'Fat lady singing' not disrespectful, say Saracens (From Times Series)

Saracens insist 'fat lady' stunt is not disrespectful to opponents and that it's hard to keep all fans happy all the time

7:00am Thursday 7th March 2013 in Sport By Tom Allnutt

Picture: Action Images

Saracens chief executive Edward Griffiths has responded to criticism surrounding the club's controversial 'fat lady singing' stunt, insisting it's difficult to keep all of the fans happy all of the time.

Towards the end of the Men in Black's first two league matches at Allianz Park, an opera singer dressed in drag has sung over the tannoy, depicting a 'fat lady singing' to suggest the match is over.

Some have suggested the gimmick is disrespectful to the opposition with sections of supporters booing when it was given a second run during the win over London Welsh and others taking to Twitter to express their disapproval.

The club however maintain the 'Saracens fat lady' is meant in good humour and in no way represents a slight on the opposition.

Griffiths said: "The fat lady is one element to the matchday experience and some people clearly enjoy it, other people are less certain about it.

"If we were to keep everyone happy all of the time we would need 10,000 different stadiums."