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> "Football is a gentleman’s game played by hooligans, and Rugby is a hooligans’ game played by gentlemen" In Argentina at least, football is linked to the peo

by the_af 5y ago

> "Football is a gentleman’s game played by hooligans, and Rugby is a hooligans’ game played by gentlemen" In Argentina at least, football is linked to the people, low and upper class; it's a "popular" sport. In contrast, Rugby is linked to the elite; mostly well to do spoiled kids (in the public perception, at least). There were a couple of beatings/murders linked to spoiled rich kids who were Rugby players, enough that in our public perception today a Rugby player is definitely not considered a "gentleman" but a rich brat potentially prone to violence.

arethuza 5y ago
There is definitely an element of elitism in the UK around rugby, I can't deny that. However, I'd draw the comparison between a large crowd of rugby supporters leaving a match and a similar sized crowd of football supporters. I used to live near the Easter Road football ground in Edinburgh and that was pretty unpleasant and threatening on match days (particularly when Glasgow Rangers were playing...). I've never encountered the same level of sheer nastiness from a rugby crowd (and Edinburgh gets a lot of them) as from football crowd. I remember once getting the last train from Glasgow to Edinburgh the day of an Old Firm match - one set of supporters at one end of the carriage, the other set of supporters at the other end and a few of us non-combatants sitting in the middle desperately trying to pretend that nothing was happening. That was fun. NB Scotland does have a weird sectarian angle to football which doesn't help - although I don't think this is nearly as bad as it used to be.
- the_af 5y ago
  Oh, the fans can be rough, agreed! Not a soccer fan and so I don't go to watch matches (TV set for me, if at all). But yes, rival football fans can get nasty. They scare me. I was thinking more about the actual players. It's also not a real statistic, just public perception: that Rugby players are spoiled rich kids prone to beating up other kids if they don't like the color of their skin.
  - speedbird 5y ago
    Simple evidence: when there’s rugby at Wembley the bars are open, when there’s football they aren’t.
    - the_af 5y ago
      Simple evidence of what?

by the_af 5y ago

arethuza 5y ago

There is definitely an element of elitism in the UK around rugby, I can't deny that. However, I'd draw the comparison between a large crowd of rugby supporters leaving a match and a similar sized crowd of football supporters. I used to live near the Easter Road football ground in Edinburgh and that was pretty unpleasant and threatening on match days (particularly when Glasgow Rangers were playing...). I've never encountered the same level of sheer nastiness from a rugby crowd (and Edinburgh gets a lot of them) as from football crowd. I remember once getting the last train from Glasgow to Edinburgh the day of an Old Firm match - one set of supporters at one end of the carriage, the other set of supporters at the other end and a few of us non-combatants sitting in the middle desperately trying to pretend that nothing was happening. That was fun. NB Scotland does have a weird sectarian angle to football which doesn't help - although I don't think this is nearly as bad as it used to be.

the_af 5y ago
Oh, the fans can be rough, agreed! Not a soccer fan and so I don't go to watch matches (TV set for me, if at all). But yes, rival football fans can get nasty. They scare me. I was thinking more about the actual players. It's also not a real statistic, just public perception: that Rugby players are spoiled rich kids prone to beating up other kids if they don't like the color of their skin.
- speedbird 5y ago
  Simple evidence: when there’s rugby at Wembley the bars are open, when there’s football they aren’t.
  - the_af 5y ago
    Simple evidence of what?