Boots and All!

As you all know by now, both Rob and I are avid rugby watchers. And at the moment there is lots to watch! The Super Rugby is well under way but sadly, my team, The Stormers, are not doing too well, in fact we are lying 13 out of a possible 15, only one place behind the Cheetahs! (At least we have moved up from the bottom.) Rob supports the Stormers sometimes and the Cheetahs sometimes. And the Bulls, but I shan't mention that! I never support the Bulls unless they are playing a foreign team, and then only sometimes!!

And that brings me to the point of today's blog! Rugby!

Last Saturday we watched the Cheetahs play, um, someone, not sure who any more! Halfway through the game I happened to look at the Cheetah's captain's boots! He was wearing two different colours. One was red and the other was blue. Well, I just thought that maybe something had happened to one of his boots and he had had to make a quick change and just happened to have another pair of boots of a different colour in the change room. Wouldn't you think that?

So, yesterday we settled down to watch the Bulls play the Brumbies. We had been out for lunch (my next blog) and were pleasantly full and mellow. The game was well into the first half when I happened to notice that two players in the Bull's team were wearing boots of different colours. One red and one blue. Why?
And they weren't sharing a pair either because they both had the red on their right foot and the blue on the left foot. (I must apologise for the quality of the photography, I was not drunk, I had to photograph the telly!)

Look there, you can clearly see number 13.

Well, that got me thinking.

Was it a case of R for red and R for right foot?
Do they get confused when they are kicking? Has the coach said 'Kick with the red foot man'?
Have they got another pair of odd boots at home, or do they buy them like that?
Is it to confuse the opposing team?
Or, and this seems most likely, is it some daft fad?

See?

Whatever it is, it has ruined the game for me. Instead of watching the ball, I am now firmly checking out the players boots to see if it's just our teams that do it, or if it is a worldwide phenomena.

When Rob says to me 'Hey, did you see that?'
I can only answer, 'No, but look at that guy's feet!'

Does anybody out there have the answer?
And maybe The Stormers should follow the trend!

Rugby and Roadkill.

Earlier this year I listened to a very interesting talk on the radio about the plight of the Riverine Rabbit. I then decided to join the very worthwhile 'Endangered Wildlife Trust' or EWT, hoping that my small contribution would help in some way. I receive their newsletter via email and each time I read it I see words like 'extinct', 'global warming' and 'endangered species' and I shudder. But, this month (apart from the doom and gloom), I read with interest that EWT is proud to announce a partnership with the Gauteng based Golden Lions Rugby Union, which is putting its force behind carnivore conservation (what else??) by running a competition in which a signed Golden Lions jersey is up for grabs! They are the very well deserving 2011 winners of the Currie Cup. (I am and always shall be a Province supporter, but I must admit that we did not play to the best of our ability this year!)