Where: Twickenham, England
When: May 11, 2013
With: Dave, Suzannah, Jad, Richard, Helen, Gemma, Andrew, Nick, Camilla
Ok, I have this theory. I think that sometimes Europe has big parties, and the US just isn't invited. There are so many fun events that everyone here gets into that are such great ideas, but whether it's the ocean or a cultural divide, American just aren't there with them.
The most obvious area I think this occurs is with sports. We Americans love our baseball, football, and basketball, and aside from a few outliers, that's all we need. And maybe that's why we're content skipping out on the all the great tournaments that happen in Europe. But I think we need to start adding some rugby and soccer to our lives (the World Cup every four years doesn't count) and join in on the festivities (but we'd have to start calling soccer "football" so that we can hang with the cool kids).
Rugby Sevens is just another boat that we've missed out on - and the worst part is that the US totally has a team entered in the tourney! Let's get with the program and celebrate too!
The main summary of this tournament is 14-minute games of rugby are played by 7 players a side. It is held over several weeks and in several locations around the world, culminating in one giant final which took place in London this year. Countries from all over the world compete, playing dozens of matches against each other, until a winner is declared in a final bracket knock-out. The games are exciting because they're so short, and it's easy to keep cheering for all your favorite countries when they play each other in so many combinations.
A large group of us got together to attend Sevens this year at the Twickenham stadium. Over the course of two days, you can watch as much rugby as your heart desires right up to and including the finals. However, the main draw for most of us had nothing to do with the sport of rugby. It had everything to do with one of my personal favorite activities: costumes (or as we should know by now, fancy dress, as the British call it).
In each location over the course of the tournament, a theme will be determined for the Saturday portion of the event. This year, the theme was "safari". Now, I thought maybe a few people would take this to heart and actually dress up. But once again, England exceeds my wildest expectations.
When we showed up to Waterloo station on Saturday morning to train to Twickenham, it looked like someone let the animals out of the London Zoo. A group of male penguins pushed one of their penguin friends along the station floor on his belly. A dazzle of female zebras carrying cases of beer over their shoulders galloped by to make their train. Men in very controversial black face dressed in traditional African garb. It was like nothing I'd ever seen.
Suzannah and I by chance both ended up dressed in our giraffe finest. Dave, for lack of a better costume, donned his peanut garb from Halloween last year, and we decided that he'd just do his best to avoid elephants all day.
A crowd pleaser was the entire section that dressed up as bananas. I believe there were a couple of gorillas scattered throughout these seats.
In between games, African-themed events and games took place to keep the crowd entertained. An African drum band came out at one point, accompanied by dancing lions and giraffes.
And lining the route to the stadium, entrepreneurial Twicken-ites sold food along the way, ensuring the festivities extended beyond the stadium.
When: May 11, 2013
With: Dave, Suzannah, Jad, Richard, Helen, Gemma, Andrew, Nick, Camilla
Ok, I have this theory. I think that sometimes Europe has big parties, and the US just isn't invited. There are so many fun events that everyone here gets into that are such great ideas, but whether it's the ocean or a cultural divide, American just aren't there with them.
The most obvious area I think this occurs is with sports. We Americans love our baseball, football, and basketball, and aside from a few outliers, that's all we need. And maybe that's why we're content skipping out on the all the great tournaments that happen in Europe. But I think we need to start adding some rugby and soccer to our lives (the World Cup every four years doesn't count) and join in on the festivities (but we'd have to start calling soccer "football" so that we can hang with the cool kids).
Rugby Sevens is just another boat that we've missed out on - and the worst part is that the US totally has a team entered in the tourney! Let's get with the program and celebrate too!
The main summary of this tournament is 14-minute games of rugby are played by 7 players a side. It is held over several weeks and in several locations around the world, culminating in one giant final which took place in London this year. Countries from all over the world compete, playing dozens of matches against each other, until a winner is declared in a final bracket knock-out. The games are exciting because they're so short, and it's easy to keep cheering for all your favorite countries when they play each other in so many combinations.
A large group of us got together to attend Sevens this year at the Twickenham stadium. Over the course of two days, you can watch as much rugby as your heart desires right up to and including the finals. However, the main draw for most of us had nothing to do with the sport of rugby. It had everything to do with one of my personal favorite activities: costumes (or as we should know by now, fancy dress, as the British call it).
In each location over the course of the tournament, a theme will be determined for the Saturday portion of the event. This year, the theme was "safari". Now, I thought maybe a few people would take this to heart and actually dress up. But once again, England exceeds my wildest expectations.
When we showed up to Waterloo station on Saturday morning to train to Twickenham, it looked like someone let the animals out of the London Zoo. A group of male penguins pushed one of their penguin friends along the station floor on his belly. A dazzle of female zebras carrying cases of beer over their shoulders galloped by to make their train. Men in very controversial black face dressed in traditional African garb. It was like nothing I'd ever seen.
Suzannah and I by chance both ended up dressed in our giraffe finest. Dave, for lack of a better costume, donned his peanut garb from Halloween last year, and we decided that he'd just do his best to avoid elephants all day.
One got to him...
Perhaps my favourite of the day was Jad as a slice of watermelon (I would say for lack of a better costume as well, but what's a better costume than a watermelon?)
The train itself was insane. Jammed to the brim with intoxicated safari animals, we were lucky we got a seat. On the ride, impromptu sing-a-long's to Circle of Life and The Lion Sleeps Tonight were started. And a terrifying stop at the very popular area of Clapham Junction made me think that there would be a live re-enactment of the wildebeest stampede from the Lion King as people clambered to board the train.
At the stadium, the crowd was no less involved. People of all ages were dressed in their finest animal print enjoying the day.
A crowd pleaser was the entire section that dressed up as bananas. I believe there were a couple of gorillas scattered throughout these seats.
In between games, African-themed events and games took place to keep the crowd entertained. An African drum band came out at one point, accompanied by dancing lions and giraffes.
And lining the route to the stadium, entrepreneurial Twicken-ites sold food along the way, ensuring the festivities extended beyond the stadium.
It was a day of lots of drinking, some rugby playing, and a little paying attention to it all. Really fun event that I think the US needs to get on board with.
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