mahick wrote: it also gives a chance to take a deep breath and blow the ball to the side. (It works.. sometimes..) :whistle:

Ha Ha !! Thats an interesting one and possibly one some physic's heads here could figure out.If

Blowing pressure of x = xxx and y = yyy then .... etc etc

Within reason ,wouldn't have much problem with people giving the ref their general opinion on decision just made ,but booing at half time and full time is going a bit far and certainly nothing suggesting the existince of the parentage of the ref .

Rugby decisions are tough for the ref ,players and fans .Unless you apply the rules 100% to both teams and also to all situations,then you are always going to have justified reason for people being annoyed.e.g A scrum collapsing can mean a penalty going one way or the other .It's likely that the only one's that will know if the decision was correct would be the 2 props involved .

i like the silence for the kickers, its great respect. on friday i was late coming in so i was at the bothermore side of the clan, on the 22, there were a few kids who when sssshhh before every kick but when biarritz went to kick they would shout. do they not understand why there ssshhhing at the start when he's placing the ball. i believe it a GAA, kids always scream when a goalkeeper kicks the ball.

i have nothing against booing the ref on the pitch, but would never name call him and id be against booing him of the pitch.
yes he did miss a few things friday, plenty of times in the second half they tried to slow down the play, should of been yellow. richie mccaw style of play.

i watched the game back and what made alot of people boo friday was how long it would take biarritz to use the ball, alot more then the normal 5 second rule, and the ref never said anything but told us a few time to 'use it'.

I love the silence.. shows a great crowd discipline for both sides. When the opposition are kicking, it also gives a chance to take a deep breath and blow the ball to the side. (It works.. sometimes..) :whistle:

Will have to watch this back to confirm, but I asked a couple people who saw it on the box and they thought the ref gave us nothing. That said they highlighted ruck offences going unpunished rather than offside, and the gang I was with at the Sportsground just thought he was completely random in his decisions (he definitely missed 2 successive Connacht knockons at one stage).

One thing that definitely stood out for me was how useless the touchjudges were. They missed blatant knockons both ways and gave him no help with the offside line (one of the Biarritz centres was persistently (and rather cleverly) offside whenever the ref had his back to him. The touch judge just has to call an offside once on the ref's blindside and it stops.

Anyway, while I don't agree with booing the ref (and I couldn't even hear it at the Bohermore end of the Clan), I don't think we should beat ourselves up over it either. Did you hear the abuse the ref got at the Clermont game?

the announcer guiding the crowd might help but its a fine line.

for example the announcer in tp seems to have taken it upon himself to appeal to the crowd after every kick whether its needed or not. we can only assume that crowd arent settling down quickly enough for his liking.

thats the extreme his involvement can go to.

The unnecessary booing of the refs has been going on at the Sportsground for ages, I'd wouldn't be surprised if we have a reputation for it in reffing circles. It's been more noticeable recently, there seems to be a bunch of lads who stand near the players entrance who are the worst culprits. It was disgraceful on Friday, Garner wasn't great but we won the bloody match, what more do they want? Every ref in every sport will get booed at some stage during a game but booing them off the pitch is pathetic behaviour. This year I switched to the Clan terrace after being on the main stand for many years, one of the deciding factors was to get away from a bunch of idiots who always stood near where I liked to stand and spent entire matches abusing the refs whether we were winning or losing. Why would you put so much energy into such a negative act? It's disappointing the same carry on is happening on the Clan as well. Should it be addressed? I don't really know how it can be, do you boo the booers?! Maybe an announcement over the PA or something in the match programme but if you're an adult and you need a sporting organization to tell you how to behave.....

id agree with connacht cows there. imo there is nothing wrong with challenging the ref throughout the game. it ups the pressure and increases the atmosphere. it happens everywhere also so why not here.

booing at halftime and fulltime(ref) is different imo and attacks the very etiquette of the game. the principle that eveyone shakes hand, appluades opposition off pitch etc should be extended by the crowd to the ref etc.

i fully appreciate this can sometimes be difficult. passions are high and grievances gathered through the 80+ min but we shouls should try to behave better as it reflects on the clubs image.
s
i was in sportsground and thomond at the weekend and it happened at both grounds.

i remember the debate on bbc and the relevent scottish rugby forums in the aftermath of thd all blacks and springbok games recently. they also had a tradition of silence for the kicker at murrayfield which has gone the wayside in recent years..
the general consensus was that while the tradition should be restored it was far better to have murrayfield full with new fans than half empty as in the past. they took the position of lets try to hold on to these new fans and if we can educaye them to our traditions then all the better.

