Sthelens RLFC wrote:
Anyone booing Tomkins can f*ck off to football. We're trying a new concept last night for the first time. We might have relatively new viewers to the sport watching it last night. Their impression of RL fans would be soulless arseholes who stay quiet for 80 minutes and boo their own players, when 99.9% aren't like that and care about the sport passionately. We try to distance ourselves from football fans and say that we have a family game. It was anything but last night.
Completely agree.
I find the attitude of some completely baffling, embarrassing and annoying.
Firstly, I can't stand Sam Tomkins. He epitomises eveything I hate about Wigan - he's sneaky, he's sly, he's a borderline cheat at times, he's extremely passionate about Wigan and is talented. As a Saints fan, there is no reason to like him. BUT, yesterday he was wearing the shirt of MY country. He, along with 17 others was representing MY side and for that he gets my complete support. Can those that boo him not put your hatred for him to one side for 80 minutes and get behind him? Is it really that difficult? It's not about being a hypocrite it's about being sensible and backing the players in MY side. I've never seen Tomkins give anything less than 100% in an England shirt, in good or bad performance, so there is no reason to boo him IMO. Sean Long isn't a particularly llikeable chap, on and off the field, but whilst he was wearing a Saints shirt he got my support because he gave it his all and represented MY side.
The thing is aswell, these people wonder why England are so bloody awful internationally and it's because we don't back our team - from the fans to the RFL. We don't invest enough time in it and the fans don't buy into it yet people wonder why it's so bad. Let's be honest, why would Tomkins want to represent England when he doesn't get backed by the fans? It's not even an isolated incident, it's happened with other players in the past and I imagine it'll happen again in future until people put their petty rivalries to one side for a FEW games. You don't get this in Australia and New Zealand, the governing body and the supporters really get behind their country and invest time and effort into it and get the results. We dont, and we deserve a poor playing nation because we back it poorly.