Best and Worst Away Support 2012-13

For Glasgow Warriors best has to be Ulster (size and noise) and Northampton (size and party animals)

Worst Ospreys (all one of him) although he did make more noise than the 200 or so MFL supporters at Scotstoun in December.

I always enjoy the Glasgow supporters at the RDS. Always very loud.

To be honest no team really stood out as best or worst this year all were pretty decent really, even Ulster (did not see anyone in pink shirts being ott loud this year)

2 did stand out for me at PYS,
Best where Leinster in the HC, very gracious winners.
Worst where deffinately Clermont, loads where seriously drunk before the game and very arrogant with it.

Was it Clermont fans that we had a tannoy telling them to stop smoking? Forgot all about that til now.

Best this season- Northampton. Gracious in victory and self-deprecating and good humoured before the game.

Worst... couldn't think of any necessarily 'bad' supporters to have come to Ravenhill this season. Away fans tend to be small enough in the Pro12. Best Pro12 supporters were probably the Treviso lot, though outnumbered by Leinsters always vociferous traveling support.

I'd have to agree with Notch - the Northampton folks were good sports considering the nature of our win against them. They were down, for sure, but put all their angst into boogying. Hats off to them.

No set of fans were particularly bad, though some were notable by their absence. The Castres fans were a bit rude, and there was a little cretin sat in front of me making rude gestures at the players during the Leinster match, but he could have been from Glasgow and got the ticket as a present for early release from borstal.

Don't have a favourite away support, except the other welsh regions, they very few games where there is any real away support, theyre always fun.

I hate travelling to watch club rugby, there is never any welsh away support to have fun with, so I end up going OTT to make up for it, the worst travelling fans numbers wise is probably the Blues or Dragons!

Scrumdown wrote:Best away support at scarlets would have to be the ospreys. Worst would be Ulster. There is no place for their sectarian songs in the Pro12.

What sectarian songs would they be, Scrumdown?

Munchkin wrote:

Scrumdown wrote:Best away support at scarlets would have to be the ospreys. Worst would be Ulster. There is no place for their sectarian songs in the Pro12.

What sectarian songs would they be, Scrumdown?

Just not comfortable with ulster fans waving the northern ireland flag (not the ulster flag) and singing 'Stand up for the ulsterman'.

Oh... bloody hell.

Scrumdown wrote:

Munchkin wrote:

Scrumdown wrote:Best away support at scarlets would have to be the ospreys. Worst would be Ulster. There is no place for their sectarian songs in the Pro12.

What sectarian songs would they be, Scrumdown?

Just not comfortable with ulster fans waving the northern ireland flag (not the ulster flag) and singing 'Stand up for the ulsterman'.

Someone please tell me this is a joke?

Please!

Scrumdown wrote:

Munchkin wrote:

Scrumdown wrote:Best away support at scarlets would have to be the ospreys. Worst would be Ulster. There is no place for their sectarian songs in the Pro12.

What sectarian songs would they be, Scrumdown?

Just not comfortable with ulster fans waving the northern ireland flag (not the ulster flag) and singing 'Stand up for the ulsterman'.

So every club song a particular clubs supporters sing is sectarian? What is it to you what flag they fly anyway? Maybe if you actually spent time with the fans, rather than berating them unjustly, your views may change.
That was an ugly allegation, Scrumdown, and not one I will question you on further. Kind of spoils my enjoyment of these forums. So will leave you to it.

Scrumdown wrote:

Munchkin wrote:

Scrumdown wrote:Best away support at scarlets would have to be the ospreys. Worst would be Ulster. There is no place for their sectarian songs in the Pro12.

What sectarian songs would they be, Scrumdown?

Just not comfortable with ulster fans waving the northern ireland flag (not the ulster flag) and singing 'Stand up for the ulsterman'.

Wow!!! I am absolutely lost for words!

oh no...

Okay!

I'm going to give Scrumdown the benefit of the doubt here and assume the lyrics are too complex for him to grasp...?

There's nothing wrong with Stand Up For The Ulstermen, bar it was pinched from the Dragons

Munchkin wrote:

So every club song a particular clubs supporters sing is sectarian? What is it to you what flag they fly anyway? Maybe if you actually spent time with the fans, rather than berating them unjustly, your views may change.
That was an ugly allegation, Scrumdown, and not one I will question you on further. Kind of spoils my enjoyment of these forums. So will leave you to it.

Given the history of Ireland, waving the northern Ireland flag whilst singing SUFTU gives the song a more sinister element. Ulster fans are making a political statement when they sing this song and fly that flag and it is ridiculous to suggest otherwise.

