Super Rugby matches are a little different Sonia Mather’s house. You’ll see her sitting on the couch, shouting at the TV with chips and fake beer, while her husband is minding the kids and making dinner.
My introduction to rugby came with my first boyfriend at university. I would walk around Campus wearing his jersey with the kind of pride that only the 80s could possibly have bestowed upon it. (I also used to wear his army shirt but that is a completely different story to this one and much more complicated to explain and understand. Even for me.)
I would watch him play but was it was more to make sure he wasn’t badly hurt than to enjoy the game. My early experiences of rugby were filled with more squinty-eyed wincing than cheering.
The Stormers Bug bit me when, by virtue of my job, I started to be invited to watch rugby at the Newlands box with a client. What started out as a ‘nice day out’ with my husband has ended as passionate love for rugby and what it stands for. It became about the excitement of the game. There is nothing quite like watching it live. And certainly nothing quite like watching it live from the luxury and instant-replays of a box. It should be on everybody’s bucket list. Seriously!
For me rugby is the single best example of a team sport. In soccer, it’s like watching 11 individuals on the field. There is so much personal ego and heroic nonsense that happens – all that running around with your shirt on your head and falling down and performing because someone entered your personal space. It makes no sense to me at all.
Rugby is proper team work. In fact, if someone wants to be the hero it cocks it up for everybody. They have to work together to win. The balancing of strengths, strategies and trust brings it all together in the end.
I remember listening to John Smit speak once. (I was one of about five women in the room.) Speaking as the Springbok Captain, he said that he didn’t see his role so much as that of a leader, but more as a facilitator. I loved that so much. It expresses exactly what I love about the game. It wasn’t about him – but about how he could support his team, to work together and give, and get, the best of themselves and each other.
One of the things I love about Springbok rugby specifically is that it operates with an unwritten code of honour. And it never feels more honourable than when the Springboks and the All Blacks are playing. I love the passion, dedication and pride of the All Black team (not enough to support them when they are playing against my team obviously, but enough to enjoy every moment of their games.)
More than the Aussies or the English they have a sense of pride and almost old-world knightly dedication to their country and game. I think the Springboks have that now too– it came to life when Nelson Mandela wore Francois Pienaar’s number 6 jersey when they won the 1995 World Cup.
One of the moments that really embodies what rugby means to me was last year, when Sonny Bill Williams gave his medal away to a fan, after the boy was tackled by a security guard, during the teams lap of honour. That single act is why I love rugby. It’s a total team sport where the fans are as much of the game as the players and the players know that.
So #iamastormer for sure. But #iamrugby forever.