The Opportunities Rugby Can Give You
27 Oct 2006
Rugby is ranked as the No. 1 contact sport in the world. There’s no doubt about that. Sorry to all the footballers who have taken offence, but at the end of the day rugby gives players the opportunity to run with the ball and even gives you the opportunity to play 80 minutes in just one game!
I have played rugby since I was 5 and in my late teens and early 20’s I was able to play at a good standard of rugby in New Zealand. I came through all the development systems and participated in rugby academies but I was never the quickest player and I felt I was never going to make it to the top no matter how hard I trained. I instead took the opportunity to explore the world and use rugby as my way to get from country to country.
I have played in Fiji, Wales, Australia, Scotland, USA, Canada, England and Spain.
Because of rugby I have always had a bed to sleep on and always had some sort of an income whether it was getting paid for playing and coaching or painting walls and hammering nails in freezing conditions. I have met some of the funniest people that I’m ever likely to meet and I have also met my fair share of inadequate people. I’ve played for National Championship winning teams and I‘ve also played in teams that have been relegated. I’ve played in front of huge crowds and I’ve had occasions where the team was lucky to get the coach to the game and watch.
I can remember the time I went to Spain to play. I saw that there was an opportunity for a flyhalf at a club in Seville. I knew nothing about Spain so I looked up about the place on the internet. The first sentence I read from a particular article was, ‘Spain has cheap beer, hot weather and beautiful women’. I was at my first training the next day. I should of read more of the article however because when I got there I could not speak there language and the locals certainly weren’t prepared to speak my language (which at the time had plenty of Bro’s, Cuz’s and Ah’s in my vocabulary!). Spain was a good learning curve about how to live in a foreign culture. The rugby wasn’t much but I flew all around the country, played live on TV, stayed in 5 star hotels and generally had a good time. That first sentence I read from that article was true to from.
I’ve been able to experience many different cultures and learnt to appreciate what the world has to offer. Take Fiji for example. You play a game against a local club team, they hit high and late and then openly laugh about it, its 114 degrees and the grounds so hard you are better off playing on a tennis court. Supporters throw fire crackers at the team bus(which is been driven by a guy who has indulged himself with kava), the changing room is a corrugated iron hut that’s fixed together with wire and generally it’s the most uncomfortable rugby playing experience that you are ever likely to have. But after the game you will head back to your opposite numbers place for dinner and eat for hours. The family will sing long into the night and they will make sure you won’t be waking up in a condition so you can read the Sunday paper. It’s unbelievable.
Its experiences like those that are great about the game of rugby. It gives you an opportunity to do things that you may never do and never think you could do. Rugby is the best networking community on the planet. It only takes a few emails to clubs around the world and before you know it you are in a whole new world playing a great game and getting educated about foreign soils.
Rugby’s more than just playing for fun and to drink lots. The drinking culture towards rugby in this country is pathetic. The drinking culture has ruined the image of the sport here. Rugby should be played as competitively and as hard as possible. Teams should prepare themselves professionally. If the sport is taken more seriously in this country there’s no reason why players can’t get themselves overseas and enjoy what the game has to offer.
