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Switching Allegiances

Posted in Biographical, Education, Football, Rugby with tags , , , , , on February 3, 2013 by telescoper

So here I am, then, in the office on a Sunday afternoon,which I suspect is going to be a pretty regular occurrence for the foreseeable future. I mainly came in to sort out papers for tomorrow’s Senior Management Group meeting, which will be the first such meeting I’ll be attending in my new capacity. I have managed to prepare for it in fine style by losing my diary, which isn’t a very good start to my career as any kind of manager.

Yesterday was taken up with flat-hunting which, if all turns out well this time, was successful. I also had time to watch a bit of the opening match of the Six Nations Rugby between Wales and Ireland. For the last five years or so I’ve always been in Cardiff for Wales’ first home game of the competition, although I’ve never actually managed to get a ticket for the match. It felt a bit strange not being there anyway. It has to be said that Wales were pretty chronic in the first half, going into the break at 30-3 down, but they recovered in the second half and it was quite an absorbing match all considered. Ireland’s excellent defence held off a spirited Welsh comeback and Ireland won 30-22.

Although I’ve lived in Wales for a while, and have enjoyed the match-day atmosphere in Cardiff, I’ve never switched allegiance from England as far as rugby is concerned. Later on yesterday England beat Scotland in their opening match of the Six Nations, showing quite a bit of flair in doing so but also making quite a lot of mistakes. The 38-18 scoreline flattered England, I felt, and they’ll have to up their game a lot if they’re going to match Wales’ Grand Slam last season.

Football is another matter in which allegiances are difficult to change. Many’s the time I’ve thought of giving up being a Newcastle United supporter but I’ve never managed it. I disapprove of people who think they have an option concerning which team to support, actually. I was born in Newcastle therefore I support Newcastle United. That’s the end of it. We all have our cross to bear. Anyway, yesterday brought an unexpected ray of sunshine into a gloomy season for the Toon with a 3-2 victory over Chelsea. Following a first away win of the season against Aston Villa last week it may even be possible that they’ll avoid relegation. Perhaps.

Switching allegiances between universities is almost as difficult. In today’s academic world we’re supposed to think of higher education as a marketplace in which different institutions compete for funding for both teaching and research. I’ve never felt comfortable with the idea that opening up higher education to “market forces” is in anyone’s interests. Certainly on the research side, there are so many collaborations between groups in different universities that cooperation is more the rule than competition although, as with any rule, there are exceptions. Friendly rivalry is as good a thing in higher education as it is in football, but anything more serious than that can only be justified in the case of Sunderland.

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A Grand Day for a Grand Slam

Posted in Rugby with tags , , , , , on March 17, 2012 by telescoper

It’s a lovely morning in Cardiff. Later on, at 2.45pm, Wales will be playing their final match of the 2012 Six Nations Rugby against France here in Cardiff. Having won all four previous games they’re in line for a Grand Slam if they win. The atmosphere here is already electric with anticipation. Last night the city was filled with men in berets here to support France and today everything will be at a standstill for the match. I can’t describe what a wonderful feeling it is to be in Cardiff on match days, even if you don’t have a ticket!

People here seem to be taking it for granted that Wales will win this afternoon. I’d love a Welsh Grand Slam to happen, but I’m not sure it’s as much of cast-iron certainty the Welsh supporters seem to think it is. France are a dangerous side and their disappointing performances so far in the Six Nations don’t preclude the possibility that they’ll turn it on in the Millennium Stadium; they’re certainly not here just to make up the numbers. The Welsh team has its weaknesses and may yet meet their downfall…

Comparisons with the great Welsh teams of the 1970s are inevitable today. Although it may be tempting fate, I thought I’d post this video showing some of the great players of that era in action. Good though the current team is – and clearly the best of the six nations playing in the competition this year – I don’t think they’re in the same league as the side that included such wonderful players as Gerald Davies, Gareth Edwards, J.P.R. Williams, Barry John and, of course, Mervyn Davies who sadly died last week and in whose honour there will be a minute’s silence before this afternoon’s kick off. Here are some scintillating moments from that great team. We’ll never see their like again.

Even the commentators – especially the great Bill Maclaren – were so much better than the current generation!

But that was then and this is now. Good luck to Wales, and here’s to another Grand Slam this afternoon!

