SO,

This would be my first attempt at a blog.  I am mainly starting this because in a foolish attempt to prove that I have willpower, I have given up my Xbox for lent.  It seems foolish now, but the grand sense of achievement I will feel when I finish the time away from it will hopefully overpower any of the overwhelming urges I shall get to play it…

Anyway, another reason I am writing this is I have been meaning to start a blog for ages and I thought “3rd year of uni, in the busiest term I will ever have… WHAT BETTER TIME?!?!”

So here we are.  Back-story explained, I am settling down to write this after a rather dull day at work and watching the majority of the England Vs France game of this years six nations.  This got me to thinking.  I’m not just a fan of rugby but of a few other sports too – tennis, football, American Football (just been introduced to it and I thoroughly enjoy watching and the tactics involved); but I want to concentrate on the two sports that have influenced me throughout my life the most – football (or soccer for any Americans that are going to read this) and rugby.

Watching the rugby and seeing England be down half time 9-10 to the French was heart wrenching.  But I never gave up the belief that the home side would come good and keep the dreams of a grand slam alive.  England came out of the tunnel for the second half a side refreshed from their performance in the first but what was more intriguing for me was every tackle that they made, every pass that flew, every kick that bounced into their territory, my heart was in my mouth.  This made me realise that rugby invokes certain emotions that football doesn’t quite manage to reach.  In my early years football was everything.  I didn’t even consider any other sport but now… rugby much overshadows it.  The banter between the commentators, the sportsmanship, the physicality, the skill, the humbleness of the players, the pride to wear the colours of their club or country and to not just play for money and personal gain.  Rarely do I see the start of a rugby match where each and every player isn’t singing their own anthem wholeheartedly (if a little nervously) and being pumped for the match.  You watch them leap and you see them caught by their team mates… and this again made me think.  Football and rugby are both team sports.  But in rugby, without the rest of your team… you flounder.  Sure in football without your team mates you have no one to pass to, without the goalkeeper your goal is a lot easier target, but individualism can be prevalent in football a lot more than in rugby (look at Tottenham’s performances of late – almost singlehandedly Gareth Bale has rescued their chances of staying in the top four of the division (and before anyone gets angry I am a spurs fan, but even I can say that the team needs to find more firepower and give him support).  By contrast, look at a rugby squad, you know that if you get tackled, 9/10 times your forwards are going to come and protect you and smash the opposition clear.  If you’re a fly half and you kick the ball you know your team is going to chase it down and try to make the best of the kick and as a chaser you know the fly half has the vision to see your daring run, to almost predict your path and know exactly where to place it all in the blink of an eye.

This isn’t saying that there isn’t individual skill in rugby (Fofana’s try today against England, Ashton’s try against Australia a couple of years ago and the likes of Jason Robinson and Bryan Habana and Dan Carter etc) and nor is it to say that their isn’t a team spirit in football – passes are sublime, knock backs for strikers to score, crosses that find the heads of players in a crowded penalty box… All I am thinking is that football fires up something primal – makes you jump and scream but never with as much pride and decorum as comes with a rugby game.  You see every person cheer a penalty kick in rugby if it goes over whereas a free kick in football is met with groans a lot of the time.

The two sports are clearly very different and a lot of the time it is like comparing chalk and cheese.  I just feel that the old saying “Rugby is a thug’s game played by gentleman and football is a gentleman’s game played by thugs” has never been more apparent than today.  After watching the six nations I will watch match of the day, but, I don’t think I will enjoy it as much as I enjoy the sensations a good rugby match brings no matter how many goals are scored, red cards brandished, or referee’s decisions got wrong.

This is probably enough for one night to sate my desire for game playing by writing… If you have read it, thank you for following my rambling…ness.

Donatello