February 2012
6 Nations Winter Wonderland
You may have wondered about the wisdom of playing rugby in the Winter when England and Italy played on a snow-covered pitch the other weekend. However, this was trumped by the debacle (French word) in Paris when France did not play Ireland despite an expectant crowd of 80,000 all seated and ready to go. On the basis that they will each have paid at least €70 a ticket that is just over €5.5m to watch a pitch inspection. What of under-soil heating I hear you cry or a roof, or even an accurate weather forecast, non, or should that be, none!
Our Club plays a French side, Barbarians Champagne Rugby every year and the next away trip will be the 20th match between our two great nations so we take something of a keen interest in our chums in France. The passage of time has meant that once-fit players have now become unfit spectators and our sons have now replaced us on the field of honour. However, even we know how cold Paris can be. A few trips ago it was minus 10 in the Stade de France which by a quirky design fault (also known as artistic French flair) meant that there is a large gap between the roof and the seats which invites arctic blasts from Central Europe into the arena. When coupled with the ban on alcohol in the ground, you can no doubt imagine the delight of sitting still in sub-zero temperatures for 80 minutes. Here’s the contradiction of the French though, no alcohol in the rugby ground but live Cockerels are permitted. The cryogenic chamber the Welsh team have been using has nothing on Paris at this time of year. A Gallic shrug does not quite cut it.
The replay for Ireland and France will be set in March but it is unlikely that many of the Irish will be able to afford a second weekend in Paris and always assuming they kept their tickets as proof of having been in the Stade for the first game. Our youth game with Rhiwbina youth was called off on the same weekend for the same reasons but we did a pitch inspection three hours before kick-off and cancelled the game before anyone had travelled. Not a cockerel in sight!
In previous articles I have talked about a variety of subjects, seldom rugby related but nonetheless of interest or importance to our Club, its members and the wider community we represent. However, I think it would be churlish of me not to praise the current Welsh Rugby team who at the time of writing this are on track for a Triple Crown and Grand Slam. Very impressive thus far and building directly on their World Cup experiences and having one of the youngest squads in World Rugby. They have no hang-ups about winning and have the basic talent to be able to do so and with some strength in depth. This is why clubs like ours exist to nurture young talent through our junior sections and on to representative and senior honours. Nobody should underestimate the importance of the club scene and how Wales punches far above its weight. Punching is probably not the best phrase to use here but you know what I mean. By way of example, France has 1,737 Clubs providing facilities for 390,000 registered players. I am not sure how many players we have in Wales in our 300 clubs but the French have more than 10% of the overall population of Wales playing regular rugby and they still cannot organise a celebration in a brewery!
Once the rugby finished last weekend I watched Match of the Day. The headlines were the lack of a handshake from one player having been suspended for previously racially abusing another. Soccer could learn a lot from rugby and not just about this vitally important subject. I don’t know about you but I am still amazed how FIFA continues to ignore the use of technology to replay incidents for soccer matches and why soccer referees continually accept abuse from so called professional players. If they had a referee to review difficult decisions on a TV monitor as we do in rugby, cricket and tennis this would improve the game, take the pressure off the match official and bring to an end any controversial red cards or disputed penalty or offside decisions. If a soccer player had 10 minutes in the stands to cool down after a yellow card and if teams were made to retreat 10 metres every time they abused a referee they just might start to introduce a real respect agenda into soccer. Could it be that soccer would then become boring and the legion of commentators and pundits would no longer be needed? Maybe this is nearer the truth.
I reported in the previous article the eagerly anticipated extravaganza that was the RoX Factor (our own version of the X Factor). I suppose the only difference between ours and the real one was that ours was not broadcast to millions of people who have become used to accepting nothing less than average in entertainment. Some of our budding artistes showed a level of true mediocrity which was so bad that it had to have been rehearsed. The crowd (audience) could be likened to that attending a public execution in days gone by, all looking forward to somebody dying in agony. They were not disappointed. Some combined limited singing skills with a poor version of Burlesque, never nice in a man, whilst others had practised the art of not synching the words and music together. We were only grateful for the non-appearance of jugglers, sword-swallowers, comedians and magicians. Let’s face it, we are a rugby club and not the New York School of Performing Arts. But here’s the thing, everyone gave it a go and it was entertaining even if no careers changed as a result of it. Here’s the other thing, nobody is ever embarrassed about messing up in front of family and friends and that’s who we are, family and friends.
I have been known to include a joke or two in this article and this one caught my eye this week. In fact, Tim Vine, the comedian won a comedy prize with this.
“Conjunctivitis.com – now there’s a site for sore eyes”.
If you have any questions, issues or ideas please do not hesitate to contact us at the Clubhouse on 029 20 460461 or e-mail: root@stpetersrfc.co.uk
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Vince Nolan Director of Rugby St.Peter’s RFC |
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