Que Ganemos

One of the first things I did when I got to Chile was look for a rugby team. I asked around at the Universidad de Chile but found that all the teams have schedules that did not work for me. Then one day while playing soccer in the park a rugby team came over to do some pre-season training. I approached the coach, asked if I could play and started training with them.

I had to fill out an information sheet and obviously pay dues. The assistant coach told me that dues were 20.000 pesos (40 USD) a number that seemed legit. The assistant coach then called me and told me he needed 20.000 pesos more for the registration fee; a blip appeared on my bullshit radar, but being a new guy and the number now only being 20 USD more than S.U. dues, I payed.

A few days later I was bar-hopping with a fellow rugger and somehow the topic of dues came up, when I told him how much I paid he said, "[the assistant coach] es un concha su madre". I'll let you all translate that, as my mother reads this. 

Our conversation lead to the first meetings between a group of high-ranking players advocating for the forced withdrawal of the concha su madre. I call it the golpe del equipo or coup of the team.

When we confronted the concha su madre and asked him about the money, he of course said that everything was legitimate. When we asked the director of the Institute, a letter demanding resignation was sent the next day.

Once that slight issue was handled we could play some rugby, which brings me to a report of our last game.

My parents (who happened to be visiting at the time) and I arrived to the field only to find that it was in the shadow of the snow-covered Andes. My team; Inacap, or Incapaz as we are sometimes called was rather unimpressed with the view. I can understand, the dome doesn't really do much for me anymore.

I entered the game as a starting second row and the jumper in first pod. The game was going reasonably well for our capabilities. The scrum was going quite well and we weren't throwing the ball away too much. Furthermore, I was enjoying myself.

Then our hooker; yes that is a real position, decided to engage too early in the scrum. Why this is a problem deserves a bit of an explanation. As a second row player, my head is wedged between the prop's ass and the hooker's ass. Normally all of the force that I experience is dispersed through my shoulders and back, but when the hooker leaves too early it gets absorbed by my neck. I decided to leave the ground after my neck made a sound like someone was stepping on a bag of lays.

We went on to lose gloriously, but played hard.