<![CDATA[This morning I had the unfortunate task of issuing an apology on behalf of the Nomads to our friends at Barrie RFC.

On Saturday during the men’s 1st XV game, some of our support unfortunately crossed the line from friendly and supportive to nasty and vindictive.

It should be noted that the reports of the poor behaviour came from fellow Nomads and not the opposition.

In particular, with an opposition player injured, some of our sideline support made inappropriate comments to both that player and the opposition generally. This is absolutely not in the spirit of rugby.

Passion and compassion should characterize all Nomads both on and off the field. We are proudly competitive and highly respectful of the teams we play against. The whole rugby community is a small, tight-knit one, filled with great people who have a love of our sport. Let’s never lose sight of that.

Let us also never lose sight of the fact that all players who wear the Nomad jersey do so with great pride. It is incumbent on all of us as supporters to match that pride and integrity from the sidelines or stands.

I will say that this is the first time in my tenure that I have had to apologize for something such as this, and so I am confident that this was an isolated incident.

The Nomads is a proud rugby club with a fantastic group of people associated with it. I urge all of us to look inwardly and recognize the difference between passionately supporting our club and behaving disrespectfully and rudely to others.

Thank you all for your continued support and dedication.

President Steve Darley

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