“Consider a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even break into the building, and if it’s unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside. Or consider a pavement. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people even start leaving bags of refuse from take-out restaurants there or even break into cars.“
Taken from Wikipedia, these words by James Wilson and George Kelling provide the rationale behind the “broken windows theory” of criminology, one used successfully in a number of places over the years to arrest the slide of lawlessness in place as diverse as New York City, Albuquerque New Mexico (where “Breaking Bad” was set) and Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The theory is a simple one – start with the small things and implement a zero tolerance policy. As the commission of any crime, no matter how small, is punished, gradually the perception of the community at large changes and more serious crimes tend to reduce all on their own.
While the Sharks are no doubt wrestling with all manner of uncertainty and plenty of uncontrollables at this stage, the one aspect of their own game – completely controllable – that continues to let them down is on-field indiscipline and foul play. Gary Gold may consider the three red cards dished out already this season “isolated incidents”, but the reality is that isolated or not, these incidents occur far too frequently and are having a major effect on the team, but are also losing fans for the brand. Gold and his management team need to stamp this out and come down hard on offenders.
It is time to put an end to this once and for all. It is time for a strong statement and time for action, rather than words and after-the-fact apologies. I want an end to the moaning about why we always seem to get harsher sentences than other teams do and rather want the Sharks themselves to lay down a marker and set the tone.
Starting from now, I want to the Sharks to impose an immediate 3-month internal ban on ANY player committing an act of foul play within a match. Players guilty of lesser offences (I’m thinking yellow cards for acts contrary to good sportsmanship) should face a lesser ban but should still be punished internally even if the ruling body takes no further action.
Let’s make our stance against foul play and bad sportsmanship more than just words.
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Absolutely, 100% agreed
Time for a wise man to come down from a mountain carrying rules set out in stone. Another Biblical reference, lets hope this is not 40 years in the wilderness in search of the promised land.
I can only sit back and watch how people going about fixing a very powerful brand and product.
I believe in the main management team of Smit, Gold and Venter, my jury is still out on the underlings of Horak, Anthony, M-C-Henderson and Horak.
I am also staring firmly of the leadership within the team itself amongst the players. If there is a rot, if there is a cancer it needs fixed, if there is a broken window – who is the maintenance man?
Mr. Otto; this is an exemplary article, with your Rugby Journalism credentials I trust you can give voice to this at the Union, as you are the fearless leader of us fans who are a hurt, confused and angry bunch.
Punish the players where it counts – in their wallets.
3 red cards for foul play is 3 cards too many. There have been a few players this season whose behaviour on field has been disgusting.
I feel the players who have been banned for red card offenses should be heavily fined. While banned they are of no value to the team so should be paid commensurate to their input or rather ability to do their job…
This is a very promising stand,probably a week late, but its a humble public proclamation of intent.
Now whether they can adhere to it is another story.
We as fans have no option but to bite the bullet,and believe that there is enough of last years team there to kick the Lions butts on Saturday,to ensure that somebody else apart from Letgo comes to watch the Bulls game the next week.
Zero tolerance to the following:
1. Foul Play
2.Stupidity.
3 Anything that makes the Sharks brand an embarrassment
@The hound (Comment 6) : It’s not what Gold said, but what Rob would like him to say if I read that correctly.
And add some stiff financial penalties as well. Most guys are earning a pretty huge salary, so hit them with a 100% penalty of monthly salary for a red and 50% for a yellow. Or force said player to donate the same amount to a charity of the Sharks’ choice. And send the buggers on coaching trips all over KZN, where they would have to explain to young kids their rationale behind booting someone in the head or jumping on his neck. See how they like that.
@Dragnipur (Comment 9) : How else do you think they are going to punish them,sand dune P.T .?
@The hound (Comment 10) : Pretty sure that’s on the cards as well.
@Dragnipur (Comment 11) : With Poles?
add in community service. These huge egos need to reconnect with the ordinary people.
Hear, hear…
Few incidents on a rugby field have ever disappointed me quite as much as the action by Deysel that earned him red on Saturday…
@Feather (Comment 13) : And they can clean out the toilets at Kings Park they are a f******g disgrace
@pastorshark (Comment 15) : To be fair I have seen worse than that Schalk Burgers eye gouging incident for one.
It was when and where he did it that was a tragedy ,we had a push over try in the bag,we were on our way back into the game.
Aw shit its done now we need to move on.
