Losing at anything pretty much hurts if your heart is in the team you support. I don't recall the football manager who said it now (I don't follow football), but he said that, "football is more than sport. Its a religion." Here in Wales, we can say the same about rugby, indeed some would say its our national sport. We do have those strange people who prefer football (and I mean that light heartedly), but as a rule, rugby is where its at.
So you can imagine how many sad faces awoke on Saturday after losing to our age old rivals England the previous night (oh and for the record, I still cannot get used to Friday night rugby internationals). It stung that bit more too, especially after playing well in the first half and going into the second as the team with more points on the board. I thought we had the beating of them. I was confident the dragon would emerge victorious but alas when the final whistle blew, the score was Wales 16 England 21, and a nation was left either drowning our sorrows or having a little banter via Twitter and Facebook. Social media has made losing a nightmare because whereas before the internet, we only had work mates to face on a Monday morning, the joys of winning and sadness of losing is instant.
But lets not lose heart over it, afterall its only sport, not war. Nobody is dying here, there are worse things going on in this often cruel world.
Sure I would feel different had Wales won. As a passionate Welshman supporting our national team, I would be bouncing off the walls and gloating on Twitter like the English fans were doing (and good for them), but it doesn't hurt to be on the losing side once in a while. It keeps everything in check, proving nothing is immune to life's bitter blade. Safe to say that I would be extremely wary and nervous were I to ever meet someone/something that was forever winning. Success at every turn might sound like a grand old time but it would create such a fierce arrogance that no mortal could have it and not be corrupted in some terrible way. Perfection? Blessed? That way lies danger.
Anyway before I start wading into a different territory, I shall end by saying defeat might leave a sour taste in ones mouth, and will certainly dampen spirits for a while but with everything else going on in this world, losing at a sport should be the least of our worries.
Lose and learn from it. Oh, and *grits teeth* well played England.
Way back when I was in school I used to carry a notebook everywhere I went to record daily thoughts and observations. So you see, ive been blogging since before it was popular and where better to carry it onward than to give it a digital page of its own? Welcome to the pages of bar fly Hollywood Francis...
