Apathy towards the egg.

[splott parker]

Carrying on from the theme above, I didn’t play competitive football until after I left school. The school was entwined with the local rugby clubs, so there was zero opportunity. I watched & supported City from the age of 9, so the effective ban on football, made me resent rugby.

The situation in my extended family is very gender divided. The lads are all football oriented, the girls rugby.

Wales international games have become a ‘girls event’. The photos you see the day after games seem dominated by women in various pseudo Welsh themed regalia gurning at the camera. Strange how the supporting of those international days have turned out, I won’t say how supporting rugby as a sport has turned out because barring Wales games I doubt they realise that there are club fixtures throughout the season. It’s become a 5 or 6 times a year women’s piss up.

[Kind of Blue]

I only caught the tail end of the “amateur” era but the older I get it’s the club game I wish still existed in its previous form. Of course it’s still there, I enjoyed a cold afternoon out watching Pontypool v Newport over Xmas with a few thousand others at Pontypool Park.

At the top level, played in the right spirit, it still can have its moments. The France/NZ game at the WC recently for example.

But something about professionalism has changed the game, arguably not for the better. Sheer physicality, focus on defence, bit of a quagmire on rules to compensate, serious health concerns for players safety, etc.