Our Very First Rugby Match

sachilefever — Sat, 11 Feb 2006 13:50:33 +0000

At least you didn’t wear blue! – Laughed the Queensland Reds fans we happened to meet at the train station after saying it was our first match ever. We weren’t sure where we were headed, but followed them through the station onto a shuttle bus to Suncorp Stadium to challenge the New South Wales Waratahs in the Super 14 home opener. The same group even cheered the bus driver and gave us inflatable cheer sticks – courtesy of Coke. Not quite rugby hooligans.

The match itself was incredibly hard-hitting and resulted in a few bloody noses. These guys make NFL players look silly with all their pads. There had to be some sucker punches in those piles!

Throughout the match, the unfamiliar kept us busy and guessing. After a player caught the ball and got pummeled by an opponent there was a penalty “Failing to Remain on Feet”. Did we hear that right? Who could have remained on their feet with that hit? Maybe we misheard the call.

The referee stopped play for halftime with 35 seconds left on the clock and I had to stop asking Lee why – he was as clueless as I was. He was confused about why they kept kicking the ball out of bounds- sometimes to the cheers of fans.

The scene was filled with boxes of fries, meat pies, XXXX beer and Bundy (rum) and cokes – 4 or 8 carried per person. I ordered a ginger ale and the server automatically grabbed a liquor cup and then stopped with a puzzled look – “Just a ginger ale? No liquor?” We’ve seen shirts that say, “My drinking team has a rugby problem” I’m sure we’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg.

To our surprise, there were no vendors of jerseys, flags or anything you don’t eat or drink. No handmade signs or painted faces in the crowd. One of the corners of the stadium tried for about 10 minutes to start the wave, but it never caught on past a few sections. We know better than to take the comparisons to American sports too far.

It’s just our first…By the third or fourth I’m sure we’ll be arguing the calls with the best of them! This site helped some, for a starting point.

The World Is Not Flat (TwinF) - rugby

Our Very First Rugby Match