Yet another report from the world of the weird and wonderful. A friend of mine is a big rugby fan, so sometimes I end up watching rugby with him. While he assures me that the sport abounds in complicated rules, after watching a few games, I think I can narrow it down to two fundamental concepts.

First of all, my friend tells me that most professional rugby players start playing early. And not because the sport is so difficult to master, but because if you're going to play rugby for real, it's a good thing to get used to getting knocked around as a kid, that way your body will resist injury much better. In fact, I'm told, it can be quite hazardous to start playing rugby late, in your teens or in adulthood. And when I watch rugby, that makes perfect sense to me. It does look like a game that kids would play. "If you don't give me the ball, I'm going to chase you and take it from you." The only anomaly with that parallell is how to explain the team aspect of it, because it is indeed a team sport, they all help each other out. Well, if you imagine kids from two different families who are hostile to each other, then we're getting there. "Don't let him through, get him, get him!!"

Then there's the issue of running across a line on the grass, at which point the whole caramba suddenly ends. What does this remind you of? Remember one of those old movies where the criminal is chased by the police and he's trying to flee across the border to Canada or Mexico? It's a bit like rugby isn't it, running for the border? Once you get there, you're safe, but the closer you come to the border, the more dangerous it is for you and the more anxious people are to stop you.