@The hound (Comment 17) : That’s what I mean: it was the circumstances – in the light of Bismarck and Steyn and the leadership situation, in the light of the game situation and being 3 up and right on their line with a chance to get back into the game…in the light of that it was just deeply, deeply disappointing!
@The hound (Comment 16) : And I agree: King’s Park needs some bloody maintenance all round. The general state of toilets, pubs, seats, cleanliness is a disgrace! Is money really that much of a problem…
@pastorshark (Comment 19) : Well Bissie,Frans and Jean have some time on their hands,maybe Rob can get them to look into it.
@The hound (Comment 20) : Kakaka!! That’s at least one useful punishment that should be considered!!
@pastorshark (Comment 18) : Even Sharky seemed a bit lazy/demotivated on Saturday. I realise it is hard for the crowd to get excited when dung is being flung in their direction from the rugby players, but…regardless of the rugby, more could be done to create energy in the stadium on which the players can hopefully feed on.
It is a sad day when a team as proud as the Sharks, have to hang their heads following their match on the weekend! As a proud supporter I always look forward to the next game, and indeed I do for the matches coming up. New blood will have to be brought in. Hopefully the team rally and produce some of those performances we have come to enjoy. Teamwork chaps, courageous and inspiring. Looking forward to it!
Maybe offenders should do community service at the games! Including spending time on the Scholar benches and interacting with young fans…explaining to them what is happening on the field etc.
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 8) : correct
@robdylan (Comment 25) : AGREE!!!
“but are also losing fans for the brand”. This is the hardest for me, I can’t support a team that plays dirty…..
@SharksRTB (Comment 26) : Get over it man,this is not a dirty team,that’s the Chiefs, we just have a few really hard dumb arse players.
And we have had those forever,remember the infamous ten minute battle of Kings Park against the New Zealand Cavaliers,
We always had hard men like Vleis Visage,Robert du Preez,A.J Venter,Mark Andrews,Ollie le Roux, ad naseum.
For years I have sat in the stands and watched the fans go into ectasy at the hits Bismark and Jean Deysel and Frans Steyn have put into the opposition.Thats why we come back every week and spend our time here.Thats the game.
@The hound (Comment 27) : I totally agree with you there. Our team is not dirty, rather there is a couple of very frustrated young men in the team that is having brain farts all over. If any one says we are a dirty team, then they haven’t been watching the Kiwi teams for like forever. I don’t see our guys holding on to players on the ground, or cleaning players beyond the ball. What about falling over the ball on the ground and sealing it off. Hands in the ruck as per Richie Mcaw? I seldom see our guys do that.
The Cape gets the red tide, Durban gets the red mist.
@The hound (Comment 27) : I don’t think you can argue that either Bismarck or Jean were guilty of going overboard in the act of playing hard. Both committed deliberate acts of foul play.
There’s a huge difference.
@The hound (Comment 27) : @KingRiaan (Comment 28) : Trying to sell the Sharks as a “not dirty team” to anyone other than the Sharks faithful, after the last 3 weeks of rugby will be a fruitless task. Sorry but there is just no other way that a neutral can see it.
@robdylan (Comment 30) : No argument there,but to tar the whole team with the same brush is what is pissing me off.
We are not a dirty team,and as bad as both acts were I have seen worse.
@KingRiaan (Comment 28) : Our boys just have a very quick and very over-the-top reaction to the dirty play of the opposition – and that is where we fail time and time again.
This allows the kiwis (and certain local players – I am looking at you Matfield) to take the moral high ground, make us out as dirty thugs and continue along their merry little dirty ways.
Our guys need to have the emotional maturity to hit a guy hard in the tackle, but walk away when there’s handbags…very difficult, but that is what they have to learn.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 33) : Agree Matfield went onto the field intent on goading Bismark into loosing his cool,and showed the rest of the rugby world exactly how to neutralise one of the Springboks most potent weapons.
He knew exactly what he was doing.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 33) : Yeah, I’m with you there, but, and here comes that golden statement again….The Sharks need a shrink! They need a professional that kan assess each individual, and teach that individual how to channel his aggression and frustration in a healthy and positive way. Hell, if I was battered and bruised week in and week out, and told my thousands of people that you are kak or do this or that wrong every day, chances are they I would probably rip someones face off sooner or later
Well, we are 1st in red cards, 12th in yellow cards and 9th in penalties conceded, so if you ignore the two brain farts and one spear tackle, we are pretty good!
But, three reds, and two of them 100% deliberate? And all three by our senior guys who are in the leadership group? That’s totally unacceptable.
