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Rugby - I've played a number of games when I was younger - soccer, sailing, canoeing, basketball among them, although I wasn't much good Rugby and studies always competed for attention, and unfortunately in Singapore when I was growing up, it was an unequal contest - you couldn't I played for St. Andrew's School in 1977 and 1978, in the latter year we were National Schools 'C' Division (i.e. under-14 years of age) champions. We also set a record for not conceding a single point in all the games (I think we played something like 10 or 12 matches from the first one to the finals, which was played on the Padang), and for the highest score run up in a game (100-nil, I won't mention the opponents for fear of embarrassing them, but anyway I gather that record has been broken, by Anglo-Chinese School Independent I think). We beat Raffles Institution 29-nil in the preliminaries, and then 25-nil in the finals. After switching off from rugby for a while to concentrate on 'O' level exams and the adjustment to the first year of junior college (I was still struggling with my studies at that point), I played for Raffles Junior College in 1982, and found (to my initial trepidation) that most of the guys that I had helped St. Andrews beat in 1978 were still around, and would be my teammates. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they all remembered those 2 games in 1978 in which they were beaten in spectacular and unwonted fashion, but welcomed me to the team anyway! We had lots of fun and eventually won the National Schools 'A' Division (under-19) Title, aka the Police Cup (the finals was played at the Police Academy). 1982 was the first of 3 (I think) consecutive "Grand Slam" years for Raffles rugby, in which all 3 teams (the 'C', 'B' and 'A' divisions) won the National Championships. Two of my teammates, no. 8 Tirath Singh and captain and centre Lim Lian Arn, went on to become national under-23 players. I played mostly in the front row in school, hooker or prop, but unfortunately my peers kept growing taller while I didn't, so I had to switch to a less beefy position, and in the army and the university I played a variety of positions - more often than not, open-side flanker and stand-off. I played for the Guards Brigade (7th Brigade) in the army inter-formation competitions, and they also entered a team in the old Singapore Division Three league, as the "Singapore Guards," where we played against teams like Blacks, JB Anchormen, Singapore Engineers, and other local teams. In the university I didn't have much time to train while I was doing a direct honours programme, so I only played inter-faculty rugby. Anyway, around that time I realised that I was too small to play at forward in any serious side, and too slow to compete with the better backs, so after a few more years of "social rugby" (i.e. 1 or 2 games a year, without any training and too out of shape to get into the action for more than about 6 minutes each half) I stopped playing. I did manage to "export" the game to Chicago, Illinois, when I was doing my Ph.D at the University of Chicago - I taught it to the youth in Cornell Baptist Church (now known as Ellis Avenue Baptist Church) while I was doing my Ph.D at the University of Chicago and serving as the person in charge of the youth there, and we had fun playing the game mostly at church camps. Coincidentally, the father of two of the youths (Maurice and Chandler York), Don York (also a professor of astrophysics at the University of Chicago) happened to have played rugby at Cornell (I think - anyway, one of the Ivy League schools), so he would watch us play and once even joined in a game. OK, the truth is that Chicago didn't need anyone to import the game to them - the University of Chicago, as well as Northwestern University I think, had rugby teams, and there were apparently a number of midwest clubs too. I didn't play for the University - you try finishing a Ph.D at the notoriously brutal English department in 4 years (which was all that I was given) while doing a lot of extra-curricular things. I decided serving in church was the only thing I could do outside of the Ph.D., and more important than rugby.
A New Chapter (Now that the Old Chapter, i.e. my non-illustrious career, is well and truly dead) My younger son, Gareth, was selected to join the ACS (Junior) rugby team at the end of his Primary 3 year. We didn’t send him to trials, thinking that he was still young and should concentrate on studies and just enjoy being a kid. Besides, it was never my intention to force or even cajole him to play rugby, and when my older son Gavin showed no interest in the sport, that was fine with me. But one day Gareth comes home and says that they asked him to undertake some trial in school (sounded like speed and agility drills), and on that basis he was asked to join the school team. Early in primary four, he was selected to represent his school at the under-11 level. We were a bit concerned because he was only 9 years old at the time (almost 8 months shy of his 10th birthday) and some of the 11-year-olds were much bigger than him—and it was a full-contact game! But he really enjoyed himself and was fine, so that’s the ritual of the first tackle game for his school over and done with. Now he can concentrate on becoming a better player and enjoying more games.
