12/21/24
February 26, 2007
For what it's worth, here's the broadcast of the Chelsea/Arsenal skirmish.
posted by blarp at 04:06 PM on February 26, 2007
I don't suppose you would ever see rugby players indulging in a bit of argy bargy, or wading into the crowd, what with them being proper gents, like.
posted by Fat Buddha at 05:25 PM on February 26, 2007
Handbags at 20 paces, as usual. I guess the punishment is too great to actually knock the fucking shit out of someone, so it's all this grabbing and pulling and mouthing off. Where's Eric Cantona when you need him?
posted by Texan_lost_in_NY at 09:44 PM on February 26, 2007
Rugby is a game of the elites in both nations (and Barnes even mentions the Protestant Ascendancy). Not so much in Ireland any more, not outside Leinster at any rate. But even in Leinster the big schools are all run by the Jesuits or other Catholic religious, so hardly protestant ascendancy. And if I'm going to get all historical about it, the famous Irish republican Kevin Barry was upper middle class, played rugby and cricket, but could never be said to be anything but a republican. Nowadays in the republic, rugby is probably the 3rd most popular sport, with soccer and football (Gaelic, the real sort ;) ) being ahead of it. And as all our commentators reminded us, Shane Horgan's try was a class example of GAA's high fielding skills, because Shaggy played minor football in Meath before moving to the oval ball. For the most part kids growing up, if they are sporty, will play all the sports. At least where I'm from. One brother has played (at underage level) for Connacht rugby, hurling for Sligo, Gaelic football for sligo, golf, and soccer for his school. But who cares about the political aspects of the rugby. That was some match, just wish I coulda been there :) But the atmosphere even filtered through the telly was amazing. And to see the likes of Jerry Flannery, John Hayes and Paul O'Connell in tears during the anthems showed just what it meant to the players. Course it also means our defeat to France is that much harder to bear. Sorry for the log-winded comment, but just be thankful I don't continue with praise for BOD, Darcy, Leamy, Wallace and all the others :)
posted by Fence at 03:10 AM on February 27, 2007
Youtube of the anthems, so much for booing and disrespecting :)
posted by Fence at 05:30 AM on February 27, 2007
I said it to my mate on Saturday, but I reckon one of the best parts of the Six Nations is listening to the anthems (I know, that's kinda sad, but it's true). Unfortunately, the Welsh one is usually sung by that shrieking opera woman who drowns out the crowd.
posted by afx237vi at 09:11 AM on February 27, 2007
Fence - A classical Marxist would also recognise that in my statement I deliberately set up a thesis and and antithesis. You have now provided a synthesis. Or something. However I am still fixated on the class issue. Rugby followers don't boo anthems, I suspect. Out here, rugby is still a sport of the elites, and very much so in terms of the crowd it attracts. The top Protestant and Catholic private schools provide many of the best players (Michael Patrick Lynagh, anyone?), but the poorer Catholic schools and most of the state schools prefer Rugby League (and, increasingly, soccer). It's not so bad as it was, but in Sydney you once had a real cultural divide in the city between North Shore Private School Mostly Protestant Liberal Party Rugby Union and Working Class Mostly Catholic State School Labor Party Rugby League. Post-war immigration has changed that somewhat, as have the removal of barriers to tertiary education and the decline in social importance of religion.
posted by owlhouse at 03:51 PM on February 28, 2007
Well I'm not a classical Marxist, so I recognise nothing :) Class is always brought up when rugby is mentioned. And it does have a history of attracting the more upper class, but I think that it is more of a cliche and stereotype nowadays (in Ireland at any rate). Outside of Dublin at any rate. Of course the cost of tickets probably meant that the spectators were more likely to be upper middle class. My brother got his for a tenner (schoolboy tickets), but I know of one person who sold two (bloody tout that he is) for 1,800 plus a terrace ticket. If you can afford to pay those prices you aren't going to do anything but watch the rugby
posted by Fence at 04:09 PM on February 28, 2007
I was wondering when someone was going to post about this match. Good one, JJ. The Guardian also had a similar view - only a rugby match, nation overcoming the past etc. However both Barnes and The Guardian mention but don't elaborate on the class issue. Rugby is a game of the elites in both nations (and Barnes even mentions the Protestant Ascendancy). A classical Marxist would recognise that the bourgeoisie in different nations have more in common with each other than with the working classes of their own countries. I wonder if the same reaction would have happened if it had been some other 'foreign' sport played at Croke, and if some of the nastier elements that follow the England football team had been there. I remember a football game being abandoned at Lansdowne Road a few years ago.