What is it about Rugby?

When you take a look at what kind of sports are popular in New Zealand, it is impossible to deny the British roots the country has. Cricket, football, golf — those are sports everyone would closely relate to the parent isles of New Zealand. The one that is quite possibly the most typical Kiwi sport, however, is Rugby.

While cricket is still quite popular to this day, it suffers from a somewhat boring presentation and unusually long game times (even though shorter version have been introduced to accomodate people with shorter attention spans. Football is getting more and more popular but with rather uninspiring relevance of the national team, it is hard to keep New Zealanders interested without any international success to speak of.

Rugby games, on the other hand, are a spectacle that draws a much bigger number of viewers. The Rugby World Cup held in New Zealand in 2011 was watched by 1.6 million people.

It is not just the very physical gameplay that makes Rugby interesting to many people. Especially compared to football where extensive physical attacks against the opposite players is punished, whereas in Rugby, it appears to be encouraged and a major part of the tactical aspect of the game. It is also the fact that as a niche sport, international rugby championships see matches of countries that usually do not make it into the final playoffs of major tournaments, for example Namibia, Russia and Georgia. That alone makes Rugby worth watching.

While I have never watched a Rugby game in a stadium, I imagine the atmosphere to be similar to that of a football stadium, possibly even more intense. There is something distinctly raw and primal about the sport that makes me want to see a live match one day. It should probably be in New Zealand.