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I am writing this knowing that I will get some pretty bad comments and it will leave a lot of people upset but it seems to be the unspoken rule that it is illegal to fiddle with a Bulls supporter.
I am a staunch Western Province supporter and a major rugby lover like most South Africans. I have 9 IRB certified coaching certificates which I completed, both at Loftus and via the IRB online programme.
I am a WP supporter living in Bulls country at the moment. I watch rugby like its a religion. I never miss a game even if my team is not playing. I try very hard not to miss any Super Rugby games no matter who is playing and I never miss a Bok or Currie Cup game.
I recently watched a movie that is basically the South African version of Jackass, called Bustin' Chops. While not the best movie I have ever seen, there was one line in the movie that stuck with me and in recent weeks I started to realize how true it was.
"I think it is illegal to fiddle with Blue Bull supporters as they have no sense of humour." That was the line that stuck with me and is the main reason why I am writing this article.
I have great respect for the Bulls as they have always played great rugby and they proved just how good they are this past weekend against Western Province. I think what makes rugby so great in South Africa is the rivalries between the unions and their supporters.
Ever since high school I have realised that some Bulls supporters are in a way feared by others. No supporter from another union dares to crack a joke about the Bulls in front of a Bulls supporter. Although not all Bulls supporters are like this, there still remains a hand full that tend to be this way.
At school we all dressed up in costumes for our 40days and one of the guys dressed up as a Bulls player and painted himself blue. A close friend of his who happens to be a WP supporter, told him that if he really wanted to be blue he should have come dressed as a smurf as it would have been less humiliating than what he has on now. A small joke like that caused the Bulls supporter to beat his friend to end an 8 year friendship and started a pretty hateful relationship between them.
A few years later the Bulls were at the top of all rugby jokes in South Africa when they decided pink was their new colour of choice. Sitting in a bar listening to a Bulls supporter and a Lions supporter chat about the new jerseys, turned pretty ugly, pretty quickly.
I later found out that the Bulls and Lions supporters were actually cousins. The Lions supporter started making jokes, saying things like all the Bulls need to do now is change their name to the Pink Cows. One joke I found unique and funny was when the Lions supporter said it was about time the Bulls came out the closet, everyone saw it coming when thousands of men sang Liefling together, every Saturday, to another man. Needles to say the Bulls supporter beat the Lions supporter so badly that they were forced to close the bar at 3pm on a Saturday. The Lions supporter spent 4 months in hospital.
I can write for days about similar incidents that I have seen or been involved in and yet I fail to understand why this type of action is necessary.
As a Western Province supporter in Bulls and Lions country I get a lot of jokes and taunts about my team every weekend and yet I have no need to get upset about it but instead I laugh with them as some of the jokes are pretty unique and funny.
I understand that we are all passionate about the game and our teams but is the jokes and taunting not part of the fun of the local rivalries?
Every supporter from any union gets taunts and jokes thrown at them every year but its part of he rivalries shared. I am not saying these kinds of incidents only happen with Bulls supporters but in my personal experience it is the incidents involving Bulls Supporters that were the most brutal and most frequent.
Please note that I am not saying all Bulls supporters are like this. There are amazing supporters in each union and then you get some that behave in this manner and it doesn't just occur with the Bulls but every union in the country.
