Respect in European Sport: Rugby vs. Football
Respect in European Sport: Rugby versus Football
What can football learn from rugby?
Respect for fellow sportsmen is nowhere to be seen nowadays. According to the Collins Cobuild Dictionary respect is: ‘‘the belief that a person and their opinions are important and your behaviour towards that person’’ (Collins Cobuild , 1991). One could conclude from this definition that respect should be given to someone as a result of him/her having achieving something. This can be said to be the case in Rugby; players respect the referee and others on and of field. This cannot be stated about football. Nowadays, violence against opponent players, fans and referees happens often. ‘‘Dutch assistant referee dies after attack by teenage players’’ (Hague, 2012). This horrific death has caused a lot of debate about the weekly abuse that football referees experience. To what extent can football especially the UEFA, national football clubs and referees allow this to overrule the actual meaning of the game? Although rugby is seen as a violent sport, actually respect on and of field is much higher than in football because of tradition, hierarchy and openness of communication.
A well-known statement within the rugby is that “Football is a gentleman’s game played by hooligans, and Rugby is a hooligans’ game played by gentlemen” (Fagan, 2013) . The attitude of football players and rugby players differs a lot. Their attitude towards the referees is considerably different. In rugby only the team captains are allowed to speak up to the referee, but will always call him ‘Sir’. If another player has comments, the referee warns him to stop arguing or to go to the ‘so called’ Sin Bin, which is a time out for ten minutes of field. Whereas in football, every player can say almost anything and place comments on every aspect in the field. This results in a lot of talking without actually playing the sport itself. A good example is Rio Ferdinand, an English football player, whom kicked a female
What can football learn from rugby?
Respect for fellow sportsmen is nowhere to be seen nowadays. According to the Collins Cobuild Dictionary respect is: ‘‘the belief that a person and their opinions are important and your behaviour towards that person’’ (Collins Cobuild , 1991). One could conclude from this definition that respect should be given to someone as a result of him/her having achieving something. This can be said to be the case in Rugby; players respect the referee and others on and of field. This cannot be stated about football. Nowadays, violence against opponent players, fans and referees happens often. ‘‘Dutch assistant referee dies after attack by teenage players’’ (Hague, 2012). This horrific death has caused a lot of debate about the weekly abuse that football referees experience. To what extent can football especially the UEFA, national football clubs and referees allow this to overrule the actual meaning of the game? Although rugby is seen as a violent sport, actually respect on and of field is much higher than in football because of tradition, hierarchy and openness of communication.
A well-known statement within the rugby is that “Football is a gentleman’s game played by hooligans, and Rugby is a hooligans’ game played by gentlemen” (Fagan, 2013) . The attitude of football players and rugby players differs a lot. Their attitude towards the referees is considerably different. In rugby only the team captains are allowed to speak up to the referee, but will always call him ‘Sir’. If another player has comments, the referee warns him to stop arguing or to go to the ‘so called’ Sin Bin, which is a time out for ten minutes of field. Whereas in football, every player can say almost anything and place comments on every aspect in the field. This results in a lot of talking without actually playing the sport itself. A good example is Rio Ferdinand, an English football player, whom kicked a female