Touch, Pause, Engage

With the commencement of the British and Irish Lions Tour, I have come to realise just how much I love rugby. But why? Why do I love rugby? I've never been a huge sports fan before, sure I played football (soccer you might say) for almost 8 years, dabbled in basketball, and sucked horrendously at softball, but I was never an avid follower of any of these sports. I still do not fully comprehend American Football, and get annoyed with how much they stop and start again. What is it about rugby?!

Is it the athletic young men running about in shockingly (by American standards) short shorts?! Well I won't deny the appeal that certainly has, I am after all, a woman. But that does not explain why I almost started crying during the Lions first match when the Royal XV scored their last try and I thought we might lose, or why I sat pulling out my hair when the Leicester v Cardiff Heineken Cup semifinal went into penalty kicks, the deciding kick made by one of my favorite players . So I shall attempt to explain this thing that has recently become a large fixture in my life here in the UK.

Rugby has always seemed rather exotic as it is not commonly played in the US, so that in itself makes it more appealing, as I tend to love most things foreign. It was also something I saw as creating a connection between me and Bristol, the city I was preparing to live in for several months (and have been living in since January, for those just joining this program...), as they have a rugby team. But that only inspired me to look into it. It was the sport itself that got me hooked. As most people know, I am studying anthropology, and almost everything I do and experience I contemplate in terms of anthropology. Rugby has its own culture, the fans, the players, they're different than in most other sports. I see rugby as a complex mixture of brutality and chivalry. I think its the complexity of this marriage of opposing ideas that really fascinates me. You spend 80+ minutes watching these men trying to out-run, out-manouvre, out-tackle one another, throwing their bodies almost recklessly into the direct path of another, sometimes resulting in a dustup, punches are occasionally thrown. But even after somone like Alesana Tuilagi or Matt Banahan hurtles himself at somone, slamming them mercilessly into the ground, he often comes back, gives them a hand up, they share a laugh and slap eachother companionably on the back, even as they rejoin the battle for the ball. Even when punches are being thrown, so many of the other players are smiling and laughing it off, knowing its just an overflow of aggression, and rarely ever personal. The same men that bloody eachother's noses in the ruck, that knock the wind out of one another with a well made tackle, hug and laugh after the match, congratulating or consoling depending on their position. I see it as a rather timeless thing, and it reminds me of the expectations of masculinity of the days when rugby first started. Chivalry, passion, power, and a strong sense of justice, whether its in regards to a knock on that was or wasn't actually a knock on, or a tackle that was legally or illegally made, there remains a justness about the sport that is reminiscent of earlier days. To me it almost epitomises masculinity, a concept I find particularly fascnitating and attractive, not just as a person or a woman, but as an anthropologist as well.

Romantic notions aside, its also just bloody exciting to watch! Its hard not to get involved in the game. Its fast and hard and exciting. I get a slight adreneline rush just sitting there! Its an environment that tends to be understated, casual, welcoming and the fans (usually the ones that play themselves), though exchanging sharp banter, at the end of the day tend to show just as much repect as the players (there's always the occassional wum). So there you go, the best I can articulate as to why I love this sport so much :)