This weekend we played away ...Maybe some know whichh club i am from and have a good idea who we played but yah thats that.My question to you guys are what should take place if the following happens while you play away? In the 3rd team match the game started about 20 - 30 minutes late . Then besides the game starting late we have a guy busy drawing up the lines in the middle of the field while the game is on. After that our players get punched by guys sitting on their reserve team bench and the person who is doing the kicking and hitting is not even dresses as a sub? Now it get's tricky? You have a young referee notcritising him or anything but when he makes a decision against the home team the captain walks up to him and then after they spoke he change the penalty to the team he blew against....He finsih his game and wait for the 1st team match to start where he is the touch judge. THe ball gets kicked out 2 twice by our flyhalf he ignores it and tells the refree that the ball went dead beyond the try line...But after a spectator showed him that it went out like 5 - 9 metres infront of the try line he just say sory and they still  proceed with out giving the line out...

So to all the guys reading this out there tell me what would your club have done in a case like this????Or what would you as captian of your team of the day do in this type situtation on the field???

I feel your anger. Im not sure where to start or what to say. We had a situation this weekend playing away where there was violenence from the start of the 3rd team game, until the end of the 1st team game. In the first team 2 players were yellow carded for punching and stamping. I had an instance where i was carrying the ball, and was tackled, the next defended went straight for my eyes with one finger, another ripped my nose open, another in my mouth and the other hand scraped my body. One of my players was attacked by 3 players. They had hold of his face. What must happen. i dont blame my team for not winning the game. It is impossioble for anyone ot play rugby when you fear for your safety. I tried to pull our players off the field as it was getting dangerous, and was almost attacked by a member of the home team. This isnt rugby anymore. Is it going to take someone losing an eye or lsoing vision before something is done?
Fighting, crowd intimidation, eye gouging, biting, fighting and fear is not why we play this game...Something needs to be done

Guys, if none of your teams win promotion or get relegated then brace yourself to play that fixture againts Manenberg and Silvertree at their home grounds again.Dont feel scared to mention the club names as the fixture list is there for everyone to see on Forum.These are the sort of things that should motivate your guys even more.

Well i dont think there is time for them next year again as we look ahead of trying to win this league..We know we can get out of this league this year and move to Division 1 .....

Yoh Quinton. Kan nie lekker wees om in sulke omstandighede n game te speel nie. En op die einde is dit net n game, nie n intimidasie nie. Sterkte bru.

Well the thing is this i dont wanna critisize the club ...But what applies to one applies to both and when you play us home we great you in a warm welcome note...Dont tell us our spectators dont have manners and stuff cause they take a drink..What supporter sit still while his or her team are playing? Then you wanna tell me to tell the supporters they can have a drink ...that is not my duty you should put as sign  up by your gate saying no alcohol allowed and then your club should see that no cooler boxes go through...I am a player my focus is on the game and fellow players not spectator...But really they will see how we welcome them and then i want them to think as to what they did wrong this weekend past...

I am not saying who's right or who's wrong but clubs must also teach thier players not to "tease" or "tart" in Afrikaans or "lok uit" players from the opposition. I must say Moose, I played allot of club rugby in various leagues over the last 12 years and there wasn't a team that I wanted to "donner" more than when we played Millies. The chirps, the yelling, the mockery directed towards our players etc. I am older and wiser now, well 31 soon and I did not fight that night and controlled our guys and if we did loose our calm, believe me... there were players in your team, especially a young thin flanker who is gonna cause allot of kak someday if he continues the way he does and then? Who is too blame?

We played Goodwood the next week at thier home, what a pleasure! NO chirps, NO looking for kak, good hard clean rugby.

Hell Moose, the chickens finally came home to roost after the game at UWC where our pitch was nearly turned into a warzone by just plain dirty play by your mates. Note I did not say you. Hell your players kicked our boys legs out from under them, is that Rugby? U dubs always had a great relationship with Harlequins but two weeks ago it looked like a battlefield. Every maul turned into fisticuffs. Funnily enough we lost to Sir Lowrians last week and there was not a fight on our pitch.The same thing happened on Saturday against Lagunya. Is it not funny that the team having the lowest points on the day always want to win the fight. Dont complain Bru, a few years ago on Lentegeur Silvertree had us on the ropes with nine blood cases but I went way from there knowing one thing. You do not cry when they hit you, you hit right back or shut up. And dont expect the Ref to intervene, there is four lines and thirty men on the field, let them sort it out. Oh yes, we finally got Boxing included in the Curriculum if you play Rugby for UWC and we will be welcoming Silvertree with open arms on Saturday as only old Comrades can. Hit back Moose or get Unca Lionel to show you how. Where in the hell is Fatboy?  

