There was a case of ungentlemanly conduct in the Magners League in Llanelli on the weekend, as Scarlets lock Lou Reed was penalised for shouting at opposing Ulster wing Andrew Trimble in an attempt to put him off his kick.
When you hear about this youd naturally presume that what happened is someone was taking a kick at goal and the shouting had put him off, which has been penalised before. In fact it was nothing like that at all, but more along the lines of the bizarre.
From the footage its hard to make out what Reed was shouting, but according to the touch judge it was against the spirit of the game, so he drew the referees attention to it, resulting in the penalty.
A lot of things happen on the rugby field these days, and fans all seem to interpret them differently. Many feel that professionalism has changed the game for the worse, and that the age old principles of the gentlemans game have been lost forever.
There are calls to clamp down on many elements of play when it comes to ill-discipline. The people in charge are doing what they can, and thanks to citing commissions and television analysis, the wrong doers arent getting away with what they perhaps used to.
Rugby has changed over time. Players are now bigger, stronger, and faster than ever before. The game is quicker thanks to advances in equipment, new tactics, and subtle tweaks in the laws.
The game is pushing forward at a rate of knots, but along the way perhaps something is being forgotten, and that is that rugby is built on a foundation of sportsmanship, pride in ones jersey, and mutual respect.
Lou Reed was made an example of and this shows us that maybe we need to take a step back to continue moving forward. Sportsmanship is a core value that mustnt be forgotten along the way, and the fact that Reed was picked out for this will go a long way.
Either its that, or it was just an absolutely ridiculous penalty. You decide.
Time:
01:56
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