The appropriate reaction to the rogue Warriors fans at Eden Park – Editorial
The scenes showing referee Ashley Klein being pelted with projectiles as he left Eden Park on Sunday night are disgraceful and stain what could have been a brilliant year to own a Warriors jersey.
A few weeks ago, it was starting to look like something special was building among the group in Auckland.
But the same thing that has haunted this team since their inception in the NRL came back to bite again.
On their six-game winning run in the lead-up to the finals, there was always a fear they had peaked too early.
So it proved.
The win over the Panthers (28-12) at home in August followed by a drubbing of the Broncos (40-6) at Suncorp was the summit of their season, but the loss of influential half Luke Metcalf to a season-ending injury during that Broncos game eventually ended up hurting them long-term.
Losing back-to-back home finals is a stinging blow for long-suffering fans.
And being in a boisterous crowd is a drug that can do strange things; people violating societal norms when gathered together in big numbers has played out thousands of times in human history.
None of that justifies the treatment dished out to Klein, who largely had a decent game in a pressure-cooker environment.
At a time when referees in amateur sport are harder to find, the sight of that treatment at Eden Park won’t help others sign up to do the job.
Speaking on Sky Sport, Shaun Johnson praised Klein’s refereeing and condemned the crowd’s actions.
“It leaves a bit of a sour taste in your mouth under what’s been an unbelievable night,” the former Warriors halfback said.
“The colours, the energy, the happiness, the celebration. But there’s just no need for it. It’s just embarrassing.
“Ashley Klein probably reffed the best game of rugby league I’ve seen in a long time tonight.
“He didn’t take any gamesmanship in terms of people laying down. He didn’t let people approach him whinging. He didn’t make the game about him. He let the players come and play and essentially they dictated the outcome.”
It’s good to see Eden Park’s chief executive Nick Sautner come out strongly and compare the projectile throwing to pitch invaders, which have blighted Warriors games in recent years.
“We want to provide a safe working space for our staff and for the players and fans, and that was very disappointing,” he said.
Eden Park is investigating the unruly behaviour, which comes days after a similar incident at an AFL game in Melbourne.
The AFL is promising to ban any individual identified from AFL games, and the stadium, for a minimum of five years.
That would be an appropriate reaction to Auckland’s rogues too.