This is how Rugby came to be known as the most inclusive game in the world:
Teetotal Christians would pack down alongside Promiscuous Drunkards.
Neither had the power, nor the thought, to get the other one kicked out of the club for their *personal* lives.
I didn’t tip all the drunkards beers out. The drunkards didn’t force me to drink.
We enjoyed our rugby together.
Then I went home to a bible study & they went home with a girl they met after the match.
We enjoyed a hard 80 together & then just carried on with our own personal lives.
If you are a good team man, people will tolerate your quirks, whether you are liberal or traditional, this is how mens clubs rolled for generations.
Me being “traditional” had no control on them being “liberal.”
Unless one of us somehow had a *power* to force the other to violate his conscience…
Professional Sport has become that power, used by corporates & bureaucrats to enforce their personal beliefs on the public space.
Using Rugby as a weapon to control others’ personal lives, sets off a fight for control over that weapon, & puts everyone in the room on edge.
Now instead of holding space for each other’s *personal* beliefs, we are forced to either fight them for the gun, or violate our conscience by conforming to their beliefs, be they Liberal or Traditional, or else get “executed” from the group/job/club.
Male-space bonding of diverse men & rite of passage through a blood-sport, are crucial to young mens personal & public development.
Instead Rugby is now a blood-altar, forcing young men to sacrifice their personal conscience to the public beliefs of corporates & bureaucrats.
Let us return to the good vibes of diversity being *personal uniqueness* not *public conformity*
Put the gun down. Stop the executions of those whose personal lives do not conform to yours.
Let us return to the joy of 80minutes together, after which we carry on with our diverse personal lives.
Before each match, I remind my lads to control the controllables (their individual skills & the team pattern)
And to not focus on, but rather grin at, the uncontrollables (the referee & the opposition).
There are many things that are out of our control in life, such as other men’s personal lives.
Grin at them, and refocus all of your energy into controlling your controllables: your own personal life.
Rugby prepares a young man to brave the lows of defeat & enjoy the highs of victory, by putting him in a team full of diverse men, who won’t be controlled by each other, but rather freely contribute their unique part to achieving a common goal together.
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