If you’d asked teenaged me if there was a sport I truly hated, I would have had an instant answer. Rugby.
First off, our junior high coach continually bugged me about going out for the team. I never got it because I don’t have a classic rugby physique, especially my upper body and spaghetti arms. I do have reasonably strong legs and was a good sprinter, so I might have pulled off playing at back, I guess.
I was less than interested though. I lived in fear of the sport. In PE class, we played it for a stretch, and this one moron (who’s still a moron, as my school reunion last summer confirmed) decided rugby meant permission to tackle me by my ear. I now realize it’s not a kosher move, but I wasn’t taking any chances as a 14-year-old.
What was worse was when some guys on the rugby team targeted a former classmate who’d switched schools. They swore they were going to break his collarbone, and sure enough, they broke his collarbone. I was not going to be a part of any sport where bullies could snap my wishbone like I were some kind of post-holiday turkey carcass.
Decades later, I’ve changed my mind on the sport. I always knew it took brute strength, but I started to appreciate rugby’s speed and fluidity once I had to take newspaper photos.
I also recall covering a match where two players started shoving each other after a dead ball, and the local coach yelled, “Stop acting like a bunch of hockey players!” I had to laugh. I wonder how Don Cherry would like that.
The Squamish rugby lads I’ve talked to have always been real gents, at least to me, even though I only made it to one Axemen match, and none in the spring. Oops.
It was also great to be in BC Place this month to watch Squamish’s Jamie Cudmore captain the national team against Japan in front of 10,000 people. It was my first time watching top-level rugby live but hopefully not the last.
I kind of wished I’d checked out last year’s World Cup, but I didn’t have time. Something tells me I might just have to mark it on my viewing calendar come 2019 though.