@The hound (Comment 34) : What Matfield did is equal to industrial sabotag if you ask me. The guy has been playing with Bismarck in the Bok team for the better part of a decade, then he goes and uses personal information of Bissie most probably to make him loose his cool. I am sorry, winning is their job, but there is lines that you don’t cross if you are a decent human. I have never and will never like Matfield, I will though respect and admire his achievements on the field but that is about it.
@KingRiaan (Comment 35) : Which is probably another reason why we are not professional sportsman – and probably why so many talented sportsman never realise their full potential.
@KingRiaan (Comment 37) : Yes to me what he did was dirty play.
It is almost as if he decided that his new team mate Straus was going to be the Bok hooker.
He was like a school kid in that game,and unfortunately Bismark fell for it hook ,line and sinker.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 38) : Even though I sometimes think they are totally ridiculous, you just need to look at American Football teams to see how a professional sports team that is serious in winning competitions should be run. They have a manager, head coach, and then a coach for every little thing. Not just two or three guys that think they know everything.
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 31) : Yeah agreed, some of my bulls friends sent me messages of thanks for us sharks taking over the “vuilgat tag” from them 😉
After this past weekend we are at least wearing that tag with pride lol.
Then you have Lions supporters asking who in the Sharks team will get a red card this Saturday – as if someone is taking bets on the side.
If my little article gets posted, please excuse me for repeating myself again. There has been a grimness about the sharks for a good while now. They’ve been playing hard uncompromising rugby, but have always seemed, to me anyway, to be under immense pressure and fairly joyless in their play. I think that pressure has cracked in the last few weeks and we’rd going to see the fallout for a good while. Leaderless, directionless and staring down a barrel with a mostly second string backline, an overplayed front row and journeyman locks it’s going to take a massive effort to avoid a freefall to the bottom 5. Only way I cn see that happening is if a serious change in attitude takes place. Bring back the enjoyment and joy of playing to the team and the fans! Play like it’s your last game every game, take the risks, laugh at the mistakes, take your opponent on in every area and then give him a hand up when he’s down.. after all, it is only a game…
Ja. Make a huge announcement and hoo-ha about foul play so we can divert attention from the atrocious standards of normal play. Foul play should be combated and prevented as a matter of fact its not something you do extra. Let’s focus on the state of normal play. What are you doing about that Mr Gold? Why not give us a breakdown of how you intend to handle this? My suggestion,
1. stop buying dinosaurs
2. stop playing dinosaurs
3. Fix the basics like handling and tackling (I don’t know when last a sharks team has had to make so many tackles and how many were so ineffectual). Sort out the scrummie with the bloated ego teach him about distribution.
4. Get the young players some exposure at this level, this season won’t be our best anyway so why not sacrifice it and use this golden opportunity for the youngsters to get international exposure?
5. Get John out of the coach hat
6. Raise Brendan Venters authority.
7. Beg a decent forward coach to assist you.
8. Play the men in position (JPP is not a center and no-one else even gets a chance to step up)
9. No more tactical kicks unless the FH or the fullback do them
10. Appoint the right man to captain.
@pastorshark (Comment 15) : I say give them a sharks internal ban as well. there are many youngsters chomping at the bit to get game time. yet these repeat offenders go straight back to starting lineup once their SANZAR sentence is up. Is it worth it when these guys break down the rest of team? I would rather have a youngster that needs to gain experience than a veteran that refuses to consider the team.
@The hound (Comment 6) :
Me and my mother and My sister (who is now in NZ getting up at 2am, to experience 52 – 10 lashings).
I think its a good idea to give the guys community service. Get them back on the field as quick as possible, but remind them that what they did will not be tolerated and have them earn the respect of their teammates back.
I also like the idea of a charity red card/yellow card fund.
I wouldn’t punish each red/yellow card offence the same though. I feel the team should be able to decide how serious they though the offense was and what effect it had on the match and then place that player in a severity class, which will give them charity donation amount and community service time.
Depending on how the player take the punishment his team has given him, you would know if they are really just all about themselves or team players.
If I was a player, I would have asked Bissie to do some community service and make a donation, based on his actions against the Bulls. Matfield was disgraceful in his techniques, but Bismarck needed to be the bigger man and ignore Matfield and report him to the ref when he had a chance to quietly speak to him.
@Letgo (Comment 45) : 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆
@Letgo (Comment 46) : I’m sorry…. by saying “get them back on the field as quick as possible” you are completely eroding any value to the sanction.
The crime is dirty play. The punishment is being removed from the arena.
