When does it become abuse?

[Pmcc2911]

There has been some carry on these pages and indeed within NSW AFL about spectator abuse.

I am interested in thoughts as to when it stops being banter and becomes abuse.
Obviously I cant tolerate anything with a @@@@@@@ or a C*** in it.
If you call someone a flog 5 times thats ok but if you call him a flog 20 times is that abuse, dunno where the line is.

Personally I like the chants you get at some soccer matches around the world, often clever and witty and adds to the atmosphere.

[justabaraker]

Seems to me that when a much travelled NEAFL midfielder on the hill gets a Dragon NEAFL/Div 1 ponytail in his sights and continually and annoyingly shouts out that he is a 'cheat'.....then that is both abuse and @@@@@@@ing irritating

[Tom Wills]

How many people who have complained about the crowds on GF day were actually there? I was there for both the Div 1 and Prems and it was fine. A couple minor, and I mean very minor issues, have been raised that I never saw at the game. Go to a league under 14 GF to see what poor behaviour is like - seriously if people think the Grand Final had poor behaviour the should never leave their house.

[unconfuseme]

^ same here Tom, I was there for all 3 St George Grand Final wins , and really, apart from a minority, there was nothing of any consequence ... I'm even happy to exonerate the behaviour of the SU fans in the crowd during their Div 1 demise - after all, they don't often find themselves outside a "safe space" where they can express themselves honestly!

Seriously though, we don't realise how good we have it in Sydney AFL at ALL levels.

The last REAL problem I saw with supporters was more than a dozen years ago, and that was at an u/10's SOCCER semi final, that had to be abandoned by the on field officials who were being legitimately physically threatened by the mum's and dads from the North Bankstown team, who were dressed in their traditional garb (I'll say no more!) ... that WAS scary ... come to think of it, that was the last soccer game I ever attended too!

I've heard some horror stories from junior rugby league too.