(no subject)

[endlessrarities]

Last night, I made the grave mistake of watching the rugby.

Genetically speaking, I'm a mongrel.  I'm one eighth Scots Irish, two eighths English and five eighths Welsh.   But I was born and raised in Scotland, which means that most of the time, I consider myself Scots. 

It's only when the Six Nations comes along that the Welsh ancestry suddenly kicks in, and I become temporarily and very rabidly, Welsh.  My poor Scots husband can't understand it - he hates all team sports involving balls, whether round or oval.

The transformation isn't pretty, and for someone who's a quarter English, it's even more bizarre, because it's as if seven hundred years' worth of resentment against English domination (on both the  Welsh and Scots fronts) comes bubbling up to the surface.  I scream, I rage, as if victory through sport can make up for Edward I's atrocities in Wales and Scotland and the indignities of Flodden, the Rough Wooing, Culloden, etc.  

Last night, the inevitable scenario unfolded.  The English bulldozed their way through the Welsh defences, again and again.  The Welsh put up a stalwart fight, but couldn't deliver the goods.  I howled myself hoarse, to no avail, and history repeated itself, yet again.  The underdogs were crushed, and so was I. 

I guess I'll be backing France now.  Or Ireland.  'Cos the Scots haven't got an ice cube in Hell's chance, and if the English win the Grand Slam, the Calcutta Cup and the Six Nations Championship, we'll never hear the end of it.  Until the next time...

My apologies to any English readers.  It's not your fault.  It's the media.  They're so smug and self-congratulatory.  And so are the England coaches and the support staff (if it's any consolation, so are the Scots, who - like the English -  tend to fall into the 'it's not our fault we lost, they didn't play fair' school).  Anyway, I'm beginning to think rugger has lost its way a bit.  There's too much glitz and tawdry nonsense in the sport now.  They have this really annoying habit of playing rock music when someone converts a try.  Okay, the music was Kasabian's 'Fire', but while there's definitely a time and a place for Kasabian, an international rugby match is not it.  I much prefer to hear the echoing strains of Guide me oh thou Great Jehovah or the Welsh saucepan ditty (sorry, Welsh friends.  I can sing it, but I can't spell it!) ringing out from the stands.

The excitement has now waned, and I've returned to normality.  I don't think I'll watch any more of the Six Nations.  Wales v. England tends to be the high- or low point for me.

Today I went for a pleasant walk around Lochwinnoch, in search of the Dumb Proctor.  I've always wanted to see the Dumb Proctor, and today was the day when I finally realised that ambition.  Tomorrow, I'll tell you all about it.  But now I've got to get ready for horse-riding.

Good luck Scotland.  I know you're going to get well and truly gubbed by the French, but...  Good luck all the same.

Comments

[readthisandweep.livejournal.com]

Tragic.

Being three-quarters Irish & having lived in Wales since 1979, well, it's a no brainer.

Bloody tragic, lovely girl ~ we was robbed.

('Sospan fach' cariad ~ 'Mae bys Mari Ann wedi gwywo')

*Slopes off to weep a bit more*

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

I would never have guessed that was the Welsh spelling of 'Sospan'!!

We was indeed robbed... Shane Williams was a shadow of his former self.

It was a weird experience, because my dad was round for dinner. "Yapp?" said I. "That's a strange unusual name."

"Oh, the Yapps of Llanishen," said my dad. "They owned a garage..."

What it is to be a Welshman in exile. And his daughter probably can't even spell 'Llanishen' properly. Though I did get the 'Ll' bit right, and I can even pronounce it properly!

Nos da!

[bellakara.livejournal.com]

J is right - I too detest ball games!

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

You guys have probably managed to get a few rungs further up the evolutionary ladder than I have!!

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I grew up as the child of a mixed marriage. My father's family supported Manchester City and my mother's family supported United. It was almost like religion with them! Season ticket holders, the lot of them.

