DECADES APART
I went to see a rugby match last Friday. Edinburgh versus Scarlets. And a couple of weeks ago when the city's team played Toulon. Nothing remarkable about that, there were a few thousand other people there too. But it felt a bit like going back in time. That game against the French side was the first fifteen a side match I'd been to in well over thirty years, so it had a sense of occasion for me, a kind of homecoming. And, better still, I enjoyed it. The fact that Edinburgh had a big win might have had something to do with that though.
I first went to watch an international at Murrayfield on 4th February 1967. Scotland beat Wales 11-5, and I was ten. By and large I've not really been a big sports fan over the decades, but I was hooked, back then, on the big rugby occasions, and over the following years I didn't miss a home international match. Including the 1975 game against the Welsh when a record crowd of 104,000 were crammed into a stadium with a nominal 80,000 capacity. Cosy, and we beat Wales that day too. After that you had to buy a ticket in advance to get in. By the time 1979 arrived I'd been to see plenty of club matches, sevens tournaments and to see Edinburgh play in the inter-district championship.
Then I moved south; way, way south, to the Hampshire coast, and getting to Murrayfield required a bit more time and planning. I still made it to most of the Five Nations home games for a few years, including the Grand Slam winner in '84 (great occasion, dour spectacle). But then I was married, work was more demanding, life changed and I didn't get up as often. I'd watch the games on telly, saw our guys win another Slam in '90, and then found my interest starting to wane. Rugby Union was turning professional and with the increase in money came a much more drilled and calculating approach to the game. Defences became dominant and entertainment levels dropped. By the mid nineties I'd stopped watching. I was left as a fascinated follower of motorsport, and little else.
Move on a couple of decades and I'd dropped the motorsport. Change is good. I'd discovered something completely new. Maybe I'd seen a few hockey matches in the Winter Olympics coverage, but had little idea of what was going on. Looked interesting though. So when, seven years ago, the chance of cheap tickets to see Edinburgh's team came along we thought we'd try it out. And loved it. It would be another three years before we were full time city residents, but we got to as many games as possible, started to get some feel for the sport, started to know a few people at the rink, started to feel a part of the community. We got in four full seasons when we finally moved here permanently. I was an Edinburgh Capitals season ticket holder and secretary of the Supporters Club. Our weekends from September to March contained a predictable element, a chance to shout, cheer, get on the emotional rollercoaster of live sport and support. Then, last April, that was suddenly taken away from us, and it seems like there's no going back (but that's a story for another day).
Could anything replace that sense of belonging, the excitement, the passions you feel as part of a crowd willing a team on. One thing that hasn't changed over the decades is the sense of tedium I get from watching football, so that was never an option. But a bit more than four years ago I'd been watching TV alone, when a rugby match came on. Argentine versus Scotland. I was tempted to watch, just to see if anything had changed. And when the name John Beattie was announced as one of the team I felt I had to give it a go - I'd seen his dad playing for our country!
They've tweaked the rules a lot since the nineties, and for the better it seems. That match was genuinely entertaining (and again it probably helped that Scotland ended up as winners!) and I thought I'd give a few more a try (no pun intended). The five nations were now six, the strips look almost futuristic compared to the looser items I recall, all the spectators get to sit down, and the players go off at half time instead of standing in the middle of the pitch sucking on a bit of orange. (Yes, that was how it used to be done, even in top level internationals.) It helped that once exposed to this new spectacle Barbara developed a bit of an interest too.
So going to watch Edinburgh ('my' Edinburgh?) seems like a natural progression, given the loss of my regular entertainment next door (Murrayfield ice rink is, often literally, in the shadow of the rugby stadium). And after the Caps disastrous final season (only five wins from fifty six league games....) it's good to go and support a side that goes into each game with a chance of winning. There's a friendly atmosphere, big screens to watch when the action gets a bit distant (I do miss the intimacy of the hockey rink), and it's pretty cheap for us seniors. And no colder than sitting in the Fridge of Dreams next door. This could be habit forming.
