By Douglas Kruger,Voices
Copyright jerseyeveningpost
By Douglas Kruger
CULT-LIKE, a whole new ritual has taken hold in our home. My wife and I now religiously watch women’s rugby.
I have slight tinnitus in my right ear from all the yelling, but the World Cup build-up has been phenomenal, and I must grudgingly congratulate our mortal rivals, New Zealand, for advancing through to the finals. Even if it was at the expense of my home country of South Africa. Just gonna mention that the men’s team flattened NZ on the same day, handing them the biggest test loss on local soil in their long and storied history. So, there’s that.
Rugby appears to be exploding. And the growth in popularity among young girls is a very cool new addition, with benefits running significantly deeper than a quick glance might reveal. Rugby is more than just a sport. For many, it’s a way out.
You may have been watching when one of South Africa’s star female players was interviewed before the game last week. She told her tale of growing up in extreme poverty, living with a sense of hopelessness, until she discovered an entire new world out on that field, and then, to her own surprise, became professional.
It was the last thing she expected to do with her life, yet it gave her a strong sense of purpose. She praised the deep bonds created by a team-on-a-mission, the sense of belonging that she never knew she needed. “…and now it also helps me feed my family.”That’s a valuable list of rationales, and worthy of consideration by parents. It’s also uncannily similar to the story of men’s captain, Siya Kolisi, a national hero in the land of biltong and boerewors.
Taken seriously, the game is transformative. It teaches discipline over emotion, camaraderie over self-absorption, and lays out an enticing trail toward goals and growth and greater things. The rules matter, respect is baked in, and there’s much to be said about the mutual trust developed with those beside whom you place your limbs on the line. This is community in the realest sense, and if you’re a parent, you may want to give it serious consideration, including for your daughter.
It comes with its own training regimen too, which young women around the world have been taking to guns blazing. A rugby player must be in peak condition both in terms of fitness and strength. Most sports entail running for cardio, but this one adds big composite weightlifting for strength: squats, deadlifts and presses. Traditionally the preserve of men, young female athletes have been discovering great joy in developing their strength to its full potential.
But one of my wife’s favourite aspects, is that it doesn’t matter what size or shape you are. They need every shape and build for different roles. Spirit’s the thing, and they’ll take you as you come.
We hurled our little dude headlong into the sport as soon as he was old enough to try out, and despite his initial misgivings, he now loves it. And it’s done him a world of good.
You quickly discover that it comes with its own culture; a uniquely positive one. Not to detract from football, but several things are at least unusual in rugby. Like yelling back at the ref. It’s just not the done thing. Or fans beating up their opponents in the streets. Even the players meet for drinks afterwards.
And histrionics. As entertaining as it can be watching a footballer pull a triple summersault, then clutch at his nozzle and sing an aria from Tosca, rugby goes the other way. You’ll have a warrior limping across the field dragging a severed limb. He looks like the final scene in a John Wick movie, but he’s still saying, “I’m fine, I can play!”
For the kids in Jersey, it all starts out very gently, with great emphasis on safety. There’s no contact, no tackling, and it’s all carefully monitored. In place of contact, they each wear a strap attached with velcro, and opponents conclude a tackle simply by grabbing it and pulling it off.
But with school holidays over, some of the smaller ones will now be old enough for a whole new world of experience. Contact rugby! Permission to grab and be grabbed, and to discover the exciting taste of grass. Let the hunger games begin, and may the odds be ever in your favour. Builds character, and adds greens to the diet.
If you’re interested in enrolling your child, the season has just begun, and rugby training in Jersey is truly top-notch. Last year we even had the Springboks dropping by and motivating the youth. Might they return this year? Fingers crossed.
It’s also great fun to watch on a Sunday morning. Grab your steaming coffee and bacon roll, stroll across the field and join the other parents. Do your share of yelling from the sidelines. Violence is kept to a respectable minimum: Slightly more than a martial arts dojo, but slightly less than Westminster.
Oh, and be forewarned, it does get windy up on that field. The whole thing is hosted at Jersey RFC, parish of St Peter, which somehow manages to be ten degrees colder than the rest of the Island, so bundle up accordingly.
My wife would not let me conclude this column without mentioning that she specifically went out and bought Ilona Maher’s exact shade of red lipstick. It’s called Superstay Matte Ink, Pioneer, by Maybeline. Apparently this is important.
Finally, Jersey’s small. And that’s handy for a rugby player. It makes it significantly easier to be discovered if you do have talent. Let your kid give it a go. Who knows what horizons you may open up to them, or how far they will go?
Douglas Kruger is an author and speaker based in Jersey. His newest suspense novel, House of the Judas Goat, launches this month across the UK, and is available from bookstores and Amazon.
