"Shame on anyone that booed a champion."

[RudeBoy]

I read this morning that, like me, Bevo thought the booing was rather funny and simply part of the tribalism of what footy is all about. I like the lad.

[Mr Miyagi]

I find it bloody hilarious that I'm seeing people on Facebook posting about how ANZAC day should be respected etc, yet their very next posts are supporting the boos. They happen to be Collingwood hating d***heads anyway, but gee... preaching about the sanctity of ANZAC day one minute, booing when a military veteran is awarding the ANZAC medal the next. The hypocrisy of people is unbelievable. Pendles was being awarded the ANZAC medal by a veteran, the booing was totally disrespectful.

There's a time and a place for everything, and the Bombers supporters showed they have terrible timing. They're also two-faced liars, they were booing Pendles getting the medal, no ifs or buts. And Robbo can go get stuffed for pushing the lie that they were only booing the umpires in the H-S today too. If you believe that Robbo, then Melbourne and Carlton are a chance to play for the flag this year.

[ANNODAM]

You know, these ESS assholes are really boiling my piss!

I would be ecstatic if the AFL canned this whole ANZAC Day game.
There should be no games played on this day at all, IMO.
It's been 25yrs, give it up but they won't have the balls to do it, the gutless knobs!

[Mr Miyagi]

Too much money involved, especially the corporates. The AFL tried to get us to quit it by scheduling tough matches with only a few days break in recent years (and the opposition getting a few days more rest than us). We toughed it out, Eddie wouldn't give in. Out of pride, but also for the same reason the AFL won't scrap it... the money. How often would we get 90,000+ at a home and away game? At least we stuck it to the Toffs with Queens Birthday, they no longer have the monopoly on being the home team for gate receipts every single year.

Anyway, Robbo has and always will be Essendon's spin doctor.

[Doc63]

[PyreneesPie]

[PyreneesPie]

[AN_Inkling]

Firstly: the reason for the booing was complete rubbish. Umpiring had no negative effect on the result for the Bombers. Quite the opposite given that they kicked at least 2 goals from poor decisions.

Umpire Shaun Ryan looked at the contentious last quarter decisions, the only one that was wrong? Baguley's free kick against Langdon which resulted in an Essendon goal, so they should have lost by more.

There can be some argument as to whether a couple of 50-50 frees could have been paid, but the main ones up for debate were in our forward 50 and Essendon got the ball immediately afterwards anyway. Impact almost zero.

The whining simply wasn't warranted. They were never in front so never had the game to be snatched away. If you want to see a game that really was affected by umpiring, look at the Hawks loss to the Bulldogs this year. A game the Hawks had in their keeping until umpiring took over. Hawks fans had a right to be aggrieved, Bombers fans did not. And yet? No disgraceful post match behaviour from Hawks fans.

Given that there is simply nothing to support the umpiring as being so horrendous that an out of the ordinary response by fans could be excused, the sustained booing well after the game had ended was completely inappropriate and rightly called out by Bucks.

We can say booing is and always has been part of the game. I've never liked it for any reason really, but that is true. However, booing during a medal ceremony has never been part of the game. This is a time to accept the loss and show some respect. For booing at that time - something that has almost never been done. I do remember Judd being booed after winning the medal in a derby in 2006. In this case they were booing the decision because the Eagles lost the game, this at least has some logic - you need a good reason for that to be supported. The Bombers fans not only had no "good" reason they had no reason. The umpiring was not terribly biased against them. They did not lose a game they should have won. They simply lost a close game that they never headed.

I don't care if I'm called a wowser or advocate of a "nanny state" but there is such a thing as manners and acceptable public behaviour. For me, booing in any circumstance is fairly borderline, though when it's pantomime like booing a former player etc, I don't have a problem with it. What we saw on Thursday was uglier, and yet, if it had have stopped once the umpires had left the ground - which it did for around 5 mins, there was no booing during the Collingwood song or while Sidebottom was interviewed - it would have been ok. Starting up again and intensifying the boos when Pendlebury started speaking and again when he was thanking the crowd - was completely unacceptable. The Bombers fans had no excuse, they'd already had their opportunity to express displeasure (even though misplaced) and boo the long gone umpires, booing Pendlebury, and that's what it was, can not be justified. It was pathetic and, to my memory, completely unprecedented. I've never seen anything like it.

We lost the 2018 GF on a dodgy umpiring decision after leading most of the day. Booing during the ceremonies would have been much more justified there, but it didn't happen, so claims that we'd have done the same are rubbish. I'm not saying it's because we are some special kind of fans, just that no fans have done this and anytime they do they should be called out. It's a complete lie to say that the booing we saw on Thursday is "normal", it just isn't, it's a special case of terrible fan behaviour and sportsmanship and has rightly been condemned by most commentators.

[ANNODAM]

[Magpietothemax]

[PyreneesPie]

Excellent post AN-Inkling! I agree with every word.

I was intrigued by two of the things you highlight - firstly, why the Essendon supporters thought they got the wrong end of the umpiring mistakes to such a huge degree that it cost them the match. We were actually playing all over them in the final minutes with the ball locked in our forward half and it was this that cost them the game.

Secondly, why did the Bomber fans react so vehemently to losing a game anyway??? It was completely over the top. I wonder if they are still feeling victimized over the drug cheating scandal?? ??

[AN_Inkling]

Here we are. Umpire Shaun Ryan says "controversial" calls were reviewed as correct. Can be self-serving, but the explanations seem reasonable:

https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-04-27/they-were-the-correct-calls-umpire-stands-by-anzac-day-calls

[RudeBoy]

Essendon were not the recipient of bad umpiring decisions near the end of the game.....however, this was clearly the view of the Bomber fans. This is why I found their booing even more hilarious, as it demonstrated their delusional state of minds. I disagree with much of inky's analysis, but he is right in saying the umpires actually prevented us from winning by more.

To the Bomber fans all I can say is boo hoo.

[stui magpie]

^

I agree.All this guff about the solemnity of the occasion, give me a spell. That's all pore game. Once the game starts it's a game of footy, players don't care what date it is and fans get wound up, cheer and boo.

I personally don't boo, I'm more likely to yell obscenities infrequently, but I don't read more into it than people being pissed off and letting it out.

I'm somewhat disappointed that the umpires have said they reviewed all the decisions in the final quarter and all were correct with the exception of 1 free kick to Essendon that resulted in a goal.

I'd have preferred they said that they made mistakes and Essendon should have got free kicks against us, just to twist the knife a little.

[Magpietothemax]