I dont play rugby like that bru- i wont moer back and i do my best not to let our players moer back.
Dubbie, i thought our game was good and hard...one things for sure, i was feeling it for plenty days after.
Sorry- vineyards, didnt get your name- Im also 31 now, and i must admit i thought the game aginst us went well until the last few minutes?
This is the second time this season the trees have been involved. Us thus far have not been invoved in anything dangerous or rough as far as im concerned.

Moose, you seem like you are a geniune bloke. Yes it did go well but mainly because we kept our calm. 1 player is all it takes. The guys were plotting on getting that guy of the field and believe me there are guys in our team that can "get" you off the field but we kept it clean. You guys did not play dirty and there were no incidents save the end with that flank and me. All I did was go shake his hand and say "someday, you are gonna cause big kak with your ways laaitie, don't chirp so much" and he snapped, thus the "small" incident after the game. Again, all it takes is one guy...

If there is 1 thing I have learnt from all my diffrent teammates over the years, and its something that coaches should take in consideration when selecting teams, is that you get HOME PLAYERS and you get AWAY PLAYERS.Your flank or wing in the 2nd may not be the best in his position, but in certain away games he will be the better "option", if you know what I mean.

Kappa, I hear you my brother.

The best way to quiet any player is to hit the next ruck even harder.

A fearless rugby player can never be intimidated by foul play.

Forward pack playing hard and together will silence any wannabee

Geez, but it seems like foul play like Eye gouging, punching, kicking, etc is the order of the day in most club matches. Just reading through the last couple of posts it is all confirmed.

Now my question to you guys are, are these just things one are used to experience? Is this club rugby as we know it? Will it ever go away?

 It seems pretty inhumane to me. There is a difference, as mentioned before between hitting the rucks hard, tackle hard, etc all within the laws of the game and maliciously trying to hurt an oponent.

Provocation and intimidation is the order of the day as well and this will cause a lot of the foul play.

Again, is this rugby? Watching professional rugby, you hardly ever see (what the camera can capture) this kind of thing. Probably because there is zero tolerance to foul play.

So coming back to the club scene. So because of the obove reasons, it not being properly policed by referees/touch judges (without being intimidated by crowds outside the 4 lines on the field), the Union having representatives present at all club matches to make sure this kind of thing does not happen, disciplinary commitees being way to lenient, etc. I think rugby will never be able to be played clean and within the laws.

What is your take on this?

Grondvoël, hoesit my ma se kind?Is daar nog nie n pie innie oond nie?Lyk my jy speel computer games in die aande. 
It is clear that in the Super Leagues you will almost never find these kind of actions taking place because everybody, who is somebody, concentrate on these Leaguse. They get allocated the best ref's' touch judges and resources and also gets the biggest slice of the pie where money from the Union is concerned. Thus you will find Union Officials in full-time employ would rather spend their Saturday watching Villagers play UCT on a nice pitch than pitch up at a game between Hamediehs and Raithby at Vygekraal. They havent got time for the lower Leagues broer. The happenings discussed on top takes place from the Premiers down because there it is a dog eat dog situation and the fittest, read strongest, survives. Please tell me when last did you see a high ranking Province Official at a Division 1 game on a Saturday. These Leagues also get allocated all the cast-off's from Ref's, Assessors to WpP relations Team officials if you so request. With the exception of one Ref, all the Ref's allocated to our games this season had a boep and struggled to keep up with the game. How much more difficult is it for him/her to see/pick up untoward actions of players if he cannot keep up. The linesmen are second rate because they are the second and third team ref's so what do you expect. Furthermore, it is utterly clear that the Ref's do not have the willpower to stop fights as in most cases the spectators are right next to the field and threatens the ref during the game. I have seen Officials in Blazers and ties tell a Ref  that "Jy staan mos nou kak Mr Ref". This guy sits on the DC Comittee of Province and nothing was done to him. These same Club Officials on another occasion threaten some of our players with guns, so much so that our sinbin player, we had to remove from their post to the centre of the field. This is nothing new but in most cases imho it is Officials and Administrators who perpetuate and incite this situation and not the players who only pick it up from the Officials and Administrators.

With apologies to the ref's, they try under the circumstances but are fighting a losing battle. Fine the f@#king Club and ban them for life, this is the only remedy. Did you see how nice Rugby a Club in Division 1 is playing after they received the threat of a lifetime ban.   

Ou Dubbie. Ek is cool by die pool ou brudder. Long time no chat.

I agree with you on all your points. It's tough lower down and as you say, if the Union does not impliment  zero tolerence on this, it will just continue. Until maybe, as I said many times before, when players/administrators/crowds, etc gets killed at a rugby match, will they start jumping, until the dust settles and you back to the same senario.

Have club reps or people come together already and taken this up with the Union? I'm sure this was the case already. But I would not mind partaking in some kind of thing to promote awareness to the Union. or is a classic case of they knowing what's going on by decide to throw a blind eye?