Tim Worstall

Insane Optimism of the Day

Michael Henderson:

For all its faults, rugby and the people who watch it
can teach football so many important lessons. In the next month, no
matter how demanding the contest, no player will challenge the
authority of the referee. If he does, he will be punished, not only
with dismissal but also with shame, and nobody will defend him. Compare
this sense of order with the lawlessness of football, where officials
are mocked as a matter of routine by players and managers.

Also,
no matter how heated things get on the pitch, no matter how much strong
drink is taken, there will be no need to segregate the crowds. There
will be no obscenities chanted, no public disorder, and not a single
arrest. Rugby is a self-policing game that encourages respect for
opponents (yes, even while they’re busy smacking one another) and, most
important, for the sport.

If you consider
qualities of loyalty and discipline essential ones to instil in our
untamed young people, then you might think we should be playing more
rugby in our schools, and less kick-ball. And if you think Rhys Jones
might be alive today if his murderer had ever played a sport that
valued comradeship and chivalry above rancid tribalism, you are not
necessarily wrong.

I’ll admit to preferring rugby myself, and yes, there is a very large difference in the way that the crowds behave. However, claiming that inner city drug crime would be solved by chavs playing rugby rather than soccer really does strike me as being over the top.

In

6 responses

  1. Richardr Avatar
    Richardr

    “if you think Rhys Jones might be alive today if his murderer had ever played a sport that valued comradeship and chivalry above rancid tribalism, you are not necessarily wrong”
    A contender for one of the silliest comments of the year? On one level completely meaningless, on another – are there no rugby players who sadly have also been murderers? What about the ex-captain of France, now serving a 20 year sentence.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Cecillon

    Reply
  2. Peter Risdon Avatar
    Peter Risdon

    The Metropolitan Police, up until the late 1970s, maybe a bit later, used to run boxing clubs in the East End of London. A friend of mine started boxing in one, in Bethnal Green, joined the police cadets and eventually became a detective. He wound up in Saracen’s front row, before the professional era. He’s still associated with a Nth London rugby club, coached Eastern Counties (and Jamaica’s national team for one brief but very enjoyable period). He jokes that he’s the black sheep of the family – the rest are armed robbers.
    The Met was always much more closely associated with rugby than soccer – and I can vouch from personal experience that they at least were a particularly bruising team to play – the old Port of London Authority being the only team I played against that came close, another distinctively working class rugby union team.
    Where channels have existed to get boys from rough areas into sports like boxing and rugby, they have always been very effective indeed at turning potential hoods into good kids. There are of course shady links with boxing, though even Mike Tyson would probably have been worse had he not followed that path, but there aren’t really any with rugby.
    And rugby lets kids who have the usual levels of testosterone find legitimate outlets for it.
    So while rugby players will sometimes get into trouble, and while nothing can be expected to be a panacea, I think Henderson has a point.

    Reply
  3. NeilM Avatar
    NeilM

    I must have been imaging things when a fan assaulted the ref in the SA v NZ game a few years ago…
    Or when a Toulouse player punched a spectator in the crowd earlier this year…
    Rugby’s a minority sport so it’s punch-ups don’t have the impact of football’s, but they certainly do happen.

    Reply
  4. johnnybonk Avatar
    johnnybonk

    Rugby is not much fun if you happen to be less big – its a game for big men and should not be forced on schoolboys. Yeah, I know “The King” was lightweight, but he was the exception that demonstrates the rule – if you are lightweight then only if you happen to be an exceptionally gifted sportsman will there be much fun to be had on a rugby pitch … great game, but not suitable for many.
    The tribal, unruly, lawless and primal passions of spectator footy are part of what it is all about – it is more than just a sport and not really to be compared with rugger.
    They are both great codes, but only footy is the true heir of the ancient people’s game of football.

    Reply
  5. bruno Avatar
    bruno

    Of course this is overstatement, but those attempts to argue that rugby does not have things to teach football about discipline, integrity and group responsibility, by citing rare examples from rugby, will carry little weight with anyone who has actually been to rugby and football games. They will know the broad truth of what Henderson is saying, if not the narrow point about Rhys. If football is no worse behaved than rugby, let’s do away with segregation at football matches.
    This isn’t about which sport is “better” (it’s whatever you like, though I wish to god football didn’t so dominate sports reporting and talk radio), but about what one can learn from them. I know plenty of football-supporters who, for instance, wish that referees were empowered with the sorts of sanctions against dissent and cheating that rugby referees have at their disposal.

    Reply
  6. dsquared Avatar
    dsquared

    [Rugby is a self-policing game that encourages respect for opponents (yes, even while they’re busy smacking one another) and, most important, for the sport.]
    this man has clearly never been in a scrum. Rugby’s a foul game – not only do people try to gouge and punch you when they know they can get away with it, the bastards then expect you to have a hearty laugh about it over a friendly pint afterward. The nastiest fight I ever had in my life was occasioned by my informing some f*cker from south wales that no, we could not all forget about the fact that he had tried to blind me.
    Tim adds: From “South Wales”….well that expains it then. All a bunch of Midlanders who moved there for jobs in the Marquis of Cardiff’s coal mines. Should be playing league if they’re of that few who can manage the odd bounce of the ball.

    Reply

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