Here are the five signs that you are a sad rugby league fan. Not sad as in depressed, or as in hopelessly obsessed with the greatest game on earth. More like a bit clueless.
One: you use the term ‘over-rated’ to describe a player.
This is a meaningless word which can be applied to any player by someone who doesn’t appreciate their talents or personality. The term is a woeful short-cut to thinking, and the least constructive criticism available.
I’ve heard people describe Darren Lockyer, Wally Lewis and Andrew Johns as over-rated. Why? Because they don’t like them. Not liking a player for whatever reason is quite common (although you need to remember you are talking about a complete stranger. But ‘over-rated’ is for those with nothing relevant or insightful to say.
Two: you describe the likes of Benji Marshall, Jarryd Hayne and Billy Slater as ‘show-ponies’.
Damn those superstar players! They aren’t supposed to stand out, they’re supposed to blend in with the crowd like everyone else. Forget the fact that it is their ability to stand out from the crowd that brings fans in through the gates, lifts them out of their seats whenever they touch the ball, and leaves them highly entertained.
No, they must be criticised for daring to be better at something than us.
This isn’t an election, where you vote for the guy you want to have a beer with. The point of going to the football is seeing guys who are much more talented than you, doing things that you only wish you could do. Lets face it, would you turn up to watch yourself play?
There are superstars in all sports of course. While displaying a cocky attitude and receiving a large amount of attention from the media is accepted on the basketball court, baseball pitch or boxing ring, a rugby league player can’t achieve superstar status without a proportion of the Australian populace thinking it’s their duty to cut the tall-poppy down.
I shudder to think how show-ponies like Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan and Babe Ruth would be received if they played rugby league here in Australia with their unholy “I’m good at what I do” attitudes.
From personal experience, a large number of the users of this term are middle-aged, heavily bearded types with massive beer guts and little to look forward to in life.
The kind of yob who used to pay for a ticket to watch the Cronulla Sharks play and then spend eighty minutes shouting “PRETTY BOY!” at Andrew Ettingshausen.
Three: you blame one player for an entire team’s poor form.
The Wests Tigers lost the other night: Benji Marshall’s ego is running wild! The Parramatta Eels are struggling to win: the Hayne Plane must have crashed! The Sydney Roosters lost the 2010 grand final: Mitchell Pearce is over-rated! (See sign No. 1.)
No matter how good one player is, if his team aren’t all striving to achieve the same goal, said team will falter. Blaming one player, usually one of those dreaded show-ponies from sign No. 2, is about as dumb as throwing a dummy in a game of one-on-one. Not even Andrew Johns or Peter Sterling won a premiership on their own.
Four: you rejoice when a rival player gets injured.
It is quite common and acceptable to breath a sigh of relief if injury prevents an opposing team’s most dangerous player from facing up to your beloved club’s squad in their next game.
However, vindictively mocking a player’s misfortune and the hardship of long-term injury rehab is rather poor form. This is where sad rugby league fans turns into sadistic ones.
I’ve heard fans yell out “Sucked in!” and “Serves you right!” as opposing players are being carried off the field on a stretcher in a clearly agonised state. I’m all for passion, but this literal insult to injury scenario is just plain boneheaded.
Five: you blame one questionable call from a referee for your team losing a game.
Those men in pink. Those men we love to hate. Yes, they sometimes screw up, and it can be to the temporary detriment of a team’s progress in the course of game. But I’ve yet to see an entire game of rugby league decided by one questionable call from a referee. Many will disagree, but I tell you this: a bad refereeing call can decide the fate of about one minute of a game.
What about the other seventy-nine minutes? A ref didn’t call held when a player was clearly tackled at the 37th minute? A ref wrongly calls one pass forward at the 64th minute? Frustrating, yes. But it happens. And these things happen in all team sports.
You deal with it, and if your team is good enough both defensively and offensively, you will still go on to win the game.
Instead of blaming a bad referee call at the 25th minute for your team losing, maybe you should blame the fact that your team simply weren’t good enough on the day to score another try at the 73rd minute when they gave away possession in an attacking situation.
Maybe, just maybe, they should have taken their opportunity to win instead of dropping the ball.
And maybe this kind of fan could try to avoid dropping the ball so much themselves.
ShyBlueMoon
Guest
That decision cost Cronulla possesion early in golden point...it didnt cost them the game. If they had been good enough to score one more try during the previous 80 minutes or kept Beau Ryan from scoring in the dying moments, it wouldnt have been an issue....or for that matter, they had shown a little patience after recoving possession from that rebound off the post instead of rushing and trying to kick a field goal on 1st tackle. The referee made a mistake for sure....but Cronulla had numerous chances to wrap that game up both before and during golden point, they simply didnt take them.
GoddyofAus
Roar Rookie
In regards to point 5, what would you call what happened to the Sharks in Round One? The game they should have won if it weren't for Jarryd Maxwell.
ShyBlueMoon
Guest
Exactly
ShyBlueMoon
Guest
I never referred to Slater as a 'showpony'....but i've heard plenty of others do so.
