After a very enthusiastic match one week before in the “temple” of soccer, San Siro, and in front of some 80,000 screaming fans against the mighty All Blacks (the loss for Italy was “honourable” against the famous New Zealanders, known the world over for their “Haka” war dance), Italy faced this time the world champions South Africans, aka Springboks, in the rugby test match in Udine’s Friuli stadium. The stadium, a rarity for soccer and its club Udinese, was filled with some 30,000 people. Perhaps THE nicest thing was to see people of ALL ages who took in the entertaining match, a true rarity for soccer which is quite often plagued with violence and mayhem.
The match was brought to us thanks to the Italian Rugby Federation in Rome and local organizer Enzo Cainero and sports assessor Elio De Anna, a former Italian national rugby player, who has expressed the desire after the success of this match to bring to Udine next year Argentina’s Pumas, a nation which came in 3rd at the last world rugby championship. This would no doubt be another great hit for the Udine area as Argentina, like Canada, is also home to many immigrants from this part of Italy. The match was also a good opportunity to advertise the soccer World Cup next year right in South Africa (note the picture of the giant mascot!).
It was my 5th or 6th rugby match (after Italy-Canada two years ago and matches against both Wales and Scotland in Rome). While I don’t profess to be THE greatest expert nor aficionado of the game, it is nevertheless refreshing to see a sport which is cheered on by so many fans (at the Italy-Scotland match a few years ago in Rome the Scottish fans ACTUALLY tried to sing the Italian national anthem! They had such a great sporting spirit that they looked at me and said: “Win or lose, tonight we’re going to party anyway”! (n.b. they eventually won) and whose players, once a foul is called, don’t swear their heads off to the ref or become professional actors and roll for hours on the pitch crying and moaning as though they’ve just had their limbs amputated (Italian soccer players in particular, both male and female, cry out the name of every saint when they are fouled by an opponent)! No, these rugby players, both Italian and S. Africans, dished it out and took the heavy beatings without a whimper!
Italy’s head coach, Nick Mallett, headed unfortunately towards his 18th defeat (and only 2nd victory) in 2 years but was at the end very proud of his players during the press conference, even though team captain Parisse did look a wee bit dejected. And how couldn’t he have been as on the other side their was one of the quickest men of the game, Habana, whose rubber mouthpiece (the one that protects a player’s teeth) also had the colours of South Africa!
The festivities leading up to the match included a press conference at Udine’s Astoria Hotel with team captain Smit (who was built like a small refrigerator!). Being right on the pitch to take pictures perhaps the nicest thing about this sport is at the end when all the bone-crunching tackles are over with and the players shake hands and walk off the pitch as though nothing had ever happened.
The other interesting event related to this game will be Clint Eastwood’s movie “Invictus” which will come out in Italy in February, 2010 with Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as South Africa’s captain Francois Pienaar. Mandela was convinced shortly after his election as president of South Africa that through sports he could bring unity to his people, people who had been tormented for decades by the odious and racist apartheid system of governance. Mandela, evidently a lover of sports, helped reorganize the Springboks to eventually hurl them in 1995 to the world championship title!
If only soccer were more like rugby and without all the on-going scandals (such as match-fixing and handballs “à-la-Henry”!)…
