From a neutral point of view, a World Cup is factually irrelevant. If we subtract the emotion from a tournament of this magnitude it is easy to see that, at its core, a World Cup of any kind is flawed – and deeply flawed at that.
The reason for this is because it is not an annual event and as such cannot be the true test of both long and short-term success.
A time span of four years separates tournaments, meaning that what happens in between is implied to be irrelevant. But four years of nonsensical battles is a steep price to pay for something most fans tend to forget after a year or so.
By all means, being crowned ‘champions of the world’ is a glorious achievement, but it is also easily diluted.
Instead the argument is often made that it is the World Cup, not the years bridging them, that is irrelevant. Being the world champions does not necessarily make you the best in the world, especially not in rugby. Rugby’s world champions are often bludgeoned the following year and by the time they lose a consecutive number of games, the title means pretty much nothing anymore.
But the above are the views of those who see in black and white.
The majority of us Roarers are not these people, we are human beings with pulses. We see the World Cup not in black and white, but in All Black black and white. We see it in South African green and gold, and in Australian gold and green. We see it the crimson banners of the Welsh, in the lustrous green of Ireland. We see it in the blue of France and the stainless white of England.
We are not factual when we watch the sport we love, except when we analyse certain aspects of the game. We are a rugby-driven community with a genuine love for the game they play in heaven. Those of us who have indulged ourselves in the fiery crucible of the sacred four lines of the oval ball have all dreamed of the possibility of playing in a World Cup, winning a World Cup. We who play, or have played, see the World Cup not as a pointless one-off tournament, but as the epitome, the stairway to rugby heaven.
Yet winning of the William Webb Ellis trophy is a bonus, not the goal. The goal remains the same whether you’re a professional athlete or an aspiring player. The goal of participating in a sport is to express yourself, to enjoy it, to distance yourself of the routines and struggles of life and society. Winning, knowing you’ve beaten the best the world can throw at you, that is the proudest moment you can feel on a rugby field, but if you didn’t enjoy the journey, you’re missing the point.
That is what the Rugby World Cup – any World Cup – is. It is the sustenance of the dreams of the dreamer. It is the reward for enjoying doing what you love. It is peace, peace shown by every participating nation. In the words of former South African president Nelson Mandela, “Sport has the power to change the world.”
I write this with the hope that all of us can realise what the Rugby World Cup is about. It’s not just about winning (even if it were, the Springboks will win the trophy, so it’s best that the rest of you heed my words and search for other consolations).
Kidding aside (No, the Boks really will win it, but let’s pretend they won’t), the inspiration for this article came from our very own Roar version of Big Brother, Patrick Effeney’s ‘Get behind the Wallabies week’ article. I would like to start my own movement.
I’ll call mine ‘Get behind rugby month’ and – if it’s okay with him – Expert Roarer Brett McKay could be the face of the campaign because, well… We all like him. We don’t know why, but we all like him, so it must be him.
The only rule here is that you remember why you love the game and share your enthusiasm with everyone else. This year’s competition is an occasion worth celebrating.
Just think of how your life would be like without rugby. Instead of writing this I would probably be busy washing the dishes, on the weekend I would be mowing the lawn, and on Monday I would use my pent-up frustration on my colleagues at work.
Instead I’m writing about rugby, the dishes can wait. I’m going to be watching the action unfold with a beer and a big bag of biltong in hand this weekend and let the dogs play in the jungle a little while longer. On Monday I’m going to let out my frustrations on my colleagues anyway, only this time I’m going to have a good reason for it – Duane Vermeulen knocking on the ball. How much more could you want out of life?
The Rugby World Cup shows the world in union.
Adam Smith
Guest
Games like Japan vs South Africa :) Fiji also being on par with England for the most part. If they had better kicking and leveled the score they would have played better in the last quarter. I'm looking forward to USA. They're a nation getting into Rugby across the board. Would like to see Georgia show what they can do again (great against Tonga, can they keep it up). Seeing Uruguay have a crack would be interesting too. Dying to see how Argentina plays in this tournament after they've been playing regularly with the Southern powerhouses. (and beating South Africa recently). This is the thing that we can only find in a World Cup. To the author, you have some good points, but at the same time, don't call any International Rugby irrelevant. You're asking for trouble.
Adam Smith
Guest
Fully agreed.
