Rugby Game

On Saturday, Dan and I went to London with a couple from our village and another from Leicester to watch the England v New Zealand rugby game. I have watched a little bit of rugby on tv, but never sat through an entire game because I have no idea what is going on...and really don't care to understand it. Dan is a lot more familiar and interested than me, but had never been to a "big" game. The New Zealand team are the world champions this year so it ended up being quite a beating for the England team. It was a fun day, but extremely cold.

There were almost 82,000 people at the game and we were being herded through the streets to Twickenham stadium with police on horses directing us. I felt like we were in a parade as the streets were closed and people had set up stands in front of their houses selling all sorts of food and drinks.

We made it!

The St. George's flag being displayed by the fans during England's national anthem. I think Dan and I were the only ones that didn't know the words. Everyone was belting it out!

Our view for the game. It is quite different than attending an American football game or any major sporting event in the states. They sell beer but the bars are closed 30 mins before the game. You can go back and purchase (a limit of 4 at a time) throughout the game, but there are no vendors coming to your seats selling anything. I was really hoping to get something to eat, like peanuts or popcorn, during the game, but they just sell beer and you have to get up to get it! The man sitting next to us said that the rugby fans are a lot more classy than the soccer fans and the announcer kept reminding us all to show respect to both teams whenever the fans booed. Dan forgot his stocking hat and wanted to get one of those, but they don't sell those at the stadium either. After the game he walked across the street to The Rugby Store and bought the only hat they had...which was for kids.

This was after the game. We have no idea who those guys are behind us, but they were having a great time!

Jane, Nick, Pam, Roger, Dan and I hanging out after the game. We stayed around the stadium for a couple hours hoping that the crowds back to the bus wouldn't be too horrible. There were still plenty of people when we left, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it was getting there. We did have a great time and enjoyed spending the day with some new friends. They talked about going back in March to another game, but I'm afraid I might just have to sit that one out!