England fans in 'disrespectful' Rugby World Cup drama during Fiji tradition
Many fans were slammed for not showing 'respect' to Fiji ahead of the match.
England fans have been slammed for being 'disrespectful' after attempting to drown out the Fiji Cibi, war dance, ahead of their Rugby World Cup quarter-final clash. Fiji were left frustrated and deflated after their comeback against England fell short as they were knocked out of the World Cup.
Fiji captain Waisea Nayacalevu admitted the defeat was hard to take having enjoyed arguably the nation's best ever World Cup run. “I’m very emotional at the moment, a lot has been happening in the week, and I’m just proud of the boys,” said Nayacalevu.
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However, there was plenty of anger going around ahead of the game after England fans attempted to drown out the Fiji war dance with their own song 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot'. Fiji's players continued their tradition of their cultural war dance when playing an international rugby game.
This is very similar to Samoa or New Zealand with most famous war dance being the Haka from the All Blacks. While stadiums often go quiet to observe the tradition, England fans opted to drown out the spectacle as they sung their own song synonymous with the national side.
While most of the crowd applauded the war dance, many viewers found it 'disrespectful' the England fans couldn't afford Fiji a few moments. The singing opened up the ongoing debate between fans on whether viewers should be quiet during the pre-game traditions or whether both sets of fans should be able to make noise.
Cibi vs Swing low！
Incredible atmosphere ！#rugbyworldcup2023 #England #Fiji pic.twitter.com/mFfqXKGb02— 小守谷 直毅@quintet (@quintet0726) October 15, 2023
@EnglandRugby how classless of the England fans to sing over the Fiji Cibi.
— Steve Jones (@StephenTheTory) October 15, 2023
@EnglandRugby @rugbyworldcup disrespectful display from England fans during the Fiji Cibi.
— Bish (@papabear1417) October 15, 2023
No respect from the English fans during FIJI cibi. Remember when the English got so worked up when Scotland booed English anthem? Ok it was football but fck me you lot love double standards
— LCB (@meejagnme) October 15, 2023
British fans so disrespectful when Fiji doing their war cry. #rugbyworldcup2023
— Guy👀 X (@MrGuyT) October 15, 2023
Fiji bemoan missed opportunities in quarter-final loss
Fiji may have scored more tries than England, but Owen Farrell was brilliant with the boot and score 20 points to end Fiji's dream run. Fiji finished second in their group, which included a famous win over the Wallabies on their way to the quarter-final.
Captain Nayacalevu was not thrilled with the referee's performance in the quarter-final clash, but Fiji coach Simon Raiwalui refused to blame Mathieu Raynal and said his team had failed to take their chances. “The referees do a great job, it’s the hardest position, you’re isolated,” said Raiwalui, who has played and coached in France. “Sure, there’s things that you contest, there’s things that you maybe don’t agree with, but first and foremost we had opportunities to score, we had opportunities to win the game.”
In Raiwalui’s opinion, Fiji let themselves down with their first half discipline. “A loss is a loss, it’s disappointing. We didn’t help ourselves in the first half,” Raiwalui said.
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