"It's all going a bit egg-shaped"
I, like the rest of the nation watched in awe and admiration as England went on to fulfil their potential and win the Rugby World Cup in Australia.
It was also with a certain amount of amazement and wonder that I followed the whole tournament, because even though I had been schooled at a normal comprehensive in a working class part of the North West of England I had never played rugby. So the intricacies of the game were a mystery to me.
I have friends that have played and love the game but to me it was always jumpers over shoulders, having baths together and egg chasing. Football was my game.
It therefore came as a surprise after the World Cup final when I climbed down from the ceiling and settled down to a much more normal hour and a half to watch Manchester United vs. Blackburn. The scary thing was that I was to be honest bored. Football just didn't cut it anymore, I know this wasn't a great match and there wasn't that much at stake but still I was bored. There seemed to be a lack of commitment, where was the huge bloke pummelling anyone into the ground for starters? Maybe all those childhood taunts from the rugby players were right; maybe football was a game for wimps.
The same thing happened in the mid week, watching the Champions League. Bored. The real test will be this w/e when I am actively looking forward to watching some club rugby. I know even less about club rugby, I know nothing. I know there are teams called Saracens and Wasps - who surely don't do too well in the winter, but I have no idea where they are from. That's how little I know. But I am looking forward to it with some excitement.
The other thing that rugby has managed is to make me proud of being English. Or to be more accurate, to give me a chance to show it. I have always been very proud of being English, there is nowhere I would rather be from. However being a football fan I am normally disgraced to be associated with English fans. As a Manchester United fan born and bred ( I come from equidistance between Manchester and Liverpool so it's one or the other and growing up in the 80's it's not a lot of fun being a Utd fan, before you all really hate me) we are a rather unpatriotic bunch. We don't really like England, well what we don't like are the typical England fans.
Utd fans sing 'are you England in disguise?' and chanted 'Argentina' after the 98 World Cup to fans from places such as Leicester and West Ham, as these are to us on a whole, the narrow minded bigots that support England and give it a bad name, and that's what we really hate. They are the ones that recently baited Alpay and screamed for him to be deported from the country, a little harsh perhaps, it is only Football. They are also the same people with their pseudo- Beckham haircuts and Burberry caps and copies of The Sun that were screaming for their hero and captain - Beckham to be lynched after the 98 World Cup. Oh how quickly we forget…What I have always been proud of at United is the lack of racism and the understanding and appreciation of the fans. At the recent Rangers match the Rangers fans were singing 'Rule Britannia, and God Save the Queen' I was moved and pleased that the Utd fans responded with boos and a stirring rendition of the old communist Spanish war song 'the red flag'. It's not that we aren't proud of our country, we aren't proud of this type of support(er).
This is what I liked and admired about Rugby, there was good natured, friendly banter, based on racial stereotypes and generalisation, but in no way meant to harm. The fans sat together, there was no trouble. These are still people from the same country and age group as the football fans so why was there no need for riot police? This point has been covered quite a lot, in the press and I hope that something is done about it, some conclusions are reached. As Rugby as well as being a very exciting sport, that we are actually world champion in, is also obviously an example on how to behave and support your country properly like a civilised person. As my flat mate pointed out to me
"Rugby is a thug's game played by gentlemen, where as football is a gentlemen's game played by thugs' maybe the same can be said of the support at national level. Me I'm off to try it as a gentleman. Now where's my jumper, I need to tie it round my shoulders.
Patrick Kagoul
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