First Rugby Match

Hey all,

I'll do a catch-up post sometime after my big essay is completed. There was a lot that went on in the first couple of weeks and since I have a ton of pictures as well, it's going to take up several lengthy posts which I can't really justify before I turn in my paper on Monday. Next week, however, is when I hope to catch up with all of that.

I don't want to get too terribly behind, however, so I figured I could do a quick post about tonight's authentic British experience. So there's a big European sporting event going on right now called Six Nations. I believe the six countries involved are England, Wales, Scotland, France, Italy, and Ireland. Basically, these countries send their best competitors out and play each other. Tonight was a rugby match between England and Wales--a rivalry which is close to home for many of the people here given that there's a significant number of both Welsh and English students at Swansea. Since this is an important cultural event, I went with some of my flatmates to the bar here in the student village to watch the game and meet up with a couple of my American friends. I've never really gone to a bar before to watch any big sporting event--partly because I normally have my own TV and partly because my favorite sport is baseball which mostly takes place in the summer when I'm at home. Given that bit of background, I won't try to compare the American and British bar atmospheres because for all I know, it's exactly the same back home. Here, however, they really get into the game. We arrived at a little past seven because the game itself started at around eight. I probably should have gotten a beer to complete the picture but I've never actually had a beer before because it always smells so nasty so I ended up getting a tropical breeze which looked embarrassingly out of place but was quite tasty. All the seats were filled already so we ended up just finding a post to stand next to. Nicole and Rachael arrived about twenty minutes after my flatmates and I had gotten there. As we were waiting, a flood of students was pouring into the bar, dressed from head to toe in their team's colors. If anyone from U of I knows the Green Guy who shows up to the football games in a head-covering green bodysuit, then they can probably picture what I mean when I say there was a similar guy dressed in a full bodysuit with the English flag on it. There were spontaneous chants of "Wa-les, Wa-les" interspersed with what I believe was snippets of "God Save the Queen."

Rugby itself is a lot like American football. They have a similarly-shaped ball and a similar general gameplay. From what I understand (which, granted, is sketchy at best), there are fifteen players on each team. Each team's goal, like in football, is to get the ball into the end-zone for a "try" which is worth five points. They run down the field and pass the ball to someone running behind him. If he gets tackled, the ball-carrier must pass the ball to another teammate behind him who will continue to run down the field. Getting tackled does nothing to change possession of the ball or pause the clock. The other team can steal the ball during any of this. If you score a "try," you then kick a field goal for an extra two points. If you can't make it all the way down the field, you can also kick a field goal for three points. At some point, they form a scrum to determine which team possesses the ball. It's almost as physical as football and yet they wear a t-shirt and shorts with no helmet or padding. It seems pretty brutal. There was a close-up of one player on England's team, and his nose was practically pointing to the edge of his lips because it was so crooked from getting broken so often.

The bar was packed; I had to stand in almost the exact same position the entire time so as not to elbow anyone else or block someone's view. No one could hear the announcers on the broadcast because of the general bar din accompanied by spontaneous national chants supporting both teams. The game was being played at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff which was neat to see because that's where I'll be going at the end of March for Varsity which is a series of sporting events between Swansea and Cardiff--a rivalry which is apparently only beaten by that between Oxford and Cambridge in the U.K. Throughout the game, I was struggling to pick a team to root for. My flatmates were rooting for England because they're British so it felt like I should join their side. On the other hand though, I'm not living in England but in Wales so I felt like I should show loyalty to my current home. Wales's status as the underdog mostly won me over, and I felt myself instinctively rooting on the boys in red. Apparently that didn't do any good however because they lost to England but it was certainly a competitive game. The bar went in an uproar near the end when Jonny Wilkinson came in for England's team. I guess this guy had basically won them the championship last year and was a national sporting hero. The cheers and boos from both fanbases were fighting to drown each other out. Overall, it was an exciting experience. It was intriguing to see the passion the English and Welsh fans have for their respective countries and to witness arguments between strangers over a game. It felt like something I would probably find in a bar back home if a big football game was on with the pitchers of beer, the slew of jerseys, and people standing up to cheer whenever something big happened. While I still don't understand the appeal of soccer, I can understand the excitement of rugby, and I can definitely see myself going to a game in the future.

That's the basic gist of my British experience of the day. I figured it'd be better to get it out now while it's fresh on my mind. The next time I go to one of these, I'll definitely bring my camera to paint a better picture of the scene. I hope you all have a great weekend! =)