Gareth’s first game for ACS(Junior), a friendly against ACS (Primary) during the Past vs Present festival. That’s Gareth to the left of the referee, the little guy wiping the mud off his face (I think that’s what he’s doing). With that, two of the men in our immediate family (i.e. Gareth and myself) together have played for all 3 of the top rugby schools in Singapore (St Andrews, Raffles, and ACS). And who knows which school Gareth will play for, if he continues playing when he gets older? You may say that this doesn’t speak much for “loyalty”, but I think the old days of playing for only one of these schools all your schooldays are over—these days, a significant number of good players switch from (for example) ACS I to RJC and other cross-overs. I’ve been told more than once that a number of the present ACS coaches used to play for St Andrews, but now coach ACS because that’s where their sons are. Also, factors like academics also come into play—I went to RI/RJC because it was the only JC I could go to on the humanities scholarship scheme (PROMSHO, as it was called in those days) that played rugby (it was either that or Hwa Chong JC!). I imagine other players these days also move around according to the dictates of scholarships, academic programmes, admissions criteria etc. Anyway, it makes life more interesting—it was certainly a strange experience going for my first ACS game, surrounded by past and present ACS players, cheering my son in an ACS jersey, when in the past I’d never paid any attention to ACS unless I was playing against them (or cheering for another school to beat them)!
Favourite Players: I like current All Black (and recently-named captain) Tana Umaga for the same reasons - and his cousin and fellow All Black, Jerry Collins, is pretty awesome at number 8 too. "King" Carlos Spencer is great to watch when he's in form - the no-look inside passes, the flip passes over his head or between his legs - but he sometimes has really bad games, giving away try-scoring interceptions etc. Two players I really admire for their grit, character, leadership and determination are two of the smaller players in world rugby - former Wallaby scrum-half and captain George Gregan, and England utility back Jason Robinson. Both make up for lack of size by fitness, explosive power and absolute commitment in the run and tackle. Gregan strikes me as being one of those people who will do well in anything in life, just by being confident, calm, focussed and determined - an absolutely inspirational individual. Jason Robinson's life story is really inspiring too - the product of a broken home who grew up watching his mother get beaten up by his father, he overcame alcoholism and depression when he became a Christian (under the influence of former All Black Inga Tuigamala), and is now one of the cornerstones of England's breakout game. See synopsis of Jason's story here. My pre-professionalism (i.e. pre-1995) dream team (I'm not saying they'd combine well, Front row: Kees Meeuws (New Zealand), Daniel Dubroca (France), Gareth Chilcott (England) Scum Half: Gareth Edwards (Wales) Reserves (forwards): Sean Fitzpatrick (New Zealand), Neil Back (England), (Semi-)Current World Team, circa 2004 (again, not talking about fit and complementarity, just favourites) Carl Hayman (New Zealand), John Smit (S. Africa), Andrew Sheridan (England) Dwayne Peel (Wales), Daniel Carter (New Zealand) Reserves (forwards): Keven Mealamu (New Zealand), Steve Thompson (England), Jason White (Scotland), Martin Williams (Wales), Paul O'Connell (Ireland)
Circa 2009 World Team John Smit (S. Africa, now plays a lot at prop), Keven Mealamu (NZ), Andrew Sheridan (England) Nathan Sharpe (Australia), Victor Matfield (S. Africa) Ritchie McCaw (NZ), Sebastien Chabal (France), Juan Smith (S. Africa)
Will Genia (Australia), Daniel Carter (NZ) Maa Nonu (NZ), Yannick Jauzion (France) Bryan Habana (S. Africa), Mils Muliaina (NZ), Shane Williams (Wales)
Reserves: Brad Thorne (NZ), Dimitri Swarievski (France), Nemia Tialata (NZ), Donncha O’Callaghan (Ireland), Dwayne Peel (Wales), Gavin Henson (Wales), Sonny Bill Williams (NZ), David Lemi (Samoa)
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