Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Rugby Time (The Director's Cut)
As some of my more observant (stalker?) family members noticed, I edited my last blog post to remove references to a fight. Contrary to popular belief, this wasn't censorahip or anything exciting, I just wasn't particularly happy with my writing.
Yes, someone started a fight with me during my first rugby game in Malta. I tackled him, he punched me in the head, I retaliated by grabbing his jersey and punching him several times. Like most fights on a sports field, it didn't last long and nobody inflicted much damage. The referee didn't notice because he was busy watching the other team score their first try (of many). Our team was bigger and tougher, but they were faster and more technically polished (many of their players are in "Malta A" and so trained all summer. Most of our players are big and like running into people.
Without good backline defence or top rate forwards (if you're going to win ground a few meters at a time you have to be very good at keeping the ball), mobility is usually going to win over size.
But getting back to the fight (which was probably the most interesting thing about the game (although it was a pleasant experience to be one of the better players on the field). Yes, my parents brought me up to think that fighting was wrong (I'm not sure how well they succeeded, since I joined the army after leaving high school, but anyway, it's not their fault). I don't usually endorse violence (unless it's ninja-style, I'm cultivating a humourous obsession with ninjas at the moment).
I'm not particularly short tempered, but there are a few things I just don't tolerate, and as one of the other team's forwards found out, one of them is cheap shots - if you're going to attack someone (not that you should), at least do it fairly.
The rules of the game are there to protect players, if you deliberately break them, you should be sanctioned. In a perfect world the referee would instantly see and punish all wrong doing, but the world isn't perfect, and a little bit of rule bending (although not to hurt other people) is kind of part of the game.
OK, this is much less well thought out than I had hoped, I got distracted a few times. I'm going home now.
Yes, someone started a fight with me during my first rugby game in Malta. I tackled him, he punched me in the head, I retaliated by grabbing his jersey and punching him several times. Like most fights on a sports field, it didn't last long and nobody inflicted much damage. The referee didn't notice because he was busy watching the other team score their first try (of many). Our team was bigger and tougher, but they were faster and more technically polished (many of their players are in "Malta A" and so trained all summer. Most of our players are big and like running into people.
Without good backline defence or top rate forwards (if you're going to win ground a few meters at a time you have to be very good at keeping the ball), mobility is usually going to win over size.
But getting back to the fight (which was probably the most interesting thing about the game (although it was a pleasant experience to be one of the better players on the field). Yes, my parents brought me up to think that fighting was wrong (I'm not sure how well they succeeded, since I joined the army after leaving high school, but anyway, it's not their fault). I don't usually endorse violence (unless it's ninja-style, I'm cultivating a humourous obsession with ninjas at the moment).
I'm not particularly short tempered, but there are a few things I just don't tolerate, and as one of the other team's forwards found out, one of them is cheap shots - if you're going to attack someone (not that you should), at least do it fairly.
The rules of the game are there to protect players, if you deliberately break them, you should be sanctioned. In a perfect world the referee would instantly see and punish all wrong doing, but the world isn't perfect, and a little bit of rule bending (although not to hurt other people) is kind of part of the game.
OK, this is much less well thought out than I had hoped, I got distracted a few times. I'm going home now.
