England's Ben Earl has gone viral over another excessive celebration
A week after the England rugby team's on-field celebratory antics were brought to light and condemned by former coach Clive Woodward as 'childish', flanker Ben Earl has gone viral in the 29-10 loss to Ireland.
The England openside collapsed to his knees, fists clinched, momentarily overwhelmed by delight over a mis-executed lineout by Ireland in the first half.
Earl finished the excessive display of emotion with a quick fist pump towards the Irish backline as he roared loudly.
The turnover of possession was largely to do with opposition error, which is why many fans believe Earl's celebration is unsportsmanlike and purely goading opposition players.
England's over the top antics are causing discomfort with fans given the results. Fans labelled the display as 'so sad' as Earl received backlash over his passionate display.
Ben Earl dropping to his knees to celebrate a knock on or a crooked lineout throw is so sad. Can you imagine Richard Hill doing that?!— Tobias Pickle (@gjnn3) August 19, 2023
Some corners of England fans believe that the behaviour is driven by Saracens players as their culture permeates into the England team.
All the bad aspects of Saracens rugby are being imported into the England team. Tackling, over celebrating and constant offside. Unfortunately the good aspect, winning, is not being imported.— Simon Clubley (@chubbers1) August 19, 2023
Maro Itoje explained the thought process in 2020 which he denied had anything to do with the opposition.
"I have a contrasting view to the premise of your question," Itoje said at the time over celebratory antics.
"When there is a celebration of a small moment or small victory within the game it almost always has nothing to do with the opposition.
"The opposition don’t cross my mind. I try as much as possible not to waste any energy on the opposition. My energy is towards my team, it is to celebrate my teammate doing something remarkable, it is to celebrate my teammate doing something that we are trying to encourage."
"So, it actually has nothing to with the opposition. It is more about championing a value or behaviour that we respect as a team."
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All of these media pundits always miss the obvious whenever they analyse what is ailing or assisting the game. Rugby always has contentious points for debate when picking apart individual games and finding fault with itself. All this focus and scrutiny on “speeding up the game”, “high ball in play” etc is all contextual to the fan. As a tv viewer, if you’re absorbed into a game, regardless if your team is playing or not, more ball in play time and action are all byproducts of the contest. A good contest subliminally affects your memory in selectively remembering all the good aspects. A poor contest and your brain has switched off because its a blowout and the result is never in doubt or it’s a real chore to watch and remain engaged throughout. The URC, Top 14 and English premiership are all competitions that feel like there’s real jeopardy each week. The dominance of Super rugby by NZ teams was unhealthy from a sustainable interest perspective. You can’t fault those teams or the players, but the lack of competitions won by SA and Australian teams long term was always going to test the faith and patience of die-hard and casual fans from those regions. SANZAR took their eye off the fans and fans voted with their feet and subscriptions. They were so concerned about expanding their product they forgot the golden rule about broadcasting live sport. Viewers tune in more when there’s an atmosphere and a true contest. You need to fill stadiums to create one, host unions need to do more to service ticket buyers, and this year proves the other, there’s more interest in Super rugby this year only because more games are competitive with less foregone conclusions. All these micro statistics bandied about, only interest the bean counters and trainspotters.
Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
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