Having never seen a rugby game, except for a TV match (where the entertainment was much more in the direction of watching the Irish fans holler indistinguishable curse words and slosh their Guinness) PAB and I decided to take the plunge and book a seat at a match at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. We found reasonable tickets for Wales v. Samoa, an interesting game as Wales is damn good, and Samoa is, well...damn BIG.
We took the train in from Bristol (it's impossible to park in Cardiff on rugby night as all the streets are closed off for pre/post-game mayhem), apparently some fans consider the train an opportunity for tailgating (even one fan proudly holding his Carlsberg in one hand and his two year old son in the other). Cardiff was absolutely mad, people had horns and were waving Welsh flags in the street (particularly menacing with their giant dragon) The girls were wearing inflatable daffodils around their head. And the men were menacing what looked like a palm tree (though PAB kindly informed me they were actually waving LEEKS, the national veggie of Wales!!) Check out the picture at top! For awhile I was laughing at myself, thinking oh how ridiculous these Welsh people are. Then I thought about what the Welsh would think if they went to a Greenbay game only to find people walking around with giant blocks of CHEESE on their heads. That shut up my laughter quick ;)
Before the match started, the Samoans did a traditional dance of intimidation - the Haka. Which looks a bit like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ-NyW4PTtw
The dance may look a bit silly, but surely more the stuff of men than daffodils and leeks...
The game was GREAT, though it will never replace American football for me. I don't quite understand everything that's going on, but I do quite like when they stomp on each other's heads like the Italians stomp grapes for wine. And, just to make up for the fact that there wasn't a halftime show, a STREAKER ran out into the middle of the field. I don't know what it is with the British and taking their clothes off at sports games, but the refs were prepared. Perhaps they're all ex-rugby players (or just wish they were...) but before the streaker even got to the 10 yard line - WHAM! Tackled from the side by a ref. Serious stuff this rugby!
Next up is soccer (aka football) although I don't know how soccer can live up to war dancing and streaking...
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