@Letgo (Comment 47) : you forget who the ref was for that game,he had just gradated from the Blue Bulls academy and was reffing his first game with Oom Victor.
Fat chance Bismark had.
@robdylan (Comment 49) : AGREED! They should work for that starting berth again. Maybe the long term health of the team is better than the short term gains with the big name/big ego guys?
@The hound (Comment 50) : I agree that still remains the biggest crime yet is not dealt with,allowing such nonsense degrades the game ,how could a Bulls Ref ever have blown a game his team is playing in,absolutely bizarre
@coolfusion (Comment 51) : unfortunately players are contracted for the season/s and you have three of your highest salaries being payed to sit out of the game.You are cutting your nose off to spite your face by not getting them back doing what you contracted them to do in the first place,as quickly as possible.
Best solution is to put a clause into the new contract that says on suspension for a red card means no pay for the duration of the suspension.
Regarding the Bismark / Matfield incident, I personally wouldnt have minded if Bismarck had given Matfield a prostrate examination orally.
Bad thoughts there Salmo, go sit in the corner.
@benji (Comment 52) : KZN refs blow Sharks games regularly. This weeekend was one of the occassion
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 54) : LOL The mind boggles,what sites do you spend most of your day on
@The hound (Comment 56) : A crazy place called Sharksworld, almost exclusively.
@The hound (Comment 37) :
Oh boo hoo. Lets all have a cry because Matfield bullied Bismarck, by calling him names.
Seriosuly, W.T.F.?
@Letgo (Comment 47) :
Somebody who cant resist getting violent when being called names is not the person who i want in my side.
An obvious frailty, this will be exploited by every opposing side for the rest of Bismarck’s career.
A weak mind.
So I’m not usually one to say ‘I told you so’. Ah fuckit, who am i kidding, of course i am.
I will, however, try and do it nicely. Over the last number of weeks I’ve copped serious amounts of abuse for my unwavering position that there is a problem with attitude amongst some senior players in the Sharks side. Not all the players, but certainly those on the other side of the Keegan spat last year. This isnt new – its just that some of these players now appear to have grown bigger than the game and there doesnt appear to be anybody to take them down a peg or two.
Sadly it now seems to be beomcing endemic in the Sharks, and its a long way back when that becomes the case.
Retutations take decades to build, weeks to destroy.
Time to clear house me thinks – if it was just a dirty team that was still plkaying well there would be reason to keep them on. But this is turning into a dirty team, with very little playing ability.
3 cards in 2 weeks is appalling.
@VinChainSaw (Comment 60) : Yeah you indeed told us so in that old thread – I remember lol
So – I see 1 of oom Rob’s tweets today offended the CEO apparently lol – touchy subject I guess eish
@VinChainSaw (Comment 60) : Wow you are a perceptive person,
You actually told us that there is a problem at the Sharks,and you did it weeks ago.
Real little Ricky Roper.
As dirty as the Sharks are in your opinion,at least none of our players has been caught eye gouging,we leave that to the Stormers you admire so much.
Personally I would rather have a n explosive hothead on my team than a cynically violent eye gouger.
The difference one is an uncontrolled emotional outburst and the other is calculated sadism.
@VinChainSaw (Comment 60) : For a guy who has such a low opinion of all things Black and White you an unhealthy obsession with the Sharks
Please explain why you spend so much time here when you clearly have a deep hatred of the team.
Did Warren Britz shag your girlfriend as well,thats normally the case I find with most guys who hate the Sharks.
@The hound (Comment 63) : perhaps as well is the fact that the sites of the teams they support are so pathetic in all aspects that they feel the need to get clever on this site at the Sharks expense
The hound – did it hurt you so much because it was pretty close to the truth?
Wow…easy Tigers…can’t we just agree that the red cards were pretty daft and unacceptable, the punishments pretty much deserved and appropriate…and leave it at that?
@The hound (Comment 27) : Had the pleasure of playing against Vleis, after his provincial career had ended, and he was playing club rugby in Nelspruit, also met him as a christian man, and was at his daughters funeral. Man what a great guy. Humble, and a gentle giant. But he was a hard man on the field.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 33) : That is rubbish! Holding a player a tad longer isn’t dirty play, its niggle! To kick a player in the head is dirty play!!
@VinChainSaw (Comment 59) : I agree with your remark regarding Bismarck and players who can’t control themselves. They should be dumped to lower levels and taught a lesson.
