Page 86 - All Shapes & Zebras From Treorchy

“Veteran”: a person who has had long experience in a particular field. However, it’s not as simple as just being an ex-amateur rugby player. There are certain caveats. Many would argue that in the definition of the word, the adjective ‘long’, describing the noun ‘experience’ is the operative word. Many men and women play amateur rugby; not all of them will play long enough to be deemed a ‘veteran’.
Amateur rugby, like all sports, is strewn with past players who played the sport but walked away because they found love, money, fame or a range of other vices. And again, that’s fine. We are not all placed on this earth to play rugby, and there are a thousand other ways to spend your Saturday afternoons through September to May. But a real veteran is one who has played the game, week after week, season after season, year after year.
Now don’t get me wrong. The opening chapter mentioned that rugby is a sport for everyone, inclusive in its nature and a game for all shapes and sizes – and it is! But please forgive the hint of stubbornness – or dare say it, entitlement – in this alphabetical entry. If you have played for a club then you are a past player. To become a club veteran takes more.
Sir Ian McGeehan, in the seminal 1997 British and Irish Lions documentary, Living with the Lions, told his Test squad about a day, far off in the future, when players would give each other “a look” when meeting each other in the street, acknowledging the common sacrifices and experiences shared in South Africa – a look that would denote
84 ALL SHAPES & ZEBRAS FROM TREORCHY