Sometimes being there makes all the difference. I watched Saracens-Munster in a pub in Stoneybatter, and was completely oblivious to the decision made by Saracens to play loud music in the stadium any time the travelling Munster fans found their voice yesterday. Interestingly, many Saracens fans were disgusted by the move and used the comments section of the match report on the Saracens website to lambaste their own club and chief executive Edward Griffiths.
There's a lot of anger on the site over this, here's a taster from commenter SRFC1983:
"Edward Griffiths should be totally disgusted with himself. The way that Munster fans and team were treated was unforgivable. The drastic over use of the god awful ' jingles' made me feel totally ashamed. I have never been so embarrassed to be a saracens fan I had my head in my hands everytime the Munster fans were cynically drowned out. Yes it was a great game but the club came out of it looking like a cheap amateur set up."
Commenter Carl Goldie eloquently summed up his anger with the club and called for an apology to Munster fans:
"A great result and well done all the players.Ed Griffiths was obvious in his beige suit and it was equally obvious that he was directing the P.A. operator.Ed and his management team have done some very good things for the club and kicked us into the 21st century.However,yesterday he got it badly wrong.Munster are one of the best supported clubs in world rugby and the many thousands of their fans at Castle Grim yesterday is testament to that.To feel it is acceptable to cynically drown out their support for their team by continually playing that monotonous rubbish of ours is not the way we want things done at Sarries or any other rugby venue.You are a big man Ed ,act like one and issue an apology to Munster and to us!"
A Munster fan who was at Vicarage Road described his own experience:
"As a Munster fan I have to say that Sarries very much deserved their win today - the team have the ability to go far in Europe this year. I was delighted to have escaped with a losing bonus point. On the pitch Saracens have an awful lot of class, which is something the club is unfortunately lacking elsewhere. I was really looking forward to today's game but my experience was ruined by the PA system and the decision to mute or nullify our singing. It was clearly a premeditated ploy by somebody within the club which brought gamesmanship to a whole new level. Whoever is responsible for the decision is someone lacking in class. This person has also tarnished Saracens' reputation. I got the train back into London this evening and was reassured to know that Sarries fans felt the same way. As an outsider looking in I feel the Sarries fans deserve a little better from the people who run the club. All the best for the rest of the season."
Interestingly, Michael Corcoran and Stephen Jones are currently in the midst of a Twitter spat after Corcoran highlighting the comments on his Twitter feed. Jones thinks the commenters are fictitious.
@michaelc_rte @coillgarbh @mickclearytel yes a real ring of authenticity about those
— Stephen Jones(@stephenjones9) December 17, 2012
@stephenjones9 @coillgarbh @mickclearytel people are entitled to opinions Stephen, whether they are liked or not, accept them and move on
— Michael Corcoran (@MichaelC_RTE) December 17, 2012
@michaelc_rte letter on Sarries side word for word same as mail from Munster fan recd at st today. Bogus.Move on from fandom. They lost
— Stephen Jones(@stephenjones9) December 17, 2012
@stephenjones9 I'm not in fandom, I do my job fairly and without making judgement. Results mean nothing to my job, regardless I still do it
— Michael Corcoran (@MichaelC_RTE) December 17, 2012
