I beg to differ... Rugby
They call soccer, sorry, football, the beautiful game. But what could be more beautiful than beating France 14-9 in Paris to go through to the Rugby World Cup final for the second time running? Beating lowly Estonia 3-0 at Wembley? I think not.
I used to love football and have followed Spurs since my youth — a fruitless pastime if ever there was one — but I have finally tired of watching prima donna multimillionaires, who play for this club one season and that club the next, poncing about, abusing referees (any lip to the ref in rugby instantly loses you ten yards), diving and faking injury. Even more tedious is to read about their lingerie-model WAGs.
As the great French player JeanPierre Rives rightly said (and how Les Bleus could have done with him on ,7 Saturday), 'The whole point of rugby is that it is, first and foremost, a state of mind, a spirit.'
Rugby, at its gladiatorial best, stirs the heart in a way that no footy match can. Last Saturday was the Colosseum, Agincourt and the Battle of Trafalgar combined. There is something viscerally thrilling about the controlled bar-room brawl of the sport — big, broken-nosed, cauliflower-eared, scrum-poxed brutes knocking lumps out of each other to win the ball and distribute it to the snorting thoroughbreds in the backs, so as to convert possession and territory into points. Oh, to see the ball fizz from the scrum, down the line, into the hands of some fleet-footed winger who scores in the corner.
And, in my view, great tries are far greater than great goals. Yes, a well taken strike to the back of the net is a joy to behold, but the build-up to a fine try is something else. Just think Gareth Edwards, 1973, Barbarians v. All Blacks, or David Campese in his prime. And what about great tackles? Just think Scott Gibbs, 1997, British Lions v. Springboks.
Not only that, in rugby a 0-0 draw is as rare as a football player's sense of fair play (how we miss you, Bobby Moore!), you can share a pint with opposing fans before, during and after the game and you definitely get prettier girls in the crowd.
Johnny Ray
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