I don’t think I’ve really talked about it on the blog, but I am a massive rugby fan. After spending a lot of my hockey-playing teens watching professionals play every weekend, I started playing myself when I went to college at Trinity College Dublin. I spent 4 years playing for DUFC (which is actually the oldest rugby club in the world) and I loved pretty much every minute of it.
I had thought seriously about playing in Spain, I even contacted a few clubs, but once I found out I had Glandular Fever (mononucleosis), playing a contact sport was out of the question. Though I really enjoyed not having the commitment of training with a team, I did really miss playing rugby and I’m in the process of joining a new team here in Dublin.
But before I even got to start again properly, I signed up to play in one of Ireland’s biggest rugby 7s tournaments of the summer. Tullamore Rugby Club host Midland Midnight 7s every year, and it’s a mad weekend of rugby and fun. Most of the teams camp at the club, and with the men’s final only starting at midnight, it really is an all-day event.
I had never been to the event before, mostly due to the fact that I have always refused to play rugby 7s. I am very much a player of the traditional, 15 man game, and am far too slow (and unfit) to be playing 7s. 7s differs in the fact that it is 7 players per team for 7 minutes a half. It’s played on a full-sized rugby pitch with the same rules as the original game, but is much faster and more exciting to watch. Despite always avoiding playing 7s while in university, when my friends mentioned they needed more players, I found myself volunteering to head down for the weekend to “help out”.
I really went to spend the weekend with my friends, which did not disappoint. Though our team, The Unholy Trinity, lost all of our 3 matches, we really didn’t care about the results. We probably had some of the best craic of all of the women’s teams and spent most of Saturday laughing. The camping also meant we got a chance to meet lots of the other teams, most of whom were there for the social side of the event.
Aside from being crippled from sleeping on the ground for the night (I hate camping), it really was a fantastic weekend. Though I wasn’t delighted by the fact the club ran a teenage disco on the same night as the rugby festival, there was a great vibe to the event and we all went home happy. Though you definitely need to know how to play to participate, rugby festivals like Midnight 7s and Kinsale 7s festival are great events to go watch and enjoy the craic with the teams. Though I probably won’t be playing 7’s any time soon, I’m definitely hoping to go to another of these 7s festivals next summer.
From Meath to Madrid 