Anyway, as a result and not wanting to take sides, we supported neither team and my brother played rugby. :) I actually used to enjoy watching both football and rugby. But G loathes all games involving a ball with a passion, so these days I haven't a clue who is winning what.

It sounds like the Scots work on the same principle as the Welsh, namely: "I support two teams: Wales and whoever is playing against England." You can get t-shirts with this slogan. :)

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

But the Welsh seem to be more unified in their resistance. The Scots are usually at each others' throats (Rangers vs. Celtic, i.e. Protestant vs Catholic) and it's miraculous that they can actually get together in their dislike of the English.

My father-in-law thinks it's dreadful that we can follow the Anyone But England mantra!

[mirrordreams.livejournal.com]

I love rugby, but I find both England and Wales (I support them both being English but having lived most of my adult life in Wales) incredibly nervewracking to watch. Both teams will have brilliant moments and then throw it away with some silly mistakes. The difference is, that England are slowly building on more of the better moments and figuring out how to aqueeze out wins (aka - ugly but effective rugby), while Wales look so much better, but seem to do more simple errors. *sigh*

I think my Dads tactic is a good one: Record the game, find out the result, and then watch it. This means he enjoys the rugby without getting too frustrated!

The France-Scotland game was very exciting to watch. Both teams had good and bad moments, but Scotland scored some fantastic tries! I think my vote is on France to win this year... They are on form again. (And they are also a team of very attractive men - this makes me happy). The Ireland Italy game was interesting though! 13-11 to Ireland with a last minute drop goal to win it. Ouch. Poor old Italy. They are improving massively though, and it will be interesting to see how they progress in the next few years.

(Sorry... I do get a bit carried away with Rugby. It's in my blood I think.)

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that! I didn't see the news last night. I was avoiding it on account of Friday's fallout. Sounds like Scotland did a really good job - France are never a pushover. When I watched Wales-France two or three years ago, it looked like the Welsh were up against some of the cast of '300...'

Ouch! Either Italy's improving massively, or the Irish aren't having a good season...

Okay, who gets the spoon???

[xjenavivex.livejournal.com]

I read mongol instead of mongrel at first. Threw the whole post off for a bit. : )

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

Ah, Genghis!!! Neither the Scots nor the Welsh have been much good at the ravaging hordes bit - unfortunately! Though the poor sods in the Marches (both Scots and Welsh) through the centuries would probably dispute this hotly, after seeing their homes razed, their women raped, their cattle stolen. Or is it their cattle raped and their women stolen???

[xjenavivex.livejournal.com]

Not going to dwell on that question!

[goddessofchaos.livejournal.com]

I don't really follow rugby but I do follow football, up to a point, and yes, it's the attitude of the English media that puts people's backs up. I do find myself strongly supporting "Anyone But England" in the tournaments, if only because of the way the English media go on and on about how they're going to gloriously win every World/European Cup and shoehorn 1966 into every commentary, usually in the first 15 minutes.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

Oh, you should have seen the fans kow-towing to Johnny Wilkinson. It was truly nauseating.

[roaming.livejournal.com]

I'm lucky. I'm totalling missing the "sports gene": don't play it, don't watch it, couldn't care less, yawn, boring. I'm even luckier in that my husband is of the same ilk. I could not imagine living with a man tethered to the TV screen, screaming at it. Or worse, actually going to all the games. "Sports widows" we call it here.

I do like rugby, but only because I have a thigh fetish. ;-P

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

Living with that kind of husband would indeed be hell on earth. I'd have dumped a man the first time he suggested we watched a football match. And it says much for my husband that he allows me to occasionally indulge in the rugger. But two or three times a year is quite enough for me, at most. I'd get bored after that.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Despite having almost no interest in sport, I quite enjoyed reading your entry!

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

Any longer than that, then it would have been 'zzzzzz's' all round. From the writer's perspective, too.

I can only take sport in small doses. Even pro-cycling, which I love...