Rugby and Guinness

So in our search to keep ourselves entertained in Singapore and find reasons to leave our apartment, we happened upon an advertisment in Time Out Magazine for a 4 nations tournament in Singapore (thank god for Time Out, by the way, its been an amazing guide in every country I have lived in) and decided that for the price of S$15 we should check out our first live Rugby experience. We recruited our only friend, Kenny, and took the redline of the MRT multiple stops father than we had previously been in pursuit of a good time. 


Arriving at the "stadium" we quickly realized that this was going to be the best S$15 we had spent thus far in Singapore. There were probably 500 people in the stands in a stadium about 1/3rd the size of my High School football stadium. No matter- what the fans lacked in numbers they more than made up for in spirit. More important than the Asian rugby super fans (see photo below) was that Guinness had so kindly sponsored the event and the Irish brew was on sale for 2 pints for 10 dollars. This is probably a good deal in the US- but in Singapore- its a un-friggin-believably good deal. As Dave has bitterly commented on, beer here is expensive- really, really expensive. A local draft sets you back at least 10 dollars for the smallest glass you have ever seen. So 2 real beers for 10 is a goldmine. The best part is that they wouldn't sell you just 1- you had to have 2. Every time. For 3 hours. You can imagine how well double-fisting pints of Guinness turned out for everyone involved later in the evening... Not surprisingly the beer tents were also popular with the male middle aged Aussie and Brit "re-living the glory days of when I used to play" crowd- so we made some fun friends whilst waiting in line for more exceptionally priced beers. I even got recruited to play women's rugby- but little did this guy know that I am an only child who doesn't like to be hit and that most 3 year olds have better hand-eye coordination. Don't think I have much of a career ahead of me in women's rugby. 


Anyways, I am sure Dave will have some commentary on the sport that accompanied the cheap beer- but I am not ashamed to admit that the best parts of my evening had very little to do with the big (OK- its Asia- "big" maybe overstating it a little bit) men playing in the mud. 

What Rugby game would be complete with out teen-aged Malaysian boys playing the bagpipes? 

We sat in the Mah-lay-zian section. They really liked rugby. This guy was the resident Malaysian super fan. 

Dave at the Guinness tent. The first of many such trips. 

Two very happy AXP men with their beers. 

Yum- Dinner. Better than the concept of a cheese sausage, which, even after consuming one, is still a bit of a mystery, is that they were served not on buns, but speared on sticks and delivered in a baggie, as demonstrated by Kenny above. 

This is the only part of the actual game that I really enjoyed. What is there not to like about grown men lifting each other up in the air?