2021 British & Irish Lions tour to SA
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@derpus said in 2021 British & Irish Lions tour to SA:
What's with the Lions tours becoming so bad natured? Or has it always been this way.
What a good observation! We have tours over here where the supporters wait and queue and miss the rent so that they can pay for tickets, in delight and keen anticipation of the contest. It is "good natured" from start to finish.
Last time they were here in 2013 the British and Irish Lions played from one side of the country to the other - nine games against just about anyone who could scrape together a team - and the mob loved it. We got to see George Smith again - a real player 'n all. They won almost all of them, but the mob loved it still!
You'd reckon the South Africans would be pleased to welcome anyone who bothered to pay them a visit!
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@mick-gold-coast-qld said in 2021 British & Irish Lions tour to SA:
@derpus said in 2021 British & Irish Lions tour to SA:
What's with the Lions tours becoming so bad natured? Or has it always been this way.
What a good observation! We have tours over here where the supporters wait and queue and miss the rent so that they can pay for tickets, in delight and keen anticipation of the contest. It is "good natured" from start to finish.
Last time they were here in 2013 the British and Irish Lions played from one side of the country to the other - nine games against just about anyone who could scrape together a team - and the mob loved it. We got to see George Smith again - a real player 'n all. They won almost all of them, but the mob loved it still!
You'd reckon the South Africans would be pleased to welcome anyone who bothered to pay them a visit!
Not quite comparable. No traveling fans allowed. No crowds.
Normally, it is actually very festive off the field. -
@billy-webb said in 2021 British & Irish Lions tour to SA:
@mick-gold-coast-qld said in 2021 British & Irish Lions tour to SA:
@derpus said in 2021 British & Irish Lions tour to SA:
What's with the Lions tours becoming so bad natured? Or has it always been this way.
What a good observation! We have tours over here where the supporters wait and queue and miss the rent so that they can pay for tickets, in delight and keen anticipation of the contest. It is "good natured" from start to finish.
Last time they were here in 2013 the British and Irish Lions played from one side of the country to the other - nine games against just about anyone who could scrape together a team - and the mob loved it. We got to see George Smith again - a real player 'n all. They won almost all of them, but the mob loved it still!
You'd reckon the South Africans would be pleased to welcome anyone who bothered to pay them a visit!
Not quite comparable. No traveling fans allowed. No crowds.
Normally, it is actually very festive off the field.Yeah that honestly looked like shit on TV. Having attended a few Lions games now it needs the crowd.
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@billy-webb @Derpus @Mick-Gold-Coast-QLD
From all I’ve heard from travelling Lions supporters the general welcome around the country and at the games is fantastic, be it SA, Aus or NZ. Virtually without exception. The media starts off viewing things in a very welcoming manner before rubbishing the squad selection and coaching team and the descends into ever deeper levels of vitriol. Again this is pretty much the same for each country . This seemed to have its birth in the ‘89 tour to Aus. The unfriendly side of the rival coaching teams has increased more or less year on year since 2005 and I think Woodward’s approach had a lot to do with this. Gatland has been upping the ante since. McGeechan the only outlier. Rassie has just taken things nuclear.
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@catogrande
Excellent post. Spot on in all regards. -
@derpus said in 2021 British & Irish Lions tour to SA:
What's with the Lions tours becoming so bad natured? Or has it always been this way.
Weirdly, it seems to be related to the success of the BIL teams and vice-versa. The more successful the team is, the more popular - '71 Lions, 2013, 1993 and to a lesser extent 2017. Crap teams like Woodwhinge's are at the other end of the likeability scale
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@catogrande said in 2021 British & Irish Lions tour to SA:
McGeechan the only outlier
Great guy and one of my top 5 coaches. Love the (poss. apocryphal) story about the '05 Lions management being booed as they walked into a hotel - except McGeechan who got a big round of applause.
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@stodders the two things that stick out are the stoppages and that incident where the s&c coach got told off in NZ2.
Townsend had a bit of wingh this week about his players being sledged from the sidelines by the SA support staff (though I think he missed the actual sledge - the comments were in Afrikaans and half his team understood what was said - call it a meta sledge).
It's all very class stuff.
If you win it's fine (see Aussie cricket circa 2003) but if lose or are just average you soon become Aussie cricket in 2018.
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@sidbarret said in 2021 British & Irish Lions tour to SA:
@stodders the two things that stick out are the stoppages and that incident where the s&c coach got told off in NZ2.
Townsend had a bit of wingh this week about his players being sledged from the sidelines by the SA support staff (though I think he missed the actual sledge - the comments were in Afrikaans and half his team understood what was said - call it a meta sledge).
It's all very class stuff.
If you win it's fine (see Aussie cricket circa 2003) but if lose or are just average you soon become Aussie cricket in 2018.
See Haddin ODI CWC Final 2015... to quote: we won didn't we?
