It’s winter, and the chill has set in. So why would you want to leave the warm comforts of home for the icy conditions of the stadium? Because rugby is a game that really comes alive when you prefer it loud and live, right before your eyes.
By Antoinette Muller
Let’s not kid ourselves. Slopping on the coach for a whole weekend to watch rugby, sipping on your choice of beverage and shovelling down your choice of snack takes some beating. It’s especially useful when the winter chill has set in and you can snuggle up in front of the heater and under the blanket.
Add to that the benefit of commentary, replays, and, if you’re lucky enough, the ability to pause and rewind as you wish, and it’s a wonder that people even bother leaving home to watch sport in a stadium setting these days.
But some of us are suckers for punishment…or are we? The comforts of home might make gravity’s pull a little stronger for our sport watching endeavours, but nothing can compete with watching a game live.
Match days are a special experience, even more so if there is a trophy or a playoff place at stake. The thrill in your heart starts when you wake up, even if kick off is still hours away. Match day is an event and we all have our own rituals and routines which we believe will help our team win. Some swear by only getting out of bed with a certain foot. Others will wear a special jersey.
Some enjoy a pre-match rendezvous, complete with a braai and bar out of the back of a bakkie. For others, the stroll down the hill, snaking around the block and under the subway will do. Whatever your poison, you’ll always feel your hairs stand on end – and that’s not because of the cold.
The buzz around the stadium is electric and the constant chatter and murmur of the crowd is what telephone lines might sound like if they were to ever emit sound from their zigzagged pathways across our homes.
Once settled into your seat, the static starts to build and bursts into a crescendo when the teams belt out the anthems, if you’re at an international, that is. But the euphoria is often followed by nerves. Those last few moments before kick-off can be a rollercoaster of emotion before you get swallowed up in the 80 minutes that lie ahead.
While you might not have the benefit of replays or analysis, the savvy match-goer will know that tucking some earphones into your sleeve means you can tune into the radio commentary from time-to-time, especially during contentious moments.
Depending on the match, watching live can sometimes feel like being a chameleon on a Rubik’s cube. For some, the louder you shout, the more convinced you are you are wiling your team along while others prefer to sit silently and get lost in the crowd noise.
We share moments of elation and depression with strangers’ whose names we’ll never know. When your team scores – especially if the odds were against them – hugs and high fives are shared with whoever is closest to you.
When things go badly, colourful language is received with solemn, knowing nods from a band of brothers with whom you share a passion the couch and the household pet will just never understand.
Those 80 minutes transport you into another universe and disconnect you from reality, helping you forget everything expect for the match that’s playing out in front of you. As the final whistle blows and you’re unplugged from the matrix, you might stagger or gallop back to your car and take the drive back home.
As you arrive home and plop on your coach with reality’s bony fingers tapping you on your shoulders you see on the highlights that the referee was indeed right. You exhale and get ready to do it all over again next weekend.
- This article first appeared on the Change Exchange, an online platform by BrightRock, provider of the first-ever life insurance that changes as your life changes. The opinions expressed in this piece are the writer’s own and don’t necessarily reflect the views of BrightRock.
