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Wed 2 Apr 2014 | 09:45
Joe Marler questions referee Andrew Small's choice of footwear

13
Comments

Along with Nick Cummins, Joe Marler is probably the most amusing rugby player (that the public have access to) on the planet these days. He's a fascinating character, loves the banter, and clearly isn't afraid to take the mickey out of the referee during the match. 

If you've watched any of the O2 Inside Line episodes of behind the scenes England camp clips you'll more than likely agree that Marler needs to get in front of the camera more. As with James Haskell and the Honey Badger, something funny always seems to happen. 

Professional sport needs these characters and thanks to social media and the increased presence of official team video uploads, we're now exposed to the complex minds of these great athletes. 

In this case Marler gave referee Andrew Small a bit of stick for wearing white boots, and rightly so. 

Great work from our man Nick Heath on the commentry too. 

Posted By: Grant Constable

13 Comments

  • aidy668
    5:44 PM 10/04/2014

    the super tight shirts are that way for a practical reason not just "fashion"; It was actually Clive Woodward when he was England coach who sparked the whole thing, he noticed in one England game that the only reason one of the team got tackled was that the opposition managed to get hold of a loose piece of the players shirt as he ran past and he clung onto it and stopped the player from scoring a certain try. He got in touch with the then kit suppliers Nike and they came up with the really tight fitting shirt to avoid this again. Soon after pretty much every country/club followed suit. with a lot of other things like boot colour it is a fashion choice but not with the shirts. At my old club back in the day we only ever got long sleeve shirts but we always cut the sleeves off anyway so may as well given us short sleeved to start with! haha

  • drg
    12:02 AM 07/04/2014

    Not a fan of long sleeves or cotton shirts. I always rolled up the sleeves on my school rugby shirts (less to grab hold of and I have gorilla arms so the sleeves are never long enough) and cotton soaks water like a sponge.

    Cotton shorts are fine, I remember playing a game where one of our props was boasting about his new poly shorts which turned out to be the most pathetic thing to bind onto in the scrum, end up pulling them down most of the time (because they're so stretchy), so cottons great there.

    As for boots, I think they honestly make fast people faster... I just need extra speed or extra weight and I'll don a pair of neon or pink boots :D

  • larry
    3:23 PM 06/04/2014

    I question the whole kit of rugby in the recent past and now. Polyester super-tight shirts with no collars? No long sleeves? Polyester shorts with no pockets? Time for rugby to do what baseball in America did in the 90's, when they got rid of the ugly non-traditional shirts of the 70's and 80's and went back to real baseball jerseys. They are polyester, but they look old school flannels.
    Time to go back to cotton shirts and shorts, or cotton-poly blends, at least poly shirts like the British Lions last tour, and the shoes: black please! There's no reason for rugby to try to look like soccer. And it wouldn't make a bit of difference in style of play, but would surely look better than the ugly kit I see worn these days!

  • ron_mexico
    9:41 AM 06/04/2014

    In the end this is rather ironic, isn't it?
    Joe Marler, who has sported some completely outrageous "haircuts" over the last years, banters the ref about white shoes, really?
    Makes me scratch my head a little

  • 2:24 AM 04/04/2014

    Hear hear Brother

  • finedisregard
    11:30 PM 03/04/2014

    Forwards should wear any color boots they like, as long as they're black. Backs are barely rugby players who cares what they wear?

  • stroudos
    4:34 PM 03/04/2014

    A bit Andrew Small

  • stroudos
    4:33 PM 03/04/2014

    Oh him! That hanky one was priceless.

  • rugbydump
    11:42 AM 03/04/2014

    Here you go - The Ref makes his point

  • drg
    1:42 AM 03/04/2014

    I'm not going to lie, if I was quick I'd wear neon yellow or pink boots... sadly as a second row/back row I'm not QUITE fast enough to pull them off...

    Well, either that or I'll try and gain another 10kg's of pure muscle and then I can carry them off..

  • pipo
    12:40 AM 03/04/2014

    What's wrong with wearing white boots? It's not like if they were neon yellow and pink.

  • drg
    10:00 PM 02/04/2014

    It's kind of funny, but I feel a bit sorry for the referee... I mean what if he saw those boots and thought, 'yeah, I quite like those' then Marler comes along with a comment like that... Might make the referee feel a bit small.

    Very well picked up and I appreciate you sharing it RD.

  • stroudos
    8:22 PM 02/04/2014

    @RD - great work and write-up as always, but I'm afraid you may have over-egged it a bit in applying the phrase "complex minds" to Messrs Marler, Haskell and Badger........

    Anyone know who Sean Davey is? Is that another ref?

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