"Team Mom" Averts "Lord of The Flies" Situation

Ah....group dynamics. Ugh.....uber-male, testosterone-fueled, rugby, group dynamics.

We here in Warthog-land came off the pitch after our home opener a fairly dour and pissy group. The losing wasn' t the issue. The problem was how we treated each other, our players, the fans, the ref, etc. Delta Rugby had kicked our club in the collective scrotum and we just rolled over.

Volunteers drive our sport, especially the refs. We were fortunate to procure Matt Heafey to ref the match. Matt knew the background about what had happened last year between our club and Delta and how Delta had ended its season. Last year, head Coach Soni had to walk out between the two clubs after some fighting, sit all the kids down and lecture them about conduct on the field and the importance of getting an education. It was amazing, because only the hulking Tongan truck driving coach could have mesmerized kids like that. The match last year ended on a positive note thanks to Soni.

Unfortunately, Delta devolved into anarchy last season when one of its players sucker-punched a ref. The ref was hospitalized and the boy arrested. Such behavior is why rugby has a hard time attracting refs. The on and off-field violence is still pretty rare. The league now has field protocols in place to try to control coaches and spectators.

By the way, I will tell readers the unflinching good, the bad and the ugly about my favorite sport. I will speak my mind about what's good and bad about my favorite sport.

So I told Matt Heafey about what he might be getting involved in and he still agreed to ref. So during the game things weren't going our way and we whined way too much about Matt, who also happened to stick one of our supporters behind a barrier after the supporter verbally lost control on the sidelines. Matt took control of the situation. I dare say our visitors out-classed us that day.

I came to practice Monday night with that heavy-stomach feeling, the kind you might have had seeing your parents argue. But we went through our training and had a pretty good session.

So at the end of the night the coaches say a few words. But this came out of the mouth of Ms. Lupe, whose sons play for us:

"Remember, you play to have fun."