting sent off for touching a fellas face (as aggressively as something you'd see in Notting Hill) I think they it have the right idea. Seeing "handbags" in GAA or a couple of slaps being thrown in rugby pisses me off. It shouldn't be part of the game at all.

Richard Hillman · 28-10-2019 11:58AM

Football refs have the power to punish players in a similar way to rugby but they never enforce it.

The only football ref that I seen command respect and take no nonsense was Pierluigi Collina

The Tetrarch · 28-10-2019 11:59AM

Soccer.

1o059k7ewrqj3n · 28-10-2019 12:01PM

Are there less top shaggers in football circles?

salmocab · 28-10-2019 12:09PM

Obviously this is going to go down a I support something and dislike something else road as inevitably these threads do.
FWIW there is plenty of cheating in rugby but the difference is the refs don’t put up with any abuse or even much by way of back chat. It’s something that soccer could stamp out over night if they wanted but for whatever reason have chose to ignore it. Rugby refs are not any better than soccer refs they still make poor decisions the difference is down to enforcement of the respect.

riemann · 28-10-2019 12:16PM

If only Rugby players respected women as much as the referees.

CalamariFritti · 28-10-2019 12:53PM

I dont want to get into rugby players are better behaved than footballers. They're probably not. Both will cheat when and where they can I guess. Sadly it seems to be human nature.

But the thing with dissent and abusing the ref in soccer I always found weird on telly. When I grew up playing soccer in Germany and later on - played competitively until around age 30 - abuse was not tolerated. Period. Not towards the ref and not towards another player. If I called the ref an idiot or a cvnt or something I was going to be sent off. I was allowed to say I didn't agree with him but if I screamed into his face or kicked the ball away angrily or called him names that was going to be that. Maybe a yellow and stern warning first if it was little milder but there was really no leniency. There couldn't be or else they d all be calling him anything under the sun and he'd lose control of the game if it was in any way heated.

Are the EPL players really abusing the ref, can't really make out what they're saying on telly. What about lower leagues here and over in Britain??

Dog Murphy · 28-10-2019 01:00PM

In spite of the fact that I hate seeing dissent towards officials in any sport I hate even more this smug arrogance from Rugby about "oh look at how much better we are than other sports because we respect the refs" .

CalamariFritti · 28-10-2019 01:06PM

I dont quite get that. Ive never met anyone who was 'smug' because rugby players seemingly respect the ref more. There is no doubt rugby players behaviour towards the ref does look much better. Some of the games I've seen especially in Spanish or South American football, jesus, if I was the ref I'd send three players off in the space of a couple of minutes.

Alf Veedersane · 28-10-2019 01:07PM

It's particularly impressive that rugby players keep their cool with the ref given all the steroids

Bob Harris · 28-10-2019 01:08PM

bobbyss wrote: »

I have never seen rugby players surround and harrass a referee due to unpopular decision or even a wrong one. This can not be said for footballers. We see this constantly in footie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTcyamiYv8g

bobbyss · 28-10-2019 01:28PM

ceegee wrote:

Is it a worse example for our kids to watch someone feign injury than it is to watch someone deliberately inflict injury on am opponent? How many times have you seen teams choose "catch the no. 10 late" as their chosen tactic to negate players like Sexton?

How often have referees punished late tackles on Sexton at international level?

Alf Veedersane · 28-10-2019 01:35PM

The abuse of the HIA is a joke. Players being cleared by doctors being told to clear them to play on.

But it's ok because they respect the players respect the ref.

That said, players respecting the ref in sport would be welcome but it has to come from the bottom up and be reinforced by parents and coaches. It wont ever change if they just try and use a stick at the highest level.

Rugby v Football players' attitude

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