Baggy Rugby Shirts
England won the Rugby World Cup on 22nd November 2003. I remember it well for I was in a packed golf club eating a full English breakfast with my first pint of bitter. It was at some ridiculously early time in the UK, England were playing Australia for the world cup in Sidney, so our time scales were out but the fry –up and beer went down just as well.
It was an era of change. No European rugby playing nation had ever won the Rugby World Cup so this was first. There was also another first that received little attention at the time but had its beginning during the period 2000-2003. I was reminded of this new ‘first’ reading an article about rugby and then by chance listening to Clive Woodward being interview about that Cup final.
He was sharing a conversation he had with Jason Robertson, the England winger at the time. Jason Robertson had been a rugby league player and changed codes to play rugby union. Jason asked, ‘Why was England still wearing baggy rugby shirts?’
Rugby kit in those days was baggy shirts and baggy shorts, the shorts even had pockets to keep your hanky in just in case you wanted to blow your nose! The boots were more suited to rock climbing with leather sides up to the ankles, nothing sleek like todays modern apparel. Jason Robertson, whilst playing in Rugby League his team had already moved onto sleek skintight shirts and shorts. There was a great advantage to be had; it was easy to grab a handful of the old baggy shirts and pull players down, the sleek skin-tight tops were in a different league. Clive Woodward began to experiment with design and material for the new look tops based on this conversation with Jason. Other international teams also began to experiment and so during that 2000-2003 era new shirts began to appear. This movement had another surprise. Being skintight body profiles stood out so much more. Imagine Jason Leonard suddenly appearing in a skintight rugby top, (you might be too young to remember who this guy is.) Just watch a modern game, it is very difficult to grab a player and to hold on to their shirt, tackling became much more difficult, being in the scrum unable to hold onto a baggy shirt called for changes in scrummaging techniques.
I was also reading about how easy it is to become entangled in our modern world; the challenge of not being caught up in the pressure of modern living. Living in a world where we can be judged much more quickly than in previous times. Our lifestyles may be flying about like a loose rugby shirt; we are constantly checking and double checking how we live and are our actions appropriate. What I was reading was about the devil’s touch on our lives particularly when we are active Christians seeking to serve without hindrance or let. The Apostle Paul was talking about this in relation to sin and the difficulty he was having combatting sin and the devil. And because of his relationship to Jesus Paul was able to say about the devil; ‘He has no hold on me.’* Skin-tight rugby shirts also caused a revolution in rugby player’s lifestyles; they became fitter, sleeker, filling with better body shape the skin-tight tops.
‘He has no hold on me’, encompasses a broader expression, the who and what we are as men and women serving Jesus, who took a good look at who we were and sought to fit us out, fit for a new era. Gone the baggy shirt of old.
*Romans 14:30
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