Chinmay Hejmadi
Roar Guru
Hey, at least this one Indian will be watching fanatically. Currently getting a few friends to understand the game too.
Tina Stringer
Roar Rookie
Hey Wal....I'm a newbie and looking forward to this great tournament. In my experience watching Rugby with my Ozzie mate in the middle of the night our food of choice is usually Egg and Bacon pie and Mousetraps and a beer. Enjoy the Campaign. OBTW.......GO BLACK.?
Birdy
Guest
I know, ridiculous. Fancy the Japanese having 7 players not born in Japan. Anyway, changing the subject any news on how the Wallabies are training? I'm particularly keen to know the progress of Moore, Skelton, Pocock, Genia, Cooper, Kuridrani, and Speight.
Birdy
Guest
I'm a bit torn on the opening ceremony, Pete, especially as England are playing straight afterwards. If I get the feeling the England preparation (or Fiji's) is being disrupted just so some opera singer or whatever does not have her concentration broken I will be hurling things at the TV - especially as I might have had a few by then. I don't think this RWC needs a big build-up. It needs to get on with the bloody rugby.
smell the fear
Guest
gee thats the most nonsensical reason to watch sports ever. what do you do the other 3 ears? watch lawn bowls?
smell the fear
Guest
so what are you a samoa supporter or an AB supporter when you realize Samoa cant win? a lot of PI supporters conveniently go fo the AB as well as most of them were born in Australia
smell the fear
Guest
yesh, but the biggest parts africa and india dont play rugby
smell the fear
Guest
thanks Pete, you will find the top 50 matches will have an average well over 50k and there is les matches than that at the RWC face it, the colonial sport aint that big and the only parts of the empire that play are a few specks in the pacific ocean and Australia
smell the fear
Guest
yeah rugby is massive in india and china and their 2.5 billion population
Snickometero
Guest
Last year there were 850 games played in college football Division 1 season(125 teams). The average crowd, even after that many games between that many teams, was still 44,603.
AndyS
Guest
Agreed Guru, have to say it is Tonga v Georgia that is the key match of the first round for mine, then maybe France v Italy.
Wal
Roar Guru
Mines Toffey Pops and Gingernuts, which in hindsight could be misunderstood completely if an Aussie and a Kiwi sat down to a Gaytime with Gingernuts. Be amazed if this doesn't get modded :)
Pete
Guest
I'll tell you what, I think that opening ceremony was one of the things that got us Kiwis to really buy into the tournament. The build up to the 2011 RWC for us Kiwis was very tedious, with world cup adds left, right, & centre for months, as you can imagine, & by the time it got close we were all exhausted. The open ceremony filled us with pride & made it feel real, it gave us the emotional lift we needed before getting into the Rugby.
Pete
Guest
&? & how many college football game will be played in the weekend? I'm betting hundreds & hundreds of them. There are only 48 world cup games in the entire world cup, & the average crowd will come to around 48K per match. For comparison, the football world cup, biggest stage on the planet, had an average crowd of 53k per match at the last world cup. You think college football will average 48K across those hundreds & hundreds of matches? I know certain teams get massive crowds but I highly doubt it would even come close.
Geoff Parkes
Expert
Hi Armand, I think there was a concern that the RWC would overwhelm everything and make the 4 years in between irrelevant, but i don't think that has proven to be the case at all. The angst on this site at Australia's ride up and down the world rankings is testament to that. And now that NZ has won it twice, and maintained NO1 ranking for so long, I don't detect the same desperation about the actual cup as there there was prior to 2011 either. Sure the country wants like anything to win, but I'm just saying there's more perspective about the event and an understanding of how hard it is to win, and that the event itself doesn't actually mean everything. Mate good luck chewing your way through Biltong watching the cup. I'll go for jaffas and pineapple lumps myself. Which means I'll end up fatter than you by the end of it, but i would have had a lot more fun - how you guys eat that stuff is beyond me!
thefirsteven
Guest
Not if your a South African or Samoan mate, that would just spoil the fun.
Brian
Guest
Every 4 years is good because it means for one month in every 4 years I watch Rugby. I never watch Rugby League probably because its major events are annual.
Wal
Roar Guru
The crowd atmosphere is far more of a party too. With so much resting on the results of the "Big Boys" and tickets getting snapped up in corporate sponsorship's and tours. The 2nd tier matches offer so much more in terms of fun and luaghter.