Abuse of Ranger

[WightShrimper]

As I couldn't get tickets to join all the other Southend supporters on Saturday against the Wombles, myself and my good lady had to watch among the home side. We were among the crowd at the other end of the Fartgas stand and used a series of pre-arranged covert hand signals to show our angst or happiness and thus avoid detection.
However, we were both upset by a couple of morons who made remarks to Ranger when he was near to us in the second half. Shouts of 'Ranger, you're a rapist' I feel do not reflect well on anyone. However, I am hoping that there will be someone on here who has some form of contact with Nile to say to him how impressed I was with the way he did not react to the idiots and thus avoided an ugly scene that may have led to problems on the pitch. It couldn't have been easy to not over-react. And just maybe, the steward who was standing nearby, could have had a quiet word with them.

 

[MK Shrimper]

He's going to get it where ever he goes sadly.

 

[WightShrimper]

I don't doubt that, I just hope that someone close to him or the club can praise him for his reaction, or more to the point, lack of.

 

[mattitouk]

As Mk Shrimper said, it happens day in and day out, where ever he goes, he's going to be open to abuse from away fans up and down the country by some morons, be it for his past actions, or his skin colour, or even the club shirt he wears etc.

Although i'm against it, & think it's wrong on every level, I think by now, he probably takes it as part and parcel of the game.

If you want to praise him, follow him on twitter or instagram etc, and show your positive comments & praise for him there. He will read it. I often do, and not to just Nile but many of the other lads too.

 

[Rattus Norvegicus]

Having spoken to some professional players about this I can report that there are many players who do not hear much from the crowd except for the general hub-bub ............. and whilst they "feel" how the crowd is (for example excited or worried) for much of the time they are concentrating so hard on the game that it goes past them.

Having said that I would say that I don't think it is right for any player to be abused .......... better to support your team positively and then let the players feet (or head) do the talking.

 

[Pubey]

I'm pretty sure the Roots Hall faithful would give a player with Ranger's record a pretty grim reception. Don't think we can really complain, tbh.

 

[Crowstone Crevette]

Having spoken to some professional players about this I can report that there are many players who do not hear much from the crowd except for the general hub-bub ............. and whilst they "feel" how the crowd is (for example excited or worried) for much of the time they are concentrating so hard on the game that it goes past them.

Having said that I would say that I don't think it is right for any player to be abused .......... better to support your team positively and then let the players feet (or head) do the talking.

Seems like Cantona had a concentration issue:winking:

 

[McNasty]

I once asked Julian Dicks , who was abused by most fans of the opposition, if the taunts put him off his game and he said that he was concentrating so hard that he didn't hear a thing.

 

[Pubey]

I once asked Julian Dicks , who was abused by most fans of the opposition, if the taunts put him off his game and he said that he was concentrating so hard that he didn't hear a thing.

He can't have been concentrating that hard if he heard you ask.

 

[WESTY_SUFC]

As I couldn't get tickets to join all the other Southend supporters on Saturday against the Wombles, myself and my good lady had to watch among the home side. We were among the crowd at the other end of the Fartgas stand and used a series of pre-arranged covert hand signals to show our angst or happiness and thus avoid detection.
However, we were both upset by a couple of morons who made remarks to Ranger when he was near to us in the second half. Shouts of 'Ranger, you're a rapist' I feel do not reflect well on anyone. However, I am hoping that there will be someone on here who has some form of contact with Nile to say to him how impressed I was with the way he did not react to the idiots and thus avoided an ugly scene that may have led to problems on the pitch. It couldn't have been easy to not over-react. And just maybe, the steward who was standing nearby, could have had a quiet word with them.

You should of heard our fans away at Bristol Rovers years ago when Junior Ogogo was there player. Every Southend fan 700+ were morons. Worked a treat as he had a dreadful game.

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

Have seen the team bus arrive/depart at a couple of away games and Nile Ranger seems to be the most popular player for the home fans to have a selfie or autograph. Anton Ferdinand also pretty popular.
I'm not a regular stalker of the team bus, but you do seem to get some interesting characters hanging around.

 

[WightShrimper]

Nile definitely heard the comments, but reacted well. I also know that fans of all clubs will 'comment' on players of the opposition, but as I don't twitter or instagram or any of those things, I just hoped someone could praise Nile on my behalf for his behaviour.
:thumbsup:

 

[Kevin Hogg]

People in all walk of life need to earn respect. Nile has that opportunity now.

 

[LennySUFC]

Unfortunately he'll always get stick, if he wasn't playing for us we'd give it to him, just like McCormick, Hughes, etc

 

[OldBlueLady]

Unfortunately he'll always get stick, if he wasn't playing for us we'd give it to him, just like McCormick, Hughes, etc

Exactly what I was going to say. Hughes, in particular, used to just let his football do the talking and always seemed to perform well against us regardless of the "murderer" chanting. Nile would do well to continue doing exactly the same.

 

[Taunton_Shrimper]

I was also in the home end on Saturday and heard pretty much non-stop abuse for ranger but is to be expected...shortly after he had scored we had a throw right in front of us and several wombles fans really got stuck into him, he just ignored them a few times before giving back a 1-0 signal......it just seemed it was like water of a duck's back for him.

 

[Rattus Norvegicus]

I was also in the home end on Saturday and heard pretty much non-stop abuse for ranger but is to be expected...shortly after he had scored we had a throw right in front of us and several wombles fans really got stuck into him, he just ignored them a few times before giving back a 1-0 signal......it just seemed it was like water of a duck's back for him.

Nice hamster.

 

[londonblue]

I once asked Julian Dicks , who was abused by most fans of the opposition, if the taunts put him off his game and he said that he was concentrating so hard that he didn't hear a thing.

I would argue that players will say that regardless of whether or not they can hear because they wan't people to believe that. Many years ago I read both of Garry Nelson's books ("Left Foot Forward" and "Left Foot in the Grave".) In one of them he makes the point that players can hear the abuse (although admittedly he played on the wing) but that it didn't make any difference. If someone told him he was having a bad game it made no difference because a) he knew anyway, and b) he was his own harshest critic and would be more annoyed with himself than they were with him.

Either way, the players can definitely hear at least some of the comments.

 

[Sandbach Shrimper]

Ranger seems like the sort of character who probably enjoys and thrives off getting stick from opposition fans and being the pantomine villain. I've not really seen him lose his temper in a Southend shirt and he plays with a smile on his face which is nice to see.

 

[Shrimper2thecore]

He has to expect it unfortunately - in the same was as Hughes did.

I'm not saying it is right, but I am sure that Nile has thicker skin that most and shouldn't be bothered.

He should and will be more bothered by the adoration he is getting from our fans.