It is not just another song.

The monsters.

"Stand up, for all the teams in every sport" should be the mandatory chant.

Scrumdown.

I have never seen such utter, uninformed, misconceived rubbish posted here. And, believe me, there has been plenty of that!

You could not be more wrong if you had taken an honours degree in wrongness and got a first!

If anyone in the crowd were shouting "Stand up for the Northern Ireland Protestant man!" you could have a point but that is not what we sing.

And we sing it just as loudly for Nick Williams as we do for Paul Marshall.

You are talking utter, complete and total rubbish!

Scrumdown wrote:

Munchkin wrote:

So every club song a particular clubs supporters sing is sectarian? What is it to you what flag they fly anyway? Maybe if you actually spent time with the fans, rather than berating them unjustly, your views may change.
That was an ugly allegation, Scrumdown, and not one I will question you on further. Kind of spoils my enjoyment of these forums. So will leave you to it.

Given the history of Ireland, waving the northern Ireland flag whilst singing SUFTU gives the song a more sinister element. Ulster fans are making a political statement when they sing this song and fly that flag and it is ridiculous to suggest otherwise.

It is not just another song.

You are being provocative tonight- but its a relatively foolish troll. I think you will struggle to find anyone who agrees with you in Northern Ireland, which is quite something given there are people on both sides of the divide who will gladly cross the road to take offence.

MrsP wrote:Scrumdown.

I have never seen such utter, uninformed, misconceived rubbish posted here. And, believe me, there has been plenty of that!

You could not be more wrong if you had taken an honours degree in wrongness and got a first!

If anyone in the crowd were shouting "Stand up for the Northern Ireland Protestant man!" you could have a point but that is not what we sing.

And we sing it just as loudly for Nick Williams as we do for Paul Marshall.

You are talking utter, complete and total rubbish!

Your just unwilling to deal with the reality of the fact that SUFTU is an inappropriate song to sing given the history of Northern Ireland especially when it is sung in conjunction with waving the Northern Ireland flag.

You don't need to sing 'stand up for the northern ireland protestant man' because we already know exactly what you mean when your there waving the northern Ireland flag!

Feckless Rogue wrote:The monsters.

"Stand up, for all the teams in every sport" should be the mandatory chant.

"Stand Up- for everyone. Stand Up- for everyone."

Notch wrote:

Feckless Rogue wrote:The monsters.

"Stand up, for all the teams in every sport" should be the mandatory chant.

"Stand Up- for everyone. Stand Up- for everyone."

'stand up for the ulster team' and no unionist flag waving will do.

Thread unlocked

I would suggest now that this debate gets back on the track that the OP was asking for.


For my part, always enjoy it when "The Tribe" arrive at the MadStad, tomahawks in hand. Not really had a bad experience with away fans if I am honest.

Srumdown,

This is just ridiculous!
I regularily stand beside friends from Donegal who sing OUR song more loudly than me. They even texted SUFTUM to me from Twickenham. We would sing it if the only Ulstermen left on the pitch were Johann, Ruan and Nick! Or any other Ulsterman! ie, ANY man who pulls on an Ulster shirt.

We have folks singing thjat song while waving the South African flag and even, somewhat bizarrely, the Treviso flag.

I can only assume that you are either not very bright or that you are showing your own sectarian bias here.

Very sad.

Mrs P

Don't expect a response from Scrumdown to your last post.

I'm glad that SUFTUM is sung when waving a variety of flags including the yellow flag of Ulster (9 counties), plain Ulster Rugby flags, South African and New Zealand flags, various red and white flags- etc. In terms of flags visible at home matches at Ravenhill its a fairly diverse and inclusive catchment, just like the team we support.

Spoiler:

I personally dislike seeing the old Northern Ireland flag in a sporting context because it can have overly political connotations, but its certainly becoming more scarce- that said, I don't think it should disappear completely if people want to fly it. Its just one of a number of flags people like to bring to games and most usually they bring it with the same intent as the others; to support the team.

This is a fairly complex, nuanced issue that we aren't going to do justice to responding to an obvious WUM so there's little to be gained from trying to argue the point. I have seen people at away games who have demonstrated a 'little Ulster' mentality- most notably one utter fool who turned up in Thomond Park last year on Easter Sunday with a Union Jack. The response of Ulster and Munster fans? To ignore this one moron and enjoy each others company in the pubs of Limerick pre- and post- match. Why let one moron ruin a good thing? A similar approach might be applied in this thread...

