Rugby Trivia and Quick Teasers
0By the Spotter
With the whitewash barely off the wicket block and the flannels not yet chucked into the washing machine, the 2016 Rugby Union season is now upon us with the Super ‘gang bang’ (oops…typo, ‘bang bang’) underway this Friday night, at the ground where the microwaved lettuce on the burger buns burns the throat out, Eden Park. (ask Mark Watson).
And to mark the occasion, the following is a list of five quick, weird facts about game of Union to get you in the mood for a great opening round, and to stump your mates with down at the local watering hole:
1 When he was a medical student in Buenos Aires in the 1950s, that ultimate revolutionary guerrilla Che Guevara played as a centre, and was so taken with the sport that he started up his own Rugby magazine. He named it ‘Tackle’.
2 The murderous Ugandan dictator Idi Amin made it within reach of the top echelons. He was on the reserves bench for the East Africa XV when they played the celebrated 1955 British Lions in South Africa. Amin’s XV lost 12-39. Amin apparently went into a giant-sized sulk when he found out he wasn’t captain (made that part up).
3 Ex-US President George Bush (junior) played as a fullback at Yale. One might speculate on how many head knocks he may have taken…
4 The former All Blacks and Blues prop John Afoa used all his money from winning the Super 12 in 2003 with the Blue when they beat the Crusaders, to purchase a mint 1971 Ford Fairmont
5 By the conclusion of the 1977 tour of France, the Canterbury prop John Ashworth discovered he had gained around fifteen kilos in weight. The reason? Consuming too much bread.
I am indebted to two great little books for the above information. 1 ‘How to watch a game of rugby’ by Spiro Zavos (a brilliant writer, IMHO) and 2 ‘101 years of All Black trivia– fascinating facts and foibles’ by Graham Hutchins (so comprehensive it’s staggering).
I can’t leave this piece without passing comment on Jerome Kaino’s ‘king hit’ in that warm up match at Pukekohe. If that was a punch, then Tana Umaga did in fact once play Tiddlywinks and the Blues will become ultra-consistent winners this year. {ED:- complete rubbish}