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It’s that time again…

Posted in Music, Rugby with tags , , on February 12, 2012 by telescoper

Today was the day for the first home game of the RBS Six Nations for Wales, so Cardiff was absolutely buzzing with that special atmosphere that only rugby and an influx of 80,000 people into a city with a population of 325,00 can bring. I was out and about earlier on but had to watch the game on TV as I lack the wherewithal to get tickets for occasions of such immensity. Wales were red-hot favourites for this game, and won comfortably enough in the end against Scotland although the game was closer than the 27-13 scoreline might suggest; Scotland had a try incorrectly disallowed, which might have made all the difference. The Scots fans also played their part, some of them camping out in the park near my house in the freezing cold for two nights before today’s game, and offered a fine rendition of Flower of Scotland before the kick-off. But there’s something special about the Welsh National Anthem on days like this. I’m glad they’ve dispensed with the professional pop singers that they’ve sometimes used to lead the singing. Wales is a nation that doesn’t need to pay people  to sing for it…

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Number 8

Posted in Poetry, Rugby with tags , , , on February 6, 2011 by telescoper

I was tidying up this morning. During this rare episode of fastidiousness, I picked up a book of poetry called A Recipe for Water by Gillian Clarke. Among the lovely poems in this collection are a few inspired by Wales’ Grand Slam in the 2005 Six Nations Rugby. This is one of them, called Number 8. For those of you who aren’t rugby fans, the Number 8 is one of the forwards, the one who plays at the back of the scrum. In fact, it’s the only position that doesn’t have a name (other than “Number 8”); Numbers 1 and 3 are the props, 2 is the hooker, 4 & 5 are the locks, 6 and 7 are the flankers, 9 is the scrum-half, 10 the fly-half, 12 and 13 the inside- and outside-centres respectively, 11 and 14 the wingers and 15 the full-back. But the Number 8 is just the Number 8…

The poem is beautifully descriptive of the classic “pick-and-go” move from a set scrum during which, instead of channelling the ball to the scrum-half, the Number 8 unbinds, picks up the ball and surges forward (usually on the blind side, away from the backs in the three-quarter line).

And sometimes he’ll slip the knot of the scrum
with the ball on his palm, and run with it
hand on heart, out of the mud and bone,

the way a lovely muscle of river
will loosen the branchy tangle
that blocks its way,

and making a break for it flow,
sleek and dangerous
over the weir.


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Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau

Posted in Rugby with tags , , , on February 4, 2011 by telescoper

Today marks the start of this season’s RBS  Six Nations Rugby, which kicks off at 7.45pm at the Millennium Stadium here in Cardiff with Wales versus England. The town will be buzzing in the evening, overrun with rugby fans in various states of drunkenness but with that extra special atmosphere that makes this such a fantastic place to be on such occasions, even if you’re not in the ground. It promises to be a bit chaotic, but it’s always an extra special day in Cardiff when the old adversaries meet. I’m going to head off home slightly earlier than usual in order to avoid the crush and to get home in time to watch the match on TV.

The Six Nations is a difficult competition to predict, at least in terms of the results of the rugby games, but there’s one battle whose outcome you can bet your bottom dollar on, and that’s the crowd singing which is always won by the Welsh. I’ll probably be able to hear all the way from my house.

Get a load of this example, from a few years ago which at least gives some idea what I’m talking about. This is the stirring  Welsh National Anthem Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Land of My Fathers). And if you feel like singing along, here are the lyrics (in Welsh, of course):

Mae hen wlad fy nhadau yn annwyl i mi,
Gwlad beirdd a chantorion, enwogion o fri;
Ei gwrol ryfelwyr, gwladgarwyr tra mâd,
Tros ryddid gollasant eu gwaed.

Chorus:
Gwlad, Gwlad, pleidiol wyf i’m gwlad,
Tra môr yn fur i’r bur hoff bau,
O bydded i’r heniaith barhau.

Hen Gymru fynyddig, paradwys y bardd;
Pob dyffryn, pob clogwyn, i’m golwg sydd hardd
Trwy deimlad gwladgarol, mor swynol yw si
Ei nentydd, afonydd, i fi.

Chorus

Os treisiodd y gelyn fy ngwlad dan ei droed,
Mae hen iaith y Cymry mor fyw ag erioed,
Ni luddiwyd yr awen gan erchyll law brad,
Na thelyn berseiniol fy ngwlad.

Chorus

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