London Irish Rugby!!!

     I attended my first professional rugby game on Saturday and I had a teriffic time!!!  The London Irish Rugby Team play in Reading at Majewski Stadium -- within walking distance from me.  Since this was their last home game of the year, a few of us decided to attend just to experience the atmosphere.  So awesome!!!  Those guys are crazy -- and so are the players!!!  By this I mean, the fans are so into this game over here, I feel like I am at a Steelers/Browns game.  The cheering is soooooooooo cool.  The fans really do have a great time at these games.

     As for the game and players themselves, what a wicked sport!!!  Beating the crap of an opposing team member is "just part of the game."  It can only be described as "controled chaos!"  I tried to follow the ball at all times; however, I lost it so many times in the pile of tangeled bodies.  All of a sudden the crowd would cheer, and low and behold, some guy would be racing down the field with the ball, and I never saw it come out of the pile.  Here's the best part -- when a player gets injured, the medical staff race onto the field while the play is still in progress.  Shit, I would not want to be a trainer or medical staff on a rugby team no matter how much they paid me.  Their lives are at stake and those players are psycho!!!  I will ALWAYS try to make friends with a rugby player from now on.

     The London Irish are close to the bottom of the league, but I still had a great time.  There were four of us that went and none of us knew the game.  It was very cold and damp on Saturday, but that made the atmosphere all the better.  Like I said, just like a Steelers/Browns football game.  Reading has a football (soccer) team called the Reading Royals, who plays in the Championship League, and I will be attending many of their games next year, since this season is over.  The Championship League is one league down from the Premier League, which Chelsea just won today.  Usually Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal are playing for the Premier League Cup almost every year.  Reading did fairly well this year, but missed their bid to move up into the Premier League by just a few points.  Maybe next year they will do better.

     I posted a few pictures of my first rugby game over to the right.  Today (Sunday), I am meeting a great friend of mine in London, as she is on vacation over here for a few days, then she is on to Paris.  Monday will be a very good day -- I have supervision with my team supervisor and she is a HUGE Chelsea fan.  How awesome is that for me!!!  It's always nice for the boss to be in a good mood -- especially when your home team wins the Premier League Cup.  SWEET!!!  Check out the pictures - it was fun times!!!