Black and white rugby emotions

The architecture of soccer in Hong Kong; of happiness and fascism

Early start; Orell spent the night, in breaking dawn light, nervous boys try to eat breakfast.

Ev played at the Kellett sky-pitch this morning and I was musing at the hugely weird architecture of soccer in Hong Kong.  Up there.  In the sky. Towering over most of the world. Some of the rest towering over you.  Some of the things I can't help thinking about, modern urbanized existence, vs life (urbanization is a key mega-trend), societies which value people - and those which prioritize materialism.  

It interests me that in The World Happiness Report , released by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network of the United Nations a few days ago, the happiest countries on earth are all effectively socialist: high participation in democratic process, high tax, high social security, low income disparity, significant labour security: Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Canada, New Zealand, Sweden and Australia.  It's just not that hard to know what the right choices to make are, if you are a developed country.  

In contrast: low tax, zero social security, huge income disparity, zero labour security:

Nope, the picture above is not Evan's football.  It's a painting by Adolf Hitler (who after the first world war was a struggling artist).  I recall reading about his world-view as reflected in his painting's  common thematics: orderly lines, massive buildings dwarfing little people; places being more important than the lives of those living there. 

Fingertips push away a dipping, very crafty long shot.  He had a busy day, and kept a clean sheet with his team winning 3-0 in the end.

Goal-mouth melee after a corner, Ev gets the fist up and punches away.

Probably his best save - hit very hard, mid-height from close range - gets across and parries with both hands, my photo being that half second too late, after contact.

Rugby cup final ... what is winning and in what way does it matter?

Today marked the end of Aiden's rugby season.  There are two divisions in his age-group, and his club, Sai Kung Stingrays won them both.  This morning, he was really sweet, said that he was feeling sick and had stomach cramps - "I guess because I'm nervous" which is, I suppose, a huge part of the value of competition - being able to stand outside yourself and almost observe yourself as an actor in a show of sorts.  It was a stunning late-winter morning.  As far as games go, they saved the best till last - spent the first 20 minutes of the game in dogged defense of their line, then under siege in their 22, but withstood the onslaught, and ground back up the field until scoring just before the end of the first half.  In the second half they continued, until they'd taken control of the game and eventually over-ran Valley Fort completely, 28-0.  Aiden scored an excellent crash-running-then-stepping try, and kicked all four of his conversions.

Beautiful Hong Kong morning, butterflies next to the field as boots are pulled on before warm-up.  If you click on the picture to make it larger you can see Brian's cool lightning-bolt hair cut, centre left.

Aiden going up to accept the league cup.

Aiden with the two professional coaches assigned to Stingray's U14 team by the HK Union, Chris and Colin - both of them excellent, caring and pleasantly rugged human-beings.  They've been tireless in their support, a great blend of real sincerity and seriousness, but with humour.  Rugby is a strangely special culture for kids - not something I'd fully appreciated until watching Aiden and Evan get into it.

Aiden with his Stingrays team mates - and yes, everyone did get a chance holding the cup.

Which brings me to the question of winning, what matters and what doesn't, and the whole sports thing in general.  I'm never that sure whether winning is important, or why.  Clearly, for any competitive game to have that absorbing quality, there needs to be some degree of competitiveness.  But what extent of that is healthy?  I love sports - though I think since school it's always been an individual thing for me - and winning has necessarily been replaced by achieving - something in my own mind.  Can I run a certain distance?  Can I ride from here to there?  In what time do I ride from here to there? etc.  On a personal level, although I played a lot of different sports - I was pretty crap at all of them - and when that's the case, particularly in a Pretoria Boys High sort of culture - winning really can't be that important - because if it was your life would feel pretty crap too.  Instead of winning being a motivator - other intrinsic motivators seem to emerge (or perhaps that is what everyone gets out of this too?)  I also couldn't bear the culture of sports hero worship - I mean really, ffs?  Do the people winning all this stuff also need to have everyone bowing down in reverence?  Nope.  I definitely believed in the dignity of the audience and the masses.  So it's kind of weird to have a family member who suddenly is captain of a rugby team that wins the league - definitely new territory for me.  Though I feel great delight in his being part of something larger, which is full of rich relationships which make him happy, but the best part of all still seems that he honestly does not seem that effected by who wins or loses.  Which brings me to the issue of cheating in sports - Lance Armstrong, the documentary Icarus, and the allegations about British cycling...

The Tron-Bike awaits its next outing - with Bradley Wiggins on the screen in the background.

Ten years

I decided to grow a beard.  Cool things.  Just not something that Ange is a fan of; but one out of three is not a bad average and it's proceeded.  I remembered that I had a beard just before I joined the financial services sector, 10 years ago, and had taken a pic of that one.  So I took a similar pic last night, and discovered that ... 10 years will f*#k you up a bit :-0

Now...

...and then. 

Weekend bliss

I brought a laptop home to do some work, but I just couldn't; it was a weekend with too much delight - in those small spaces, the interstices.  First up, Saturday - Ev was playing against the team who are joint top of the league with his - earlyish start - enough time for him to wake up and have a little vomit time, courtesy the nerves; the price of competitiveness.  In the end they won 2-0, Orell scored both, and Ev was not busy at all.  The opposing team's keeper was on fire, it could have been 10-0.  I don't know how they got to joint top of the league. 

Ev with his mates after the game - and braces :-)

With that settled, Ev headed out for a birthday sleepover (Max's) and I spent the rest of the day rebuilding bike wheels (science is amazing - more about that some other time).  Sunday was a similar sort of thing, Aiden's team was playing in the league final for his division, and were up against the old foe DEA Tigers.  In the end Stingray's won 33-31 in a high scoring game.  Aiden was on form at flyhalf - and in the end it was one conversion that he slotted that the other team missed that was the difference.  He didn't throw up - but was mightily grumpy until we got to the pitch.

Chilling with his mates before the game, watching the U16s

Having sold a dummy - on a clean line-break through the mid-field