Occasionally people do come into Ulster Rugby games trying to project their own sectarian bias onto the team and generally drift away again, but I'd say almost all rugby fans who have been to Ravenhill have witnessed the truth. That Ulster Rugby is an avowedly non-sectarain organisation and the atmosphere at Ravenhill is family friendly and apolitical. We're interested in rugby, mainly. And it's been a joy to see the perception of Ulster Rugby shift to being a team for everyone in Northern Ireland not one side or the other.

Sorry 21st CSM,

Horrible for your great thread to have been derailed in such a way but to have what we ahve built at Uslter Rugby referred to in those terms can not go unchallenged.

It's disgusting really.

Anyway, back to the thread. I can't think of any fans who have been poor at Ravenhill.

Except the Catholic ones of course!

Notch wrote:I'm glad that SUFTUM is sung when waving a variety of flags including the yellow flag of Ulster (9 counties), plain Ulster Rugby flags, South African and New Zealand flags, various red and white flags- etc. In terms of flags visible at home matches at Ravenhill its a fairly diverse and inclusive catchment, just like the team we support.

Spoiler:

I personally dislike seeing the old Northern Ireland flag in a sporting context because it can have overly political connotations, but its certainly becoming more scarce- that said, I don't think it should disappear completely if people want to fly it. Its just one of a number of flags people like to bring to games and most usually they bring it with the same intent as the others; to support the team.

This is a fairly complex, nuanced issue that we aren't going to do justice to responding to an obvious WUM so there's little to be gained from trying to argue the point. I have seen people at away games who have demonstrated a 'little Ulster' mentality- most notably one utter fool who turned up in Thomond Park last year on Easter Sunday with a Union Jack. The response of Ulster and Munster fans? To ignore this one moron and enjoy each others company in the pubs of Limerick pre- and post- match. Why let one moron ruin a good thing? A similar approach might be applied in this thread...

Occasionally people do come into Ulster Rugby games trying to project their own sectarian bias onto the team and generally drift away again, but I'd say almost all rugby fans who have been to Ravenhill have witnessed the truth. That Ulster Rugby is an avowedly non-sectarain organisation and the atmosphere at Ravenhill is family friendly and apolitical. We're interested in rugby, mainly. And it's been a joy to see the perception of Ulster Rugby shift to being a team for everyone in Northern Ireland not one side or the other.

Couldn't agree more - was over at Ravenhill for the HC game in January, on the weekend Belfast saw (according to the BBC, so maybe an exaggeration) the worst riots for a generation, and can assure you that it;s the only place in the city that all flags could fly side by side without any problems (the majority, from where I was standing at least, being the red/yellow Ulster flag. well, that and the South African one). As quite a few told me that weekend, everybody leaves their politics at the turnstiles - once inside, everyone is an Ulster fan.


And to think I actually believed you when you first made the accusation - I have heard a small minority of "Ulster supporters" in the past singing sectarian songs, but I'm fairly sure this is people already residing in Glasgow who probably couldn't point to Ravenhill on a map, and would usually frequent Ibrox. In fact, wouldn't be surprised of some of them aren't even from Ulster to be honest. I've always found the actual Ulster supporters to be among the best around.



Anyway, to answer the original question, Ulster get my vote for best away support at Scotstoun. And from the other side, most welcoming supporters when away from home has to go to Northampton. Don't particularly like their team, but can't fault their fans at all; would go back in a flash!

Bath also have a very welcoming set of fans.

Slightly off topic, the most welcomed 'away' (technically) fans this season mhst go to the Italian Scarlets fan who made his first trip to Llanelli to watch a team he adopted after watch us play on tv for years.

Munster are the best for the numbers of fans that travel to support them away from home. They're very passionate too.

But all the clubs in the south of France seem to have the most insanely passionate fans in Europe, outdoing even Munster.

craigchalmers wrote:


And to think I actually believed you when you first made the accusation -

This is what annoys me the most. Enough uninformed idiots like Scrumdown spout this nonsense and some folks are bound to think there must be something to it!

So great to hear folks who have actually been to Ravenhill attest to the true atmosphere.

By the way, do ye think the Lions support will be heavily Irish for this tour? Three of my close relatives and about 15 youngsters who drank in my local pub are now living in Australia. It's probably the same story throughout the republic, especially in the west. How many thousand Irish people have emigrated to Australia in the last few years?

There'll be thousands travelling from Britain and Ireland but there are even more thousands of Irish people already there.

Such a troll.....he's been going into all the Ireland and Ulster posts making these troll posts for a while now.

Scrumdown wrote:

MrsP wrote:Scrumdown.

I have never seen such utter, uninformed, misconceived rubbish posted here. And, believe me, there has been plenty of that!

