"I don't know if the organisers can do much. The responsibility lies with the public itself" - Commentary duo Ruben Van Gucht and Paul Herygers discuss crowd concerns within cyclocross following controversial Mathieu van der Poel spitting debacle
CyclocrossThursday, 04 January 2024 at 14:00
Although Mathieu van der Poel has been absolutely unstoppable this winter, arguably the most talked about part of his cyclocross season came under a dark cloud of controversy as the world champion spat at a section of spectators who had been harassing him throughout the day.
Commentary duo Ruben Van Gucht and Paul Herygers have seen almost every pedal stroke over the past few weeks and months and as such are in a pretty good position to analyse the goings on of the sport. When it comes to the van der Poel spitting controversy in Hulst however, they are unsure how race organisers can go about sorting the problem of abusive, drunken crowd members.
“It is a difficult situation. I don't know if the organizers can do much. The responsibility lies with the public itself," Van Gucht explains his view to Wielerflits. "Sensitization can be used. I hope that there will be social control between the supporters. They must dare to speak to each other if someone does something that is unacceptable.”
“I heard an idea where people would walk around the site undercover, normally dressed. They could then have communication with the organization and pick out the people who cannot behave. Then they can just throw them out," adds Herygers who has years of experience within cyclocross.
“Like in football; stadium ban! That's not a bad idea. If that were to go around among the supporters, they might also become a bit afraid of not doing anything wrong. That only seems right to me,” responds Van Gucht.
What are your thoughts? How can similar such instances be avoided in future or is putting up with abusive spectators just part-and-parcel of being an elite sportsman? Let us know your opinions in the comments.
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Barney19-06-2025 - Puke.bobo19-06-2025
Well, spitting at the fans not the best way to responce to the booing from the crowd, does it? It only shows MDVD's tendencies to responce recklessly, and this is far from his first incident, and unlikely to be the last one in his career.
UCI should have done more on this😕. Not the sight you want to see in any bike races, really😑😐🙄🙄. Diciplinary between riders and crowds, had to be made, to prevent these preventable incidents
Maybe it's a cultural thing (I'm American), but to me booing is not a problem. I don't like it, and I don't do it. But sports are about passion, and in my view athletes should be able to cope with the noise of passionate fans. Having said that:
Hateful comments (racist, sexist, homophobic, etc) are a different matter, and of course ANY attempt to physically interact with athletes (touching, grabbing, throwing things) is entirely unacceptable, if not criminal. Those are things I think race organizers can do more to safeguard against. Just being vocal about expectations and including signs and warnings is part of it, but having some means of identifying and responding to overt violations has to be part of it as well. They owe it not only to the athletes, but to the fans who just want to have a good time with their family and friends.
Booing is a part and parcel of sports which have spectators. But different sports have a timeframe for the booing/cheering to happen. Like in tennis it is expected for spectators to be quiet during plays.