So, whilst we prepare for the beginning of our own rugby season, instead of being glued to YouTube between gym and pitch sessions, we’ve been lending a helping hand to the refugee crisis in our own way.
What started as an informal rugby session for the refugees a few weeks ago has now turned into arguably the most eagerly-anticipated part of the week for some. We arrived with our pads (ramping it up this week), balls, and cones. Like any school sport sessions, you have the keen beans, who are late even if they are five minutes early, trying to get the ball out of the bag before we’ve even put the gear down.
Our warm-ups are enjoyed by us and if we’re having fun then surely, they are too? The fact that these guys and girls want to be there makes our job easy. What begins as game of rugby netball ultimately leads to questions being asked about what the green pads are for. In our ‘Demo’ my main man Stefan Schaap hits me like freight train. Thank God, we’re on grass as I barely regain my balance and save face. I often wonder what people think when I hit them – I imagine they laugh out loud!
Around half way through the session the late-comers pile in, the kids who are late because they were kept behind in another lesson at school, the pirates. Unmatched energy, wrong kit and zero regards for any rules. I let Stefan and Edoardo take this group today, rock, paper, scissors – this aint my first ro-de-o. I get to work with the real young ones but I don’t speak the lingo so visual guidance is the order of the day. I get called Mr Browne, it’s like being a teacher back at Akeley Wood.
We always have an audience – normally the adults and a few of the older ones. Too cool to bring their kit in with them for PE, don’t care about detention. Time fly’s when you are having fun, so we had best get involved then. I was always told not to put yourself in that position as a teacher, where you can be shown up. Rubbish, show them how it is done, failure? Have another go, and another and another – is there a better way to learn than how to deal with failure? Life skills. Edo has this obsession with Russell Crowe’s first big movie Gladiator, any chance to throw in a chant from the movie and he’s got it in there before you’ve even thought about doing it. 300 is also never far away.
Where did this idea come from? Lunch at our favourite Italian restaurant near the Glacis – they let Edo take the dog in here too. A chat, a phone call and a meeting. Truth is, two of my younger brothers have seen it all first hand out in the Middle East. Check one out on Instagram @brownepower or the other on twitter @craig_browne.
Thanks to the boys who have helped and will continue to make a difference. Cheers to Stefan Schaap (instagram @de_schaap_rppb) 2nd row, 150% Luxembourger, needs to work on his bench press. Edoardo Angioni, Wing Italian/Luxembourger – don’t be fooled by his German accent, bags of energy. Very irritating that he never stops smiling, not on Instagram. Yared Ketema (instagram @hunnegkinneg) Luxembourger/Ethiopian. Public school boy via Millfield school. Serious player. Looks ridiculous in his passport photo.
These chaps are all cut from the same cloth, if we had to do PE in our school uniform back at school, we would, just love sport!
I’m not sure how to caption this image – it’s very cool though, wouldn’t look out of place in a book. Proper book, not a comic one.