You could not be more wrong if you had taken an honours degree in wrongness and got a first!

If anyone in the crowd were shouting "Stand up for the Northern Ireland Protestant man!" you could have a point but that is not what we sing.

And we sing it just as loudly for Nick Williams as we do for Paul Marshall.

You are talking utter, complete and total rubbish!

Your just unwilling to deal with the reality of the fact that SUFTU is an inappropriate song to sing given the history of Northern Ireland especially when it is sung in conjunction with waving the Northern Ireland flag.

You don't need to sing 'stand up for the northern ireland protestant man' because we already know exactly what you mean when your there waving the northern Ireland flag!

There are Ulster fans from all community backgrounds on this board and they will all tell you that you are talking absolute garbage. Ulster rugby traditionally would be more associated with the Protestant community here, but as an Ulster fan from a Catholic background I have never experienced any level of sectarianism, not even on an anecdotal basis at Ulster rugby. I think you know all of this anyway and you're just a nasty little troll.

Scrumdown, I don't know where in the world you hail from or who you're offended on behalf of, but it's not me. Would I personally wave the Ulster banner? Errr no not in a month of sundays, and I'd rather not see it at Ravenhill, but most of us have the sense to realise it's such a commonly used flag that it's not actually a political statement by the 'waver', rather something that represents the place the they and their team are (mostly) from. It's particularly benign in relation to sport, you actually see it used in golf all the time. As for the song, what's sectarian about the Pet Shop Boys? Oh wait.. you mean the words stand up? No... hold on.... Ulstermen?... used to describe every male from and representing the historical Irish province of Ulster? Nope still not on the same page as you.

It's absurd that you would be scornful toward Ulster fans for this reason actually when the reality is the opposite, they are so totally apolitical at Ravenhill, and so united and inclusive a support base within Belfast and across the 9 county province, that it compares to no other.

Anyway, as for who are the best away supporters.... another one for the Northampton folk.... a really sound bunch.

Scrumdown. Dont look for political nonsense in sport, Sport is about about everyday folk from all walks of life generally joining in together. Politics is about power mongers and greed.
Never the 2 should meet.

Regarding the comment comparing Muster fans with South of France fans, the French fans may by as passionate but my personal experience of Munster fans is the are not just passionate but also well informed, gracious, friendly and mostly rather humourus, the 2007 QF between Scarlets and Munster is now more memorable to me for the fans we met and shared a pint with than it is for the fact the Scarlets won a game well
On the other hand my limited contact with French rugby fans puts me more in mind of when I used to follow football, with the boisterous and arrogant type of fan I would come across then, I hope this is simply as my experience with French fans is quite limited though, as I will say this does not fit with my impressions of the French in general as away from rugby I have only ever experienced positively laid back people.
Overall it has to be said that the biggest appeal to our sport is that everyone gets on well, has a laugh winding each other up and as far as 99% of fans go, actually realise that its all about entertainment and enjoying ourselves, long may it continue.

Some great stuff on here!

Bit harsh 21st. 440 mile trip for a Friday night game? Scarlets fans are always the best, despite the odd jerkass ( from both sets of fans) whose one game a yr is the derby. Teams for the Jeff over for the HC games are a laugh too. Dunno about worse fans....

Think the bank hol suns got to scrumdown.

Christ - wtf happened to my post when my back was turned. What does that idiot Scrumdown think he is doing ? He plainly has not the first clue about Ulster -rugby or otherwise. Ulster fans always welcome at Scotstoun - bring all your flags and songs please - any spare songs we could do with - we will give it an airing in the Rabo final in Dublin on 25th and we can sing it together !

The Scarlets are the best bunch in the Rabo. That's probably because people won't see the perks of travelling to glorious Newport, so we don't get the benefits really. The Scarlets are vocal and because they tend to all congregate in the same area, they make their presence felt.

I also remember going to the Liberty for Ospreys v Scarlets and though they were at the back of the one stand they didn't stop singing all evening.

Schiz, the cockles of my heart were well and truly warmed on Friday when despite the howling gale and horizontal rain in Connacht the only singing to be heard was, "I belong to Glasgow". Harry Lauder lives on.

Aye Jimbo son even if it is a totally gash song. Still working on a Biffy Clyro inspired ditty for the final

"When I get a couple a pints on a Saturday Glasgow's the team to beat'[b]

Apparently the song was Will Fife rather than Harry Lauder. He got the inspiration from a drunk he met near a train station.

"Jumpers fall from the sky, like they do when Al is captain.
'It's Messiah!', she roared (he's not the son of BOD)"