Tackleman Blog: One Year to Go

10 October 2014

Hi folks. Let me introduce myself. (Not visually of course, for I am a man whose identity shall forever remain withheld. But who am I?)

I’m Tackleman, DHL’s brand new rugby insider. A man of rugby distinction and unpatrolled rugby knowhow, with my ear to the ground and constantly on the lookout for the latest goings on in the rugby world.

I’ll be posting exclusive content from my travels across the globe on DHL In-Motion, Twitter and Facebook.

I’m here to keep you updated with the inside track on rugby, wherever the stories are happening. I’ll be posting exclusive content from my travels across the globe on DHL In-Motion, Twitter and Facebook so keep following for all the latest and greatest news updates, insights and exciting rugby opinion pieces as we go on a rugby ‘tour’ like no other.

Let’s go!
So time to get started, but where to begin? Let me take you back a couple of weeks or so, which in my line of work, already seems like an eternity! The life of a man on the move I guess…

“Isn’t it exciting? One year to go!” So proclaimed banner headlines, breakfast TV sound bites squeezed in between global news, celebrity feuds, and general office water fountain chitchat.

“One year ‘til what?” would have been most people’s response. One year until Richard Branson blasts off into space? The wild stabbing in the dark could continue endlessly for many people; unless of course they wandered, intentionally or otherwise, into my land of the Prolate Spheroid and had their eyes opened to the one true answer.

One year until Rugby World Cup 2015.

A sporting spectacle of smash and bash, of old school traditions standing side by side with elite sport science; the cheery fan and the athlete, the amateur and the professional. This happy blend of the crumbling and shambolic with the shiny and new.

Rugby, in common with most sports, fights for the light of public exposure under the canopy of the all-pervading football. Yet rugby has football in its title: Rugby Football. Due to its origins, I’ve always seen Rugby as Football’s naughty younger brother. In 1823 William Webb Ellis decided he’d had enough of kicking a round ball along the ground and, much to the alarum of the teachers at Rugby School, but much to the relief of the more rotund players on the pitch (and it must be said, those harboring slightly more aggressive tendencies than football would allow), he picked the ball up and ran with it; the cad!

And so Rugby Football was born and after a few growing pains and the drawing up of Laws, in various hostelries no doubt, we reach the modern game as we know it.

Every four years, the nations of the world that qualify for this great global jamboree play for a quaint golden cup bearing the name of that naughty schoolboy, The Webb Ellis Cup, or “Bill” as it’s come to be known (thanks to the Aussies in ’91, they love a good nickname).

I love it!

But don’t for one moment think that there is anything quaint about a Rugby World Cup, and I should know! This is a pretty big deal, one of the big sporting events in the world calendar. After football’s big day out and the Olympics, Rugby stands loud and proud with an event which first saw the light of day in 1987.

Back then it was a hastily arranged affair. Australia and New Zealand co-hosted the party and “Bill” was purchased off the shelf from the British Crown Jeweller’s, Garrard’s. This might explain why, for a rugby trophy, it’s actually a bit small! The beefy chaps who raise it aloft in victory always look terrified that they might break the thing, and it’s common knowledge that it is useless to drink from. Compare this with the 6 Nations Trophy which was specifically designed to hold 5 bottles of champagne (a nod to its original role as the 5 Nations Trophy), has a drinking lip at the rim and is lined with gold to protect it from tarnishing.

Still, it’s our “Bill” and I love it. For me, it’s the symbol of our great sport that has grown enormously since those first faltering steps 27 years ago. Stadiums will be rammed full of supporters for every match. The minnows and the big fish of the game will stand side by side and for two glorious months Rugby Football will have its time in the sun.

I can’t wait!

So until next time, keep following and checking in to see what I’m up to.

Yours in rugby forever,
Tackleman