One minute of silence. Is that really too much to ask?

Do better, Australia.

One minute.

Sixty seconds.

That’s all the organisers of last night’s second State of Origin match were asking for.

One minute of silence.

One minute to reflect on the life of Olympic runner Ron Clarke, who sadly passed away yesterday.

But one minute was too much to ask for a proportion of the 90,000+ fans of the QLD Reds and the NSW Blues fans who gathered at Melbourne’s MGC last night.

During that one minute of proposed ‘silence’, jeers and boos filled the stadium.

At one moment, the words “Gallen’s a wanker” were heard.  (FYI, just Googled him – that’s Paul Gallen, the NSW Blues captain. Cannot confirm if he is or is not, in fact, a wanker.)

This footage of what happened will make you cry inside:

Clarke, who died yesterday at the age of 78 from kidney failure, was one of our country’s greatest long-distance runners.

He lit the cauldron at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics at age 19.

He set 17 world records.

He deserved his 60 seconds of silence.

His wife, two sons and grandchildren deserved to enjoy the honour bestowed upon the great athlete.

Keeping quiet to honour the death of any person is not too much to ask.

Not only did the loud fans insult Clarke’s memory, they also did footy fans everywhere a great disservice.

It was only a small portion of the packed stadium that yelled and jeered – some fans can even be heard saying “Oi, shush” – but that small portion has now tarred all footy fans with the brush of ‘disrespectful lout’ in many people’s minds.

C’mon, guys.

We are so much better than this.

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Were you outraged by this incident?