Things that have no place in rugby

First topic message reminder :

Earlier today I made a rather cryptic thread commenting on something which I thought rugby could well do without: namely backs who feel the need to grow beards as if they were auditioning for a part in a shipwreck movie. You can get away with the Grizzly Adams look if you're a forward simply because you can get away with a lot of things when you're that size.

On Sunday night I watched the full Reds Ceusaders game. My understanding is that Crotty is growing his beard and won't shave it off until his good mate Fruean is back and recovered from heart surgery. I can make an exception for this much like hideous taches in Movember as it's selflessly minded. I don't profess to know the story of Dom Shipperley but if he doesn't have one he should be slapped silly by his team mates until he shaves that ridiculous beard off. I'm not saying a back can't have a beard but this don't come near me I'm crazy beard look is fooling nobody.

So apologies to those frustrated by my obtuseness but some of the comments did get me wondering. The wearing of skull caps, celebrating of tries, tattoos and long hair came up. So what do you think should be banned by the IRB? In no particular order and apart from Robinson Crusoe beards on backs or at least backline players here are things that need to go. I'm not interested in laws but I am in incidental things.

1. Halftime comments from a player with no interest in making one. Just leave them be. We know what they're thinking and we know they're not going to say what they're thinking.

2. Music to artificially generate atmosphere. This is a big gripe with NZ in particular. Fine at sevens but no Mexican trumpet at kick offs, no music after a try. Just let the game do the talking.

3. Video technology is all well and good when used properly. But often it is used needlessly and kills the continuity of the game. Sometimes it needs to be used and sometimes we all know the ref or linesmen saw what happened but just want to play it safe.

No doubt I will add to the list but that'll do for now. Get it off your chests. Don't hold back. It feels good!

The coloured boots thing does annoy me.

When I was a (considerably) younger man, I played on the wing. Coloured boots weren't really the thing back then, but I did swap out the dreary black laces in my boots for something a bit more debonair: bright red laces (which, with my black boots, meant they matched our red and black hooped kit).

I thought I looked pretty swish, until our coach noticed and told me in no uncertain terms that they should be removed and consigned to the nearest available bin. His reasoning:

"If you put the boot in at the bottom of a ruck, the ref will know exactly whose boots they were."

Which both made sense, and didn't. I could see his point about the ref potentially identifying an offender by such means, but I was also shocked by his implication that I might actually join a ruck! The cheek of it!

Anyway, that's what I think of with the coloured boots - the ref will know exactly who's getting a bit strictly ballroom in the rucks.

Great thread, by the way.

What else? Hmmm....oh, couple of things which seem to be becoming more and more prevalent:

Diving (aka "simulation"). Two match ban.

Players brandishing faux cards in front of the ref. I'd bin 'em for the cheek.

Cheers!

Referees 'interpreting' the rules by which they mean ignoring the rules of the game and making up their own. Obvious example is Chris Pollock.

Music on rugby videos on Youtube. All I want to hear is the commentating. Most commentary is guff but at least they have the sense to get upbeat when a break is made. I don't need hard core metal or rap music over the top. Let the rugby give you the emotion. Not your shoite taste in music.

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:Music on rugby videos on Youtube. All I want to hear is the commentating. Most commentary is guff but at least they have the sense to get upbeat when a break is made. I don't need hard core metal or rap music over the top. Let the rugby give you the emotion. Not your shoite taste in music.

+1

players other than the captain talking to the ref
Players gesturing to the ref
fans complaining about the ref after the game

Exiled if you're talking about BOD getting pinged I disagree with you there.

Couldn't agree more on the music though. At matches and on YouTube. Being a Hutt Valley boy liking ACDC is pretty much mandatory (thank god the mullet isn't) but I really get cheesed off when it's blared out in either scenario.

A media idiot grabbing some poor joker on the way to the sheds at halftime gets my goat too. They don't want to be there-even less than usual-and the more verbose of them might even let tactics slip so I'm sure they have the cliched answers drilled into them as usual. Which is nothing we haven't thought of already if we've bothered to give the game more than five seconds of analysis.

nganboy wrote:
fans complaining about the ref after the game

Surely that doesn't happen?

Scarpia wrote:

nganboy wrote:
fans complaining about the ref after the game

Surely that doesn't happen?

I've have heard that others have heard someone gripe once or twice - its true.

nganboy wrote:

Scarpia wrote:

nganboy wrote:
fans complaining about the ref after the game

Surely that doesn't happen?

I've have heard that others have heard someone gripe once or twice - its true.

That's just nonsense. Of course you can gripe about the referee.

If a judge in court sent you to gaol you'd gripe about him as well.

Exiledinborders wrote:Referees 'interpreting' the rules by which they mean ignoring the rules of the game and making up their own. Obvious example is Chris Pollock.

I think youre telling us that youve never seen a game refereed by George Clancy.

Ah good old George Clancy, what a man. Always provides entertainment, I wouldn't let him referee my breakfast right enough but at least he is entertaining

Glas a du wrote:

nganboy wrote:

Scarpia wrote:

nganboy wrote:
fans complaining about the ref after the game

Surely that doesn't happen?

I've have heard that others have heard someone gripe once or twice - its true.

That's just nonsense. Of course you can gripe about the referee.

If a judge in court sent you to gaol you'd gripe about him as well.

I guess I don't like gripping about the ref because
1 - it's negative
2 - it's a bit pointless (well all our blabbering on is really so no big deal there)
3 - it tends to come from the fans of the losing team so it appears to be sour grapes
4 - much of the gripping is due to fans' interpretation in which case its just opinion against opinion so no winning there
5 - it's just so negative

Not to mention illegal nganboy. Gripping about the ref is definitely asking for a harassment lawsuit.

nganboy wrote:

Glas a du wrote:

nganboy wrote:

Scarpia wrote:

nganboy wrote:
fans complaining about the ref after the game

Surely that doesn't happen?

I've have heard that others have heard someone gripe once or twice - its true.

That's just nonsense. Of course you can gripe about the referee.

If a judge in court sent you to gaol you'd gripe about him as well.

3 - it tends to come from the fans of the losing team so it appears to be sour grapes

It also means that when one has a genuine grievance about the ref, other fans can accuse them of sour grapes - which leads to ever more pointless bickering on here.

Um..................Stuart Barnes

neilthom7 wrote:Ah good old George Clancy, what a man.  Always provides entertainment, I wouldn't let him referee my breakfast right enough but at least he is entertaining

Breakfast a bit feisty in your house then, Neil?

InjuredYetAgain wrote:

neilthom7 wrote:Ah good old George Clancy, what a man.  Always provides entertainment, I wouldn't let him referee my breakfast right enough but at least he is entertaining

Breakfast a bit feisty in your house then, Neil?

3 women and 2 of us guys all trying to get breakfast at the smae time mate makes the bottom of a ruck look kind of nice

Fair point. Two females in this house cause enough problems at breakfast (and one of them is only 5)

Stupid slow motion shots to show what someone sweating in HD looks like

Riskysports wrote:Stupid slow motion shots to show what someone sweating in HD looks like

Unless its someone like Kate Upton in which case its okay

nganboy wrote:

Riskysports wrote:Stupid slow motion shots to show what someone sweating in HD looks like

Unless its someone like Kate Upton in which case its okay

Although that would be use sweating...

Exploding hamsters by squirting them full of cream and then hitting them for 6 with a cricket bat.... this has no place in rugby either.





Sorry. At work. Bored.

crying ,there's no crying in rugby .except Jamie Roberts