[Sport] Respect

Just a quick Friday sports related rant (that was supposed to go up yesterday).

In this week’s Wellingtonian (a free local newspaper) sports columnist Phil Murray complains that local Hurricanes fans booed visiting player Dan Carter. He says:

I can understand a player being booed if he has engaged in an act of thuggery, or if he has waged a war of words against the home team in the media…

…But to boo a player just because he belongs to the other team is disrespectful and silly.

Whaaaaa? What is the point of home field advantage then?

Murray goes on to say that Dan Carter is a respected and skilful player and that no New Zealander would boo him when he was wearing an All Black jersey. This is absolutely true. But when he is wearing the Canterbury jersey he is the enemy of any fan outside of Canterbury.

As he lines up to kick you don’t sit in silent awe hoping that his kick will make it over because he is an awesome player. You make a hell of a lot of noise to put him off. In order to point out that you are yelling in a non-encouraging fashion you tend to use the word “boo”.

After the points are scored, be they through the boot or a try, it is polite to applaud the effort of a skilled player. But up until that point you are baying for the blood of the opposition. To paraphrase Hunter S Thompson, you’re trying to rip the lungs out of the junkie bastard.

Phil Murray may be “junkie bastard” himself considering this line:

The hurricanes faithful should have been happy to have been given the opportunity to admire Carter’s talents firsthand

What the hell kind of drugs are you on Murray? Are you a Canterbury supporter? When the All Blacks lose to Australia do think “man wasn’t I lucky to see the talented Australian players”?

In summing up: Booooooooo!

Ps. Disrespect for players and fans is a major issue and fans who go beyond booing are ***ktards.