Anakin
Guest
On many occassions I have wanted to make a point on a certain matter, and this comment allows such a forum at a topical time. Pick up RLW or any other reputable magazine / website containing stats and have a look at the top 5 tacklers, line breaks, hit ups, tackle breaks, run metres etc .. and low & behold, rarely does a Storm player dominate such stats. The 1st four weeks of the current season's comp may be a stretch given the Storms white hot form amongst a pool of wannabes in 2012, but keep an eye throughout the season (and indeed the last 4-5 seassons) and what stands out like the proverbial is that the Storm are exactly that, a team - where every player contributes to their success. Sure Slater, Cronk & Smith are the big 3 - but the work as a whole is shared amongst the team - rarely will Storm players hold pole position across categories. For example: offloads - Hodges & Gallen; HitUps - Gallen & Minichello; Tackles - Friend & Smith; Tacklebreaks - Williams & Dugan; Goals - Reynolds & Turner etc etc. Don't just take my word for it - keep an eye on the stats yourself - the fact that the WHOLE Storm team do their job allows the big 3 to dominate the only stats most ppl see as relevant: trys, try assists, and goals ... but astute followers of the game know it is much much more than just those who finally cross the chalk or pot the ball over the black dot.
Blazza
Guest
Billy Slater is not a show pony. He is a team player and congratulates his team more than any other star. To put Marshall and Hayne in the same sentence as Slater is a joke. The Storm are a team, nothing more nothing less.
ShyBlueMoon
Guest
A player with Benji Marshall's freakish skills and natural ability must be allowed to be himself....sometimes his razzamattaz works, sometimes it doesn't....but all he is trying to do is win the game for his team. And it has been Benji's razzmataz that had got the Tigers out of trouble on numerous occasions. It's his unpredictability that makes him so feared by opposition teams in the first place...its hard to predict what an opposition player is going to do, when that player doesnt know what he's going to do himself, he just follows his instincts. Fui Fui Moi Moi has been one of the few Eels fowards to actually show up this season. He makes his mistakes, but he always charges at a defensive line with purpose and picks up as many metres as he is capable...and thats what a prop foward is supposed to do. As for Tim Mannah platting his hair before a game....have YOU never made an effort to 'look good' before going somewhere in a public setting (a nightclub for example, or even work)? Perhaps Mannah messing with Fui's hair before a game is something they do to relax and keep things light-hearted pre-game.
ShyBlueMoon
Guest
I understand your point, BUT....a bad ref call changing the momentum of a game is STILL not an excuse for losing the game. If the team is good enough, they will muscle up defensively and then take enough of their remaining attacking chances to still go on and win the game. Its not the bad refs call that changes the momentum, its the players REACTION to the bad call.
ShyBlueMoon
Guest
He's a Broncos man
NickF
Guest
I agree with most of you points, but I don't think your assement of "Show Pony" is correct. A Show Pony looks good but generally achieves very little. Now Benji Marshall is sometimes a show pony and at other times is quite brilliant, the problem is I don't think HE knows which one he will be on any day. He playes like he thinks the razzamataz is the answer EVERYTIME. I also think Fui Fui Moi Moi is a show pony these days, more hype than effort. When I saw Tim Mannah platting his hair in the dressing room before a game last year I though he had gone too far. That is the deffintition of a Show Pony. and I am very comfortable in using it.
ShyBlueMoon
Guest
Braith Anasta has been a very good solid player for The Roosters over the years and has done plenty of great things with the club. Some call him 'over-rated'... but that depends on how highly one rated him in the first place. I've never heard of Anasta spoken in the same light as the legendary Brad Fittler...but he's not Brad Fittler, he's Braith Anasta.
Dinger
Guest
Even if the bad decision is in the 80th minute the ref still had nothing to do with your team not being good enough in the preceding 79 minutes
PLANKO
Guest
ShyBlue what about Braith ?
ShyBlueMoon
Guest
The bad 80th minute try call wouldnt have cost a team the game if they had been good enough to score one more try in the 70th minute though.
ShyBlueMoon
Guest
Jarryd Hayne is an exciting footballer....it was the MEDIA who came up with his 'train' and plane' nicknames. So he puts his arms out in a try celebration now and then...who cares. Let the lads entertain, it brings fans in.
PLANKO
Guest
Over rated Braith.... Lol
PLANKO
Guest
All you posts in the past suggested to me you were a MANLY Fanboy. On a serious not who do you support oikee ?
Andy
Guest
Jarryd Hayne is a show-pony. No wait he is a plane or a train, maybe he is a transformer.
Matt_S
Roar Pro
As a convert, I found I came with no attachments but just the pure feeling of discovering rugby league!!
Dan
Guest
Agree with most of this article especially the "show ponies" point I can't stand when people say benji isn't a good player because he is too flashy, I'm a knights fan and if I could watch anyone in the comp play to there best it would be benji without doubt. I disagree with the last point about the one decision can't cost a game, if an incorrect call goes completely against the run of play, especially a disallowed try, it can change the entire momentum of the game and lead to the loss of the game, so sometimes I think one call can cost teams the game. A good article though. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.