Page 43 - All Shapes & Zebras From Treorchy

pints, telling all and sundry that they have played first team rugby for their beloved boyhood club. And I’ve seen grown men shed a tear when they realise that they have played their last game and donned the club jersey for the final time. Richard Burton once said on the topic of mining: “Every little boy’s ambition in my valley was to become a miner. There was the arrogant strut of the lords of the coalface...because they were the kings of the underworld.” Swap ‘miner’ for ‘rugby player’ and ‘coalface’ and ‘underworld’ for ‘clubhouse’ and ‘pitch’ and you’ll appreciate what the game means to some players.
Part of the appeal and mystique of watching professional rugby is that the vast majority of viewers cannot, and will not, be able to do what they are witnessing on the pitch. There are many extremely talented amateur rugby players, but many such players still live through the exploits of their heroes on screen or inside the stadia. Indeed, it was Richard Burton, the seven-time Oscar nominated actor, who once said that he “would rather have played for Wales at the Cardiff Arms Park than Hamlet at the Old Vic.” Yet on days when the amateur jerseys are donned, the humble and honest (if limited) amateur player has his or her chance to become king or queen for the day. It’s their chance to turn heads and send supporters into raptures!
It is as if the jersey is a physical, tangible representation of the emotions associated with playing for your club, and what it means to the individuals lucky enough to be entrusted to do so.
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