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I made no general comments as to any general stereotypes of fans. I was also not making any comment that it was happening frequently.
My comments were made specifically to those who boo when not warranted (eg: it's reasonable to boo a poor decision, or a dirty player, or to make a lot of noise, whether including booing or not, to put a player off when taking a shot for goal). Like for example, booing when the opposition makes a great play and kicks a goal. I think these types of supporters are tools.
I think it is poor sportsmanship. It's saying that you do not have the moral fortitude to accept the situation when someone does something better than you, and you do not have the good grace to acknowledge someone else making a good play.
I remember playing in a basketball grand final in SA where some sections of the crowd booed us all game, no matter what we did, simply because we were from Victoria. Had no affect on our game as we won anyway, but we all viewed them as feral scum with no idea of good sportsmanship. Our opponents, who were good sports after the loss, were quite embarrassed by their actions.
Do you boo when someone takes a great mark?
Do you boo at the basketball when the oppositon makes a great move and does a slam dunk at the end of it?
Do you boo at the cricket when the opposition makes a perfect cover drive to the boundary?
Do you boo at another runner who beats the guy you are supporting in the 100m sprint?
Do you boo when another country beats us swimming the 1500m in world record time?
Do you boo the opposition at the end of a game simply because they beat you or because you beat them?
Anyone who answers yes to any of these I consider to be a bad sport. Booing the opposition simply because they have done something good is abysmal. To say "it's football and different to other sports" is not an excuse.
To some degree this is like an earlier discussion about winning. In the short term you don't care how you win, as long as you do, so winning ugly is still pleasing. However, over the long term, you want to see your team play good football, as that's what the sport is about, so you want to see them winning by playing good football not just any old football.
Sport is not just about barracking and abusing - it's also about the spectacle itself, however I think a lot of that has been lost.
My comments were made specifically to those who boo when not warranted (eg: it's reasonable to boo a poor decision, or a dirty player, or to make a lot of noise, whether including booing or not, to put a player off when taking a shot for goal). Like for example, booing when the opposition makes a great play and kicks a goal. I think these types of supporters are tools.
I think it is poor sportsmanship. It's saying that you do not have the moral fortitude to accept the situation when someone does something better than you, and you do not have the good grace to acknowledge someone else making a good play.
I remember playing in a basketball grand final in SA where some sections of the crowd booed us all game, no matter what we did, simply because we were from Victoria. Had no affect on our game as we won anyway, but we all viewed them as feral scum with no idea of good sportsmanship. Our opponents, who were good sports after the loss, were quite embarrassed by their actions.
Do you boo when someone takes a great mark?
Do you boo at the basketball when the oppositon makes a great move and does a slam dunk at the end of it?
Do you boo at the cricket when the opposition makes a perfect cover drive to the boundary?
Do you boo at another runner who beats the guy you are supporting in the 100m sprint?
Do you boo when another country beats us swimming the 1500m in world record time?
Do you boo the opposition at the end of a game simply because they beat you or because you beat them?
Anyone who answers yes to any of these I consider to be a bad sport. Booing the opposition simply because they have done something good is abysmal. To say "it's football and different to other sports" is not an excuse.
To some degree this is like an earlier discussion about winning. In the short term you don't care how you win, as long as you do, so winning ugly is still pleasing. However, over the long term, you want to see your team play good football, as that's what the sport is about, so you want to see them winning by playing good football not just any old football.
Sport is not just about barracking and abusing - it's also about the spectacle itself, however I think a lot of that has been lost.
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