I just want to see what peoples thoughts are on these. I can just about see the point of these threads when you've got a football legend like Nat Lofthouse or there's a Watford link. People can have a decent discussion, talk about memories and key moments and particularly with the former the older contributors can teach us younger ones a thing or two about the older generation of footballers. But what's the point in the likes of the Richard Butcher one? He's a total unknown, never played above League 2, has no links to Watford, our area or our club and so far as I know has never been mentioned on the forum before. Don't tell me it's about showing respect - a three letter post saying 'R.I.P' does fark all for him, no one from his club/family is likely to read it in a million years and in fact I think it verges on disrespectful to post 'R.I.P' just because you feel you should or because you do it every time one of these threads comes along. If you want to say something about it why not find the same thread on the Macclesfield forum? As tragic as it is that a 28yr old has died suddenly it happens every day of the week in every country of the world so where do we draw the line? Maybe it would be better in future for someone to post like wfc4ever did telling us what had happened and linking to the BBC news article and then a mod can find a condolence thread on the player's team forum, link to it and lock the thread. Then if people genuinely want to say something or talk about the person they can do it with fans who actually know something about him rather than having 5 token 'R.I.P' posts on here before it disappears into obscurity.
Seriously UEA, shut up!!! There is nothing wrong with people showing their respect, so lets just leave it alone eh!
I have no problem with them. I don't usually bother to even read them unless it's close to home, but if they're placed in the right spot, IE General Football or whatever then I really don't see the problem. People are free to post whatever they want.
I have more respect in my little finger than you do every time you post 'R.I.P' for someone you've never heard of and will never think of again. Discuss. That's a fair point about not reading them Admin. I think I've only contributed to a couple of them in all the time this forum has been running and I tend to leave them be. But TH's post and justification on the Butcher thread just really got my goat as I feel there are much better ways for people to show respect if they actually genuinely wish to do so.
I shouldn't have to justify my actions, if you don't like RIP threads then don't read them. The threads don't harm anyone and it is a way of people showing their respect, it may not be to your liking, but its their choice. FYI - I was asked to split the thread.
Why not just have ONE rolling orbituary thread for all and sundry.... make it a sticky. I kind of agree with uea about someone totally unkown or nowt to do with us, but i do tend to look at the threads to see who the compasionate canuts are though.
I think you've missed the point TH. I haven't said the threads harm anyone. I've just suggested that rather than 5 posts saying 'R.I.P' in so many days it might be better for you guys to point to the appropriate other team forum for people to leave their condolences. Or someone else can do it.
If people want to show their respect in this way then fine. It's a personal choice which this site is as good as any (and better than most) to host the wishes in a general football section. Whilst any death, especially premature and sudden, are sad unless there is a connection, I do not feel it's appropriate for me to post. That is my personal choice which I am entitled to and I would not condemn anybody for taking a different view. With respect to this particular chap there's nothing to stop anyone posting a link to the relevant forum site and thread if it exists, if they feel it is appropriate. There's loads of sections on this site which I have no personal interest in and only check from a moderators viewpoint and I would assume all members take similar appropriate thread filtering actions.
I find the posting of RIP trite and in bad taste. I generally don't contribute to these threads but tend to have a look to see if anyone has anything interesting to say, some anecdote or memory but this is rarely the case. As UEA suggested, it might be a good idea, if it is someone in the football world, to link to the club forum, where there might be more revealing and appreciative posts.
Have to agree with UEA. Without taking away from the tragedy of death - especially those who are young - the constant RIP threads for people nobody really knows about are pointless. I would go so far as its slightly disrespectful to RIP people you have never heard of previously.
I agree with UEA and Admin. I think people should be able to post what they like, but without being disrespectful to the Macc Town lad, what do you RIPers actually know about him without looking at Wikipedia? How many of you got on the net over xmas and posted an RIP thread about the lass from Bristol who was found dead? Or the various youngsters in south London who are victims of knife crime ? The answer is, you didn't, because you don't know them, much like you don't know the Macc town lad.
