Professional athletes often do a very good job at blocking out the noise of the crowd but not every shout from the stands can be ignored.
Baz & Andrew’s House of Rugby hosts Barry Murphy and Andrew Trimble both enjoyed distinguished playing careers with Munster and Ulster respectively and they have their fair share of stories from the pitch as well as the terraces.
Both Trimble and Murphy shared some of their favourite heckles from the crowd on this week’s episode of House of Rugby.
“It was 2014 and I had gone through a period of mediocrity where I wasn’t really playing that well and then spent some time with [Joe] Schmidt and played in the Six Nations and played loads of rugby. We won the Six Nations and I felt like I came back to Ulster and I felt like I had this new energy.
“They’d picked up on this and the chant they were going with on that night was ‘you used to be shite, but now you’re alright’. They didn’t name me but I assumed it was me because I was standing on the touchline right beside them.”
Meanwhile Murphy had a similar experience on the wing when Ireland traveled to the US for a summer tour with one fan singling him out for the entire game.
“I had one when we went on an Irish tour years ago to the US. I don’t know if you were on this tour but we played America in San Francisco and I was on the wing and it was quite a slow game and the crowd were right on top of you.
“There was only a few feet between the touchline and the supporters and I was out on my wing and this guy was like the guy that followed Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore and he kept going ‘number 11, number 11, where is your purse? You big pussy!’
“I turned around and was looking at him like ‘stop doing that’ but he just kept doing it for the entire game. He rattled me for the whole match. Ruined the whole experience for me.”
