Random mutterings on attending the match
Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2019 12:18 am
Let me start by (re)introducing myself:
I'm a 50+ year old male. I used to watch a lot of rugby. Went to Ravenhill as a kid. Attended the odd interpro after. Regular since the start of the European Cup. ST since the CL got its act together. I think it would be fair to say I was a prolific shìte talker on this and other rugby forums ever since they were invented.
Got pìssed off with Ulster (especially with Kiss) and only just renewed ST in 17/18 mostly on the promise of Johno Gibbs being involved. The off-field shîte, coupled with the feeling that I'd been sold a pup the previous year, the farce that is the Pro14 league structure, etc, etc, meant I didn't make the same mistake in 18/19. The progressive decrease in the quality of the product (caused by World Rugby's constant reinterpretation/misinterpretation of their own laws) meant I was already watching less rugby when personal circumstances knocked rugby well down my list of priorities. Rather than attend the occasional game last season as I had intended, I darkened Ravenhill's turnstiles once in total (for the playoff match)
Actually have been impressed with the relatively little I've seen of McFarland's set up. It's nowhere near the level Ulster had reached a few years back, but there's something attractive about what they're doing and the way they're doing it. Been at this lark too long to get upset by losing, it was the manner of losing (or even winning) that left me pîssed off, but that seems to have been better last season and, so far, this.
Anyway, I had a bit of a shîtty morning today, so on a whim I took myself off to Ravenhill to shar my napper for a few hours.
Firstly, I can't remember when I could have last confidentiality walked up to the ticket office 10 minutes before K.O. and chosen my place for a European Cup game. Where the fúck was everyone?
Next - do people not clap when the opposition score any longer. I think some people around me thought I was a Quins supporter.
Even with lower attendances in the earlier days of the CL, the atmosphere was better.
Seemed the only time the crowd got excited was to complain about refereeing decisions or to boo opposition players for receiving medical treatment (I noticed Ulster players receiving treatment were given the benefit of the doubt). Of course the atmosphere did improve when, reminiscent of many of my years at ravenhill, Ulster attempted to snatch defeat from the jaws victory. And further intensified when they finally nicked it from the 5 to 1 prematch underdogs.
So with the benefit of having stepped back for some perspective, how have things changed? Ulster has improved, the game itself has gone downhill, and - trying to be objective - the Ravenhill experience seems to be more in tune with the complete shïte-storm that personified Ulster Rugby a couple of seasons ago.
I'm a 50+ year old male. I used to watch a lot of rugby. Went to Ravenhill as a kid. Attended the odd interpro after. Regular since the start of the European Cup. ST since the CL got its act together. I think it would be fair to say I was a prolific shìte talker on this and other rugby forums ever since they were invented.
Got pìssed off with Ulster (especially with Kiss) and only just renewed ST in 17/18 mostly on the promise of Johno Gibbs being involved. The off-field shîte, coupled with the feeling that I'd been sold a pup the previous year, the farce that is the Pro14 league structure, etc, etc, meant I didn't make the same mistake in 18/19. The progressive decrease in the quality of the product (caused by World Rugby's constant reinterpretation/misinterpretation of their own laws) meant I was already watching less rugby when personal circumstances knocked rugby well down my list of priorities. Rather than attend the occasional game last season as I had intended, I darkened Ravenhill's turnstiles once in total (for the playoff match)
Actually have been impressed with the relatively little I've seen of McFarland's set up. It's nowhere near the level Ulster had reached a few years back, but there's something attractive about what they're doing and the way they're doing it. Been at this lark too long to get upset by losing, it was the manner of losing (or even winning) that left me pîssed off, but that seems to have been better last season and, so far, this.
Anyway, I had a bit of a shîtty morning today, so on a whim I took myself off to Ravenhill to shar my napper for a few hours.
Firstly, I can't remember when I could have last confidentiality walked up to the ticket office 10 minutes before K.O. and chosen my place for a European Cup game. Where the fúck was everyone?
Next - do people not clap when the opposition score any longer. I think some people around me thought I was a Quins supporter.
Even with lower attendances in the earlier days of the CL, the atmosphere was better.
Seemed the only time the crowd got excited was to complain about refereeing decisions or to boo opposition players for receiving medical treatment (I noticed Ulster players receiving treatment were given the benefit of the doubt). Of course the atmosphere did improve when, reminiscent of many of my years at ravenhill, Ulster attempted to snatch defeat from the jaws victory. And further intensified when they finally nicked it from the 5 to 1 prematch underdogs.
So with the benefit of having stepped back for some perspective, how have things changed? Ulster has improved, the game itself has gone downhill, and - trying to be objective - the Ravenhill experience seems to be more in tune with the complete shïte-storm that personified Ulster Rugby a couple of seasons ago.
