When you're a senior boy at the age of 13 (before becoming a junior boy at the age of 14), you feel like a King. You possibly played Rugby for the school's 1st XV, and all the younger boys admired and looked-up to you. If you were fortunate to earn your Rugby 'colours', you really were at the top of the sporting tree.
Then you have to change schools and at your new Upper School you are the lowest of the low, fagging for all and sundry, cooking toast for people you don't know, and probably playing Rugby for the school's most junior rubbish team. Life suddenly becomes very hard, you no longer have any free time, and you know it will take another three to four years before you have any kudos again. Your Prep' School 'colours' now seem very distant and unimportant.
Who can this fresh-faced junior Rugby player be?
Of course, in time, I did get to play in my Upper School 1st XV, but I don't remember being awarded any 'colours'. In other sports, yes; but not for Rugby. Standards were higher than I could achieve.
Anyway, I've kept my Prep' School cap (the one I'm wearing in the photo), and I rather treasure it. It reminds me of having once been quite good at something. I did also have a Cricket 'colours' cap, but Lady M threw it away; I think the moths had got at it.
So, here it is, a treasured possession, and a reminder of when I was for a very short while an elite sportsman, even though I was only 13; but at 13 life is VERY serious.
I did go on to play Club Rugby, which was another game altogether. I played against such renowned teams as London Welsh and London Irish, and used to come off the pitch very much worse for wear. It was way beyond my league and I soon quit all sport, other than swimming and cycling, for ever.
It seems that you did have an interesting childhood full of special experiences.
ReplyDeleteI did indeed. Not always successfully though!
DeleteWe used to get enamel badges for the sport which we represented the school.
ReplyDeleteOn line, a while ago, I bought similar badges for 'Drinks Monitor' and 'Dancing Queen'.
We never had those, but I remember people having 'Prefect' badges at other schools. I suppose the most popular must have been the 'Blue Peter' enamel badge.
DeleteThought you were going to mention the England win in France yesterday
ReplyDeleteIt was a great match. I didn't see all of it, and was horrified to see that at one stage it had been 20 : 20. A good eventual result for England, but Fiji played very well.
DeleteRugby was my sporting forte at school and I played for the school's first team when I was only fifteen. I received my school colours that very year which entitled me to wear a special tie. My regret is that I didn't carry on with rugby when I went to university.
ReplyDeleteClub Rugby is a very different game to School Rugby, as I soon found out. If you watched England's game yesterday, you'll know what I mean.
DeleteSuch a sweet little boy.
ReplyDeleteAppearances can be deceptive.
DeleteThe only colour I achieved (I wasn't, and am still not, sports orientated) was an enamel badge in my house colour. In former years (when there was a Nanny to do the sewing - all those Cash's? name tapes!) these were fabric and sewn to our tunics, but that died out about the same time as Nannies!
ReplyDeleteCash's name tapes were my mother's nightmare.
Delete...coming off the pitch worse for wear reminds me of my hockey days. Some of the teams we played, such sweet girls, were savage and swung at your ankles and then the ball.
ReplyDeleteMy brothers played rugby and cricket. The first fifteen was what every good keen kiwi bloke was expected to strive for.
Yes, playing for your 1st squad was always the greatest aim. I really enjoyed my school Rugby days; I should have stopped there!
DeleteSchool rugby is huge in the UK. I am not familiar with club rugby - it sounds like a highly competitive level of playing. US soccer is similar but seems less popular.
ReplyDeleteSchool Rugby is for 17 year olds (and younger), but Club Rugby tends to be played by 25 stone, 35 year old, thugs. At least some of the clubs I played against seemed like that.
DeleteI think every child should have the opportunity to feel like a hero (or heroine).
ReplyDeleteIt's a great feeling when you're 13, but it doesn't last.
Delete"fagging for all and sundry, cooking toast for people you don't know" Is that an accepted thing that the juniors will do the bidding of others just because they are older and demanding? That's terrible!
ReplyDeleteThese days life is probably easier, but in my day it was 'fagging and beating', as well as which we were expected to work very hard.
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