However I equally detest players who seek to incite others on the field. They are cowards and don’t have the guts to face others man-on-man. And in Matfield’s case this is certainly true. I think the last good hit he put in was on Byron Kelleher in 2005…a player like Matfield weakens the team as a whole since all he offers is line out expertise
@robdylan (Comment 49) :
I’m saying the time they were banned is enough, let them continue doing community work while they are playing.
I don’t see the point in giving Frans, Bismark and Jean 7 weeks of. I am not saying replace the guys that have been playing in their place if their form has been sublime, but since the Chiefs game, Kyle Cooper hasn’t done much to prove to me that we don’t need Bismarck back on the field.
I don’t know about Andre, because our backline is doing as litle with him there, as they are with Frans there.
And Jean might struggle to get back in anyway, because we may have 5 other healthy loosies by then.
I’m saying with they are the better players and their sanction are over, then they should start again to help out the team, but still think the idea of continued community service, even during periods of play, is a good idea.
@VinChainSaw (Comment 59) :
Schalk Burger should then be one of those players for you, is he?
@VinChainSaw (Comment 58) : @VinChainSaw (Comment 59) : What are you on about, this has got nothing to do with verbal abuse. Are you commenting / stirring about an incident you didnt see?
Question to all of you.
Was there anything at all in this article that would lead the reader to believe I was directly quoting Gary Gold on anything at all? Did people read this and mistake my opinion for official policy? If so, how?
@robdylan (Comment 73) : Maybe the heading but other than that nothing else
@RedSharkUtd82 (Comment 74) : ok, I see that now. I’m going to change it
@robdylan (Comment 75) : 😉
@RedSharkUtd82 (Comment 76) : thank you
@VinChainSaw (Comment 60) : Only 3 reds, almost no yellows and very few penalties conceded. Not a dirty team you chop.
@robdylan (Comment 77) : No problem meneer.
@Dragnipur (Comment 78) : no personal attacks please.
@Letgo (Comment 71) :
He is, yes.
Or rather he was. Schalk learned his lesson.
@robdylan (Comment 73) :
Dude, you’re making the assumption that some posters can read and comprehend.
Anecdotally, that seems an assumption too far.
@The hound (Comment 63) :
What makes you think i owe you an explanation?
Especically after your usual ad hominem attacks?
@Dragnipur (Comment 78) :
Only 3 reds.
In the space of 2 games youve had two springbok players kick and knee the opposition in the head.
Yeah not a dirty side. 🙄
Its apologetic attitudes like this that foster dirty rugby.
But please carry on – by next February you’ll be the favourites for the title again.
@VinChainSaw (Comment 84) : We can’t possibly be favourites because even though the Stormers will lose their fourth in a row this weekend,they will play such attractive losing rugby that you and old Nick will confident that the trophy you already won in January will be safely in your hands,next year.
@robdylan (Comment 73) : no
@robdylan (Comment 80) : Rob why do you never censure the main shit stirrer on this site, what makes him so special.
I totally agree with everything Dragnipur said ,except chop is too polite a word.
@The hound (Comment 87) :
Rob knows whats good for him…
No seriously, i offer a differing opinion and generally try to avoid the ad hominem attacks for which you are fairly well known around these parts.
There is a line not to be crossed and I’ve learnt over time where that line is.
I appreciate its probably slightly more obscure when you’re typing in your second language. That’s why i give you some slack from time to time.
Nothing wrong with having an opposing opinion, its playing the man without the ball that is frowned upon.
And racist, sexism, any sort of -‘ism. Robs a bit of a liberal at heart.
@The hound (Comment 85) :
But yet you are every year…
@The hound (Comment 87) :
BTW – i loved that whine. Came across as just enough teenager to get away with it.
You could try crying – Rob cant stand a damsel in distress.
@VinChainSaw (Comment 90) : Now for everyone reading ho needs a definition of ”ad hominem” comment 90 is a classical ‘ad hominem”
@robdylan (Comment 73) : why Rob?
@robdylan (Comment 73) : if the reason is what I think it is then how petty and surely they have bigger problems to worry about than this,perhaps them being the biggest problem needing fixing
@The hound (Comment 91) :
Indeed, very perceptive.
@benji (Comment 93) : may the Holy Man please say a prayer cause that’s all that’s going to help the Sharks now,eish,and that’s if his employer hasn’t left the building
@The hound (Comment 91) : thanks mate for pointing that out and as I said ,getting clever on this site
@robdylan (Comment 73) : There was nothing in the article to lead to that conclusion…I don’t know how some managed to conclude that… 😆