I'm with UEA and some others here. If they have an affiliation to Watford or are of the stature of Sir Bobby Robson, but putting RIP for someone you know nothing about i feel is wrong After all you wouldn't go to a cematry and randomally put flowers down for someone you didn't know.
This is a football related forum and a young footballer has died, to me that makes it relevant, as he was a part of the football family if you like. Do you people who object to people posting RIP threads also object to one minutes silence at matches, or the wearing of black arm bands, as these types of respect are shown all the time when people connected to "the Football Family" die, so why is it so different to show respect on a RIP thread?
Interesting and fair point..mine was about football but I accept one wasn't a household name and another a great footballer albeit from probably a long time before many of us were around!
I don't mind a silent tribute at a match if it's someone associated with the club such as an ex-player or manager that people present might remember. I think it unnecessary to have one for Armistice Day as that is observed independently and I object to them being used in cases like the Soham murders and Ken Bigley. There is no problem with showing respect on a thread and the **** Winter thread is a good example of this, but if you can't think of anything to say other than RIP then don't bother because it's meaningless and pointless.
I almost agree. I think on such things as the Soham case then it should be local. Armistice day i would quite happilly do every single day of the year. I understand where VoR coming from, but when did we ever have a minutes silance for anyone that wasn't either Watford related or someone who was of a substantial stature in a game ?
But minute silences occur when somebody died who had something to do with your club, or some great figure of footballing importance. I don't know where you get this 'football family' idea from. Footballers in general are canuts, the game is run by agents and Sky. There is nothing 'family' about football. Its tragic he died, but why would he care if we didn't give him an RIP thread? It doesn't make sense IMO.
I too agree with The Hornet. Nobody has the right to tell people who they should or shouldn't pay their respects to. Different people are affected by things in different ways, and some people may have been hit hard by this even if you haven't. On 19th July 2009, Henry Surtees was struck by a tyre from a crashed car at Brands Hatch. Now, being a big motorsport fan that affected me quite badly. I didn't know of him (well I had heard the name, being the son of the former F1 Champion John Surtees and all), but I was sipposed to be there that day and a few of my friends race at a slightly lower level, so it brought it home to me. Now I'm sure most people on here wouldn't have been bothered by this, but I was. How do you know that the people making these posts don't have some link to the story? And maybe they thought 'What if that was Graham?'. Personally the story which triggered this, although tragic, was not a major issue in my life, but I'm not going to tell people not to post about it!
Exactly...this is done very successfully on another forum I haunt. It gets way too cluttered without something like that.
I do open and read the first post and as soon as I haven’t a clue who they were I close it down. Each to their own, I won’t post because I think a simple RIP means nothing and I can’t write anything else other than it’s sad. Saying that if I see a funeral I will always bow my head and show respect. Is there much of a difference between this and typing RIP I don’t know who I’ve just bowed my head to little more some young footballer. It’s sad when anyone dies it’s worse when they are young and we all follow football so it hits home a little bit more. Still it is only football. There are other young men and women dying almost daily and these guys are fighting for their country, whether you agree with the war or not these guys are dying young. To me this puts football into perspective.
Those guys , brave though they are , CHOOSE their path , those that drop down dead young , or suffer at a young age , then die from illness , had no choice
And as a country where would we be if it wasn't for these guys choosing this path............. past, present and future
This thread might be RIP itself soon. After reading through the replies to UEA, I feel the best course of action is to leave as is. Football is something that we all care deeply about, so I fully understand why someone might want to make us aware of such a tragedy by making a new thread here when one of our "family" passes away. If they pop up in General Watford then one of us will move them to Other Football. If people wish to reply then that is their choice. Like myself, it seems the majority ignore them altogether, but who are we to say what people can and cannot post, (within the rules).
Admin, I agree the thread has served its purpose and other than the original respondent everyone has acted like an adult and taken the time to explain their point. I'd also say that I only started a separate thread as I didn't want to detract from the Butcher one (or in fact any other as the point has occurred to me a few times in the past). I'm glad I'm by no means alone in thinking what I think but I appreciate there are a few people who disagree.
