Rugby in Mexico
You may have seen Rugby before. It’s the sport where 15 oversized men bash, dash and grapple to get an egg-shaped ball to the other end of the pitch. It’s not for the faint-hearted, but if you come to love it, you’ll find it is one of the most exhilarating and sociable sports to watch.
In fact, Rugby is an international sport that is particularly popular in English speaking countries. South Africa won the last World Cup in 2007 by beating England. I prefer to remind people of England’s glorious win in the previous tournament in 2003. That year, we had a well established team of many famous players like Martin Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio and Jason Leonard. We also had an excellent goal-kicker called Jonny Wilkinson who made sure if we had a chance to score, we did.
Bitter southern hemisphere types will tell you that he’s the only reason we won the World Cup, but for me it’s indicative of the inclusive nature of Rugby. It’s a game for all shapes and sizes, and as a rather overweight child, it was the only one I could be good at outside of an eating competition. I’ve now been playing for 17 years, am a qualified coach and am still carrying a few extra pounds.
Sometimes people say Rugby players are ‘gym-freaks’, but the truth is there is a wide variety of body shapes. You do have to be both fit and strong to play the game, but the demands of each position are different. The players who control the game tend to be very skilful and quick like whippets, while the ‘front row’- human battering rams- tend to resemble escaped gorillas. That’s my position. Between us, there are the towering second and back rows as well as the outside backs who can usually run 50 metres in the time it takes to open a bag of crisps.
The current World Player of the Year is Shane Williams, a winger who plays for Wales. He runs with an equal measure of grace and electricity and seems to create scores whenever he touches the ball. He is also just 1m70 tall and weighs 77kg. He dispels the myth that you have to be big to succeed in the sport, and he does it with style too.
Most Mexican rugby players come in the Shane Williams mould. Small, quick and full of enthusiasm. The seven-a-side version of the game is popular here, and that requires a high level of skill and great physical conditioning as well. Games are short because they are so tiring, maybe 7 or 9 minutes in each half and you can play 4 or 5 games in one afternoon. There are tournaments every month or two which are hosted by different clubs around Mexico.
In fact, playing Rugby here has been a great way to make friends and see the country. Since arriving in 2007, I have played in 20 or so games and tournaments, travelling to places like Guanajuato, Guadalajara and Puebla with the team. Our team is called Tazmania, after an island of Australia. Our main rivals in Mexico City are the Wallabies. Not very original I know, but then the team with the most Mexican name- Miquitzli- is full of English and American players. Our team consists mainly of Mexican players, and I’m glad that I’m the only Brit. We do have some other foreign imports including several beefy Argentines and a guy from New Zealand who is frighteningly good.
Tazmania have won many competitions, and we came top of the Mexico City league last season, beating Wallabies in the final. Although we lost the semi-final of the National A league away in Guadalajara, our B team were crowned champions of National B league the following weekend. Luckily, some of our best players were available for that one after losing the week before!
Many of our players also play for Mexico. There is great desire to advertise and improve Mexican rugby and many see the way to do this is by being successful in international competitions. They compete in an international sevens tournament in San Diego every year, and have recently played World Cup qualifiers in the Cayman Islands. Although they did not go through, Mexico’s results are steadily improving.
This is encouraging, particularly as the International Rugby Board are desperate to get Rugby back into the Olympics. Did you know the USA are the reigning Olympic champions after beating France in 1924? Apparently there was so much crowd trouble that the sport was never invited back. Well, the IRB hope to change that and are supporting Mexico as they are hosting the Pan-American games in 2011 where Rugby will be played.
Although I do not qualify to play for Mexico, nor would I probably make the team, I still feel a deep affection for them and hope they are successful in the next few years. Knowing many of the players and coaches, they are desperate to put Mexican Rugby on the map and have been training twice a day as well as working in their jobs. That is an achievement in itself and perhaps paves the way for Mexico becoming Pan-American champions in Guadalajara in 2011. Time will tell.
Meanwhile, I hope Tazmania can be successful again. So far, the season has been rather lacklustre, having lost the Mexico City competition already. Some key players have left the club or not been available to play, and even worse we no longer have our training ground (we used to be based at Colegio Americano) so we are not practising regularly.
Even so, I intend to enjoy the rest of the season until Natalie and I leave for the UK in July. The good thing about Rugby is that a game also means a few beers afterwards; as the Mexican players like to call it, the ‘third half’ is a big part of rugby culture, and has given me friends all over the world. While in Cuba for the New Year, I got talking to an Australian just because he had a Rugby shirt on. I’m sure whichever country we end up in, Rugby will play a big part in our lives.
Ian Betts
Mexico City
February 2009
