Rugby “Fans”

This past weekend featured me going to see the last game in the three test series between South Africa and France… and I came away with some thoughts.

Although I enjoy Rugby, I don’t usually go to live games and only follow the news occasionally. Basically, I’m what you would call a casual fan and as such I might not have sufficient authority to complain about anything.

I’m going to complain anyway.

First off, I had a great time at the game. Watching the Boks live is always an experience, even better when we’re winning, and absolutely thrilling when we’re white-washing our opponents in spectacular fashion.

The issue I would like to raise here is the other “Fans” that I shared the stadium with. I use the quotation marks deliberately. There were multiple groups of people sitting around us that were far more interested in drinking than watching the rugby. I’m not a puritan by any stretch of the imagination and I’m not begrudging anyone having a good time however they see fit, but if you’re so plastered that you have no idea what’s happening on the field: Why are you even there?

These well-sauced groups left the arena a good 20 minutes before the game was over with the loudly stated intention of “hitting the beer tent”. Maybe I’m just being unreasonable but I think that at a live sports event, the people on the field are working harder for the duration of the game than we can really relate to, and the least we as fans can do is support them for the whole game.

I’d be really interested to chat about this in the comments or twitter… so please do tell me if/how I’m wrong here.

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