Ben Earl – Revered by fans, slated by opponents.
Why slated though? His rockstar performances? His bone-shattering tackles? His innate ability to break tackles? His impressive post-contact metres?
Nope, none of the above.
To understand why Earl has gained such notoriety, we must head back to 2023, when the loose forward found himself on the wrong end of a grilling from neighbouring island, Ireland. The match in question happened to be a warm-up match for the 2023 World Cup, one that players were desperately hoping to gain momentum from heading into the tournament.
Struggling against the cosh of an inform and unbeaten Ireland side, Earl and his teammates were defending a lineout on their own 5-metre line – a perilous task if there ever was one.
The England players were eager to shift momentum against a team they would, ironically, finish higher than in the tournament standings later that year. They caught a fortunate break when the Irish hooker delivered a ‘not-straight’ throw at the lineout, handing possession to Earl’s side.
This is where the infamous Earl knee slide/fist pump came in.
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Celebrating like he had won the World Cup and the lottery on the same day, Earl sunk to his knees and pounded the air, much to the amusement of the opposition fans.
Earl, one of England’s most impressive players over the past couple of years, has since avoided the knee slide, admitting that he may have taken it a little too far, but insists that he still has “one of the great fist pumps of our time.”
“There are levels to how much you should celebrate certain things”, Earl stated on the YouTube show, Hits Different.
“What people don’t realise is what it gives you and your teammates. There are moments where you’re right up against it and something happens through luck, genius, a wrong decision or whatever, and you have to try and create a bit of momentum.
“If it was like a ghost town and we got these things, imagine the effect that would have on everyone else.
“I’ve infamously taken it upon myself to be quite positive about most things”, Earl continues, talking about how his coach at Saracens, Mark McCall, supports his players geeing each other up on the field.
“You can’t put a like a value on how much it gives people“, Earl concluded.
Danny Care then calls for ‘whooping’ to be banned, but Earl retorts by saying he won’t be found ‘whooping’, but does have “one of the greatest fist pumps of our time”.
Explaining how his fist bump celebration came about, and how it wasn’t delivered quite as intended, Earl said:
“We’re getting absolutely hosed in a warm-up game, Ireland are on our line, we’re so up against it and they throw not straight.
“I’ve kind of like gone for a split stance fist pump, and my knee has completely caved in, hence why I’ve gone down. I’ve tried to ride it out by bringing the other one down as well and then it’s gone viral and I think it’s sly, but it wasn’t deliberate” he laughed.
“I haven’t done it since, but I will now” he joked, before Care compared him to former English tennis player Tim Henman – famous for his fist bump celebration.”
Watch the full video on ‘Hits Different’ here:
Fans have had their own say on the celebration. Here are a few of our favourites:
Krystian Kriescher: “I get why fans hate it. I feel like it’s a side effect of celebrating to get under the opposition’s skin, so if you’re a fan who doesn’t appreciate that it’ll get under your skin too”
Rugby 1v1s Instagram page said: “I think it depends on how the players playing. England were famously having a shit time when he started taking flak for it, but Earl was playing really well and I felt he was allowed to celebrate. There were some players playing shit who definitely shouldn’t be celebrating the other team playing shit.”
Stuart Rance: “If you win a turnover, fair enough. But an opponent throwing the ball not straight is weak and plastic for me”
Go behind the scenes of both camps during the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa in 2021. Binge watch exclusively on RugbyPass TV now
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