Just my opinion on the matter.

The booing of the ref at half time is disgusting. No need for that.
I was chatting to my friend when it started up. Some old lad behind us, asked "Whats that about?" and the general response was "A bunch of idiots."

With regards to the fans giving out about calls, I'll admit I can be as bad as the next person. Now I'd never shout personal abuse at any ref, not even Patterson but it does come out of me instinctively during games. Usually stupid stuff like, "WTF ref, booooo"

It happens at every game, from the majority of the crowd, and I'd like to think that there is no vendetta against Connacht rugby, so I'm most certainly wrong the majority of the time.
The only issue I had on Saturday was when the ref gave a knock on against O'Halloran, which happened almost in front of me, and really looked like it went backwards, and then only minutes later, the ref seemed to miss an obvious knock on against a Biarritz player.

Anyway, back on point, I think fans will always dislike calls against their team, regardless of whether they are right or wrong, but booing the ref at half time/full time or giving the ref personal abuse is uncalled for, and shouldnt happen

Diom wrote: Regarding the booing of the ref, it is very bad form. Totally ignorant. As is the booing of every decision against us, right or wrong. Sometimes these people are booing decisions which are clearly correct.

Nothing gets on my wick like the need to boo and disagree with every decision that goes against Connacht. I had a guy, who had a skinful of booze near me in the Clan who mistook supporting Connacht with calling the ref a 'dirty British Cromwellian b@stard' and how something or other happened 500 hundred years ago. He was bellowing like a fool for decisions that he couldn't possibly see. He wasn't the only one either. A good chunk of the Clan stand seemed to have it in their heads that Biarritz backline was always offside. The only two times I was in line with the ruck they were all onside, yet there were howls all around from people in no position to judge.

Regarding the booing of the ref, it is very bad form. Totally ignorant. As is the booing of every decision against us, right or wrong. Sometimes these people are booing decisions which are clearly correct.

I thought people shushing the Biarritz band near the end for the Parks penalty to make it 22-9 was hilarious. They were starting to play The Fields of Athenry in anticipation of a Connacht victory in a fantastic display of sportsmanship yet they were shushed. Whatever about shushing people who are booing or whatever sometimes common sense needs to be used :silly:

Booing of the ref is becoming common place in the
clan stand now. That is the 3rd time this season i have heard that

overstrander wrote: After all the talk about this respect lark, the (only) thing that really sickened me last night was the lack of respect for the referee who was roundly booed on his way out.

+1, and it was a group of lads behind me (clan stand, near connacht's coaching box) who were largely responsible. Some very annoying comments in the first half in particular, and then they booed the ref at full-time, and half-time as well... like that waas going to do us any favours...

After all the talk about this respect lark, the (only) thing that really sickened me last night was the lack of respect for the referee who was roundly booed on his way out.

Shelflife wrote: Personally I think that the whole silence for the kicker thing "arent we great" is a bit overplayed.

some people here talk of respect for the kicker,but then at the same time revel in the knowledge that this action puts more pressure on the kicker. You cant pontificate about respect when your motives are exactly the opposite.

At the games I remain silent for kicks, but at the same time I resent people shushing as soon as the pen is awarded, I know when to be quiet thanks.

I can take it or leave the whole silence thing, to me its not worth getting excited about. As long as there is no abuse being shouted at the kicker thats okay by me.

Yay!

Someone who agrees with me! :woohoo:

Personally I think that the whole silence for the kicker thing "arent we great" is a bit overplayed.

some people here talk of respect for the kicker,but then at the same time revel in the knowledge that this action puts more pressure on the kicker. You cant pontificate about respect when your motives are exactly the opposite.

At the games I remain silent for kicks, but at the same time I resent people shushing as soon as the pen is awarded, I know when to be quiet thanks.

I can take it or leave the whole silence thing, to me its not worth getting excited about. As long as there is no abuse being shouted at the kicker thats okay by me.