Slippery when wet: Why rugby should be a summer sport

Watching the Springboks take on New Zealand this past weekend, I was struck by two rather profound thoughts. Firstly, that it still isn’t socially acceptable to drink hard liquor in the morning, judging by the disapproving looks I received from the other patrons at the coffee bar I was frequenting. Secondly — and most importantly — I was left convinced that the time has come for rugby to become a fully fledged summer sport.

It was telling that the professional wrestling manoeuvre Brad Thorn performed on John Smit proved to be the game’s most innovative passage of play. This was through no fault of the players, however, as the weather in Wellington was nothing short of atrocious. Pacific island villages have been evacuated for far less, and yet there we were, expecting a great game of rugby to be played. Watching the Springboks lose can be an unpleasant experience at the best of times; watching them lose in near-freezing conditions in the pouring rain is just pure masochism.

If one considers the Western Province versus Free State match later in the day, as well as the Italian mudbath from a few weeks back, it becomes fairly obvious that the game of rugby should be played in dry, humid conditions. Despite technological advances in the material used for making balls, as well as the emergence of those gloves that were so popular a few seasons back, rugby is and always will be a difficult game to play in the wet.

The average rugby fan has grown weary of the conservative tactics generally employed by teams in these conditions. If we really wanted to see aimless kicking from one side of the field to the next, we would go to a Bafana Bafana game. What we really want to see is entertaining rugby, consisting of intelligent running and slick handling, and the conditions need to be conducive for our teams to play in that manner,

Playing in the summer is not that radical or far-fetched an idea — the Super 14 usually starts around February anyway, and it’s no coincidence that it’s the most exciting rugby tournament in the world. All it really means, then, is pushing the season forward by another two months, which would actually help the players with their conditioning, as they would then be playing matches during the holiday period rather than filling up on Christmas pudding in their off-season. In terms of safety, professional rugby players tend to suffer from broken necks rather than heat exhaustion, so there is no medical bias against playing in sweltering humidity. Our local footballers have already made the seasonal transition fairly easily, and there is no reason why our rugby players cannot also make the change.

From a fan’s perspective, having the season in the warmer summer months would also lead to more braais, and wors and braaivleis have always played a vital part in the South African rugby supporter’s psyche. It’s a win-win situation any way you look at it. Sure, some traditionalists may baulk at the idea, preferring the forward-dominating scrap of a 9-3 score line on a muddy pitch in Newcastle rather than the high-octane 45-37 try-fest on a dry Highveld field. Let’s be realists here, though: in order for rugby to appeal as a truly global sport, it needs to up its entertainment levels — meaning more running, more tries and drier fields.

There is a reason why cricket isn’t played in winter. It’s time that rugby’s head honchos wised up and followed suit.