Anzac Day, 2019 – Scott Pendlebury walks up on the dais to accept his third Anzac Day Medal. He thoroughly deserved it, playing a massive role in Collingwood's thrilling win over Essendon – 38 disposals, seven marks, six tackles, three clearances at nearly 74 percent efficiency. Yet, as he recieves the medal, he gets booed by the Essendon fans.
Nathan Buckley then said moments later as he approached the dais: “Shame on anyone who booed a champion”. What Buckley said was always going to add fuel to what was already a massive fire that is in the form of booing.
Whether footballers, coaches, experts and others want to admit it or not, booing has been apart of this great game for as long as anyone can remember. To even discuss reducing booing in games is laughable and proves not just how big of a nanny state the game is in, but how big of a nanny state the country is in. Was it the right time to boo? Probably not – it's supposedly a day where we pay respect to the Anzac's.
As a kid who went to Bulldogs games when they were at the lowest and at their highest, I have always booed the opposition. Not for any other reason other than to support my team and nothing else. I might boo some poor decisions made by the umpires, and in the past, I will admit I have booed ex-Bulldog players. It was fine back then and as far as I'm concerned, it's still fine today - within reason of course.
These days, I tend to not boo much. I might still be onto a bad call from the umpires, but generally I'm there to watch and write about what I see. What I saw on Anzac Day was a vast majority of Essendon supporters displeased and upset about what happened. For those who may not know what happened, the Bombers were on the rough end of a few umpiring decisions all game long, and because the result was a four-point Collingwood win, the supporters believed they were hard done by – which I think they are right.
One such play towards the end of the game saw Collingwood's Jaidyn Stephenson run down in a tackle where he had prior opportunity AND disposed of the ball incorrectly – play on. Callum Brown gets run down into the MCG turf – in the back, Collingwood kick about 30 metres out from goal. Now he did miss the kick horribly, and I'm not complaining about the free kick to Brown, but it was the missed calls like the Stephenson tackle that had Essendon fans crying foul all day.
Essendon fans weren't booing Pendlebury because it was him – maybe you could argue that he was given a free kick in the final quarter for a high contact that he possibly milked a little extra to make sure the umps knew that it was a free kick. Again, it was there, but in the context of this game, it was a critical moment and the Bombers supporters will tell you that he definitely put a bit of extra mustard on that. But I like to think that the majority of Essendon supporters weren't booing Pendlebury – They were booing the result of the game.
Football fans will boo a lot, you get it anywhere you go, but there are times to boo and times to hold your tongue.
The booing of former Sydney star Adam Goodes has been a subject of debate for years. You think back to the time where he pointed out a young kid in the crowd who used a racial slur in 2013 and he was lauded a hero by many for standing up to racism. It was when he became Australian of the Year for his work against Racism, things turned sour. Some will say he didn't deserve winning the award and others will claim that he staged for free kicks at the tail-end of his career among other interesting tactics that have been tossed up for discussion.
And whilst I don't doubt about the latter of those two reasons, I have no doubt that the booing of Goodes was largely racial and that fans of the game just didn't like his views on a lot of things. It was some dark times as he had been a great player for so long and it was a shame to see this basically force him into retirement. By August 2015, the booing reared its ugly head when Goodes took indefinite leave from the game. This prompted the AFL clubs to support him during the week of his leave, whether it be donning an indigenous guernsey or wearing armbands – the AFL did what they could to support him through a difficult period.
A month later, Goodes retired from the game for good.
On Easter Monday, Gary Ablett received a lot of boos from Hawthorn supporters. The excuse being that Ablett liked an Instagram post from rugby player – also an ex-AFL footballer if you can believe that – Israel Folau, which can be described as homophobic. There is nothing in this – anyone who knows Ablett will know that he is a Christian and he was on record that the like was to support Folau's Christian faith and whilst we'll never know for certain why Hawks supporters booed him – they are entitled to do so.
I don't condone Folau's post, but the fact that people have to come after Ablett with pitchforks and torches is ridiculous, and one way or another, the diehard Hawthorn supporters were going to find a way to get into the skin of their fierce rivals on a stage as big as Easter Monday footy, which has been a big marquee game for both Geelong and Hawthorn. Ablett removed his like following the backlash, but it's an issue that doesn't sit well with me – He didn't have to justify himself to anyone.
Lastly, I'll highlight the booing of Jobe Watson when he admitted to taking an illicit substance in 2013. The following game when the Bombers went to Perth to take on the West Coast Eagles, he was booed at every possible opportunity. Whilst the Bombers did win the match, Watson was teary-eyed after the match.
During the broadcast of the match, Matthew Richardson labelled the booing of Watson a disgrace and Luke Darcy was left staggered at the scenes that were unfolding. However, Eagles fans at the game took to one website to justify their actions. One said the following:
“Of course we get slammed for being the worst supporters, when everyone secretly knows that it didn't matter what team played Essendon this week, Jobe still, most definitely would have been booed regardless.”
Another one commented:
"Do you honestly think that he would not have got the same treatment anywhere else - after all he has admitted taking a banned substance.”
In hindsight, it was pretty insensitive, and the topic of discussion about the Bombers' drugs scandal is entirely different kettle of fish, but still it's a pretty bad look when you look back on it.
However, the one thing all four of these instances have one thing in common - Emotion. The AFL cannot kick emotion out of the game. Sure there will be some times where booing becomes distasteful, but realistically, what can the league do about this when something like that happens again? Reacting in the way that Buckley did is only going to encourage fans to boo. You may not like it, but fans pay their way to watch these games and they have the right to express their emotions – within reason.
It doesn't matter where you go around the world – whether it is in the States to watch the NBA Playoffs, in Europe to watch your favourite Soccer team or here where we do have tons of passionate supporters who are free to voice their pleasure or displeasure wherever they see fit. Take away that, and what do you get? Something that doesn't feel right.
The emotion of the contest is one of the rare things that you still get from the footy. It's something that can't be changed in the rulebook and I love that fact. Supporters are always going to be booing bad umpiring decisions, ex-players who are playing at their against their old side for the first time (See Jared Polec and Jasper Pittard on the weekend) or because of the fact they feel their side should've won and they didn't – like Essendon on Anzac Day.
If you can't deal with this aspect of the game and you can't deal with the frustration of thousands upon thousands of supporters on a weekly basis, then you're better off elsewhere.