luckycanuck

It was an easy day at work, and as it's the last round of the Super XIV Rugby, I went down to the ACT Rugby Union Club to watch the Brumbies play the last match of the regular season. A win would put them through to the finals.

But they didn't. They played pretty well for the most part, but the Crusaders got two tries in a three minute stretch in the first half when the Brumbies seemed to have fallen asleep. In a satisfying finale, they kept running the ball and got a try on the last play of the game with time having expired. And who took the kick? George Smith. A man who plays the same position as I do, and who has probably never kicked for points in his whole career, but as this was his last game, it was fitting that he got the last touch of the ball. It was a poignant moment.

I was planning to watch the Waratahs game that followed. About two minutes into the game a rugby fan at the next table asked the manager who was passing by at the time if they were going to turn the sound on. The response? They only turn the sound on for Brumbies games.

Just to be clear, the name of the establishment is the Australian Capital Territory Rugby Union Club, and on the last game of the season that will determine who goes into the finals, they refused to switch on the sound for the dozens of people in the club who were watching the game on the big screen.

I understand that not everyone likes rugby as much as I do, and there were plenty of people present who had no interest in the game they play in heaven. But COME ON! You are a RUGBY CLUB! Rugby is actually in the name of your establishment! Nobody came here to hear Snoop Doggy Dog, so TURN ON THE DAMN SOUND! There are plenty of other places to go to have a drink, but as a member of the club, I expect to be able to watch (and hear) rugby when it is being played live, especially given the importance of the game and the fact that there were a lot of other people present who were watching it.

Oh they will be hearing from me about this!

So I packed up and left, and drove the short distance to the closest place where I could watch the game. My office. We get the channel there, there is beer in the fridge, and I can have the sound as loud as I like.

The Waratahs did a pretty good job of taking apart the Hurricanes, and watching them run onto the field, I was reminded that an ex-girlfriend of mine once lived in Wellington, and Hurricanes captain Rodney So'oialo tried to chat her up in a club without getting anywhere. I, on the other hand, succeeded where he failed.