The other day a co-worker asked about my plans for the weekend. I told him that I was just going to take the weekend as it came. As we conversed, he asked if I
was into football much, and I replied that while I can watch a game if I’m with a group of people I’m not a huge fan. We talked a little more, and I told him how much I love rugby — wouldn’t mind playing it as well as being in the fan zone, but I’ve not had (or made) the opprotunity. A couple of days later he said I should try to get a work rugby team together. I doubt I could find ten people in the building who know the basic rules for the game. I did suggest that he take it as a project to manage between his regular job duties.
The conversation in and of itself would be worth a note if it hadn’t gotten me to thinking that I’m not as much a fan of any one team or even country, but of the sport itself. Sure, I’m always ready to get behind the Chicago Dragons (where it’s said that one of the players “takes a beating and keeps on licking” Go Dragons! A Rugby Story) or the San Francisco Fog, but I really don’t follow their seasons. I should but don’t. Well, I got on line, found an RFC that I want to follow, signed up for their alerts, joined their appreciation group on FaceBook, and check their website daily to keep up. The Newport Gwent Dragons play the Glasgow Warriors tomorrow, and I wish them luck and would love to be on that side of the Sargasso Sea to cheer the Dragons on in person.
I’m also amazed that I couldn’t have done any of this thirty years ago. Of course I knew what rugby was, but cable wasn’t even available in our neighborhood in 1979. The newpaper may have made some mention of rugby if it were part of a larger story, but pretty much it was ignored. Oddly enough, we played soccer in gym class, but rugby and Australian Rules Football weren’t even mentioned. Of course the only mention of abortion in health class was from the Catholic perspective, and the school had a smoking area. Evs, and I digress. It’s amazing how much the world has opened up in the last few years. Hopefully it will continue to open, and we will, after all, find the Age of Aquarius. Hmm, didn’t this start out to be about rugby? Well, maybe with a little luck, a pinch of hope, and some hard work, all international disputes will one day be resolved on the rugby pitch and not the battle field.