Friday Night Lights - a history
The Six Nations is probably the biggest annual international sporting competition in the world.
I’ve already explained in great detail how it’s better than the Super Bowl, how Northern Hemisphere rugby is vastly superior to its southern counterpart and how the rich variety of supporters the competition brings forth adds to its charms.
It’s historic AF, as the kids say, tracing its history all the way back to 1883, though Eddie Butler’s montage voiceovers weren’t quite as good back then. Still, that doesn’t mean history can’t be made, and in 2009 a new project was embarked upon by the organisers of the tournament, with great encouragement from the French rugby union. For the first time in its history, a Six Nations game would be held on a Friday night , a daring record surely up there with Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon, or the first time I managed to fold a fitted bed sheet without swearing.
French rugby has a long and proud tradition domestically of Friday night contests serving as something of an entrée to the weekend, but internationally the decision to hold a game at the Stade de France outside of the usual Saturday/Sunday window was met with great anger. Supporters bemoaned the lack of consideration for travelling fans, and decried the fact that the influx of cash into the game had given broadcasters carte blanche to dictate the tournament to their whims. Players were equally put out, with Wales captain Ryan Jones and flanker Martyn Williams pointing out that a 9pm kick off presented challenges in terms of time management and tiredness.
Even French coach Marc Lievremont wasn’t happy, being of the opinion that anything other than 3pm Saturday afternoon kick offs were sacrilege as far as he was concerned. Ever the contrarian, Wales coach Warren Gatland thought the whole thing was “a fantastic idea”, claiming that a later kick off gave coaches much more time to prepare for a match.
To the match itself then, and, despite a late surge of pressure from Wales, the home side came away victorious 21-16, crushing Welsh dreams of back-to-back Grand Slams in the process. Wales beat Italy in the following round to regain some composure, but then lost to Ireland at home in Cardiff in a nail-biting encounter which saw Ireland clinch their first Grand Slam since 1948. France for their part had evidently been benefitting from that Friday feeling, as in the following round they were thumped by England on a much more traditional Sunday afternoon.
Despite the loss, Wales clearly enjoyed the experience as they decided to take a leaf out of Rebecca Black’s book and get down on Fridays as it were. For the next seven years, Cardiff played host to a Friday night game, with Wales winning three of those matches. The tradition was clearly established, but that’s not to say it was without its detractors. The evident popularity of Friday night fixtures meant that they had become an irremovable part of the tournament, like the national anthems or mocking Jeremy Guscott’s choice of scarf, but the burden was not being shared equally .
Despite the supposed French love of Friday night games, they have yet to repeat their experiment in Paris (though have featured at Cardiff three times). Scotland have cited concerns over attendances, Ireland have pointed out the difficulties of international travel and the area surrounding England’s Twickenham stadium can be an impenetrable fortress at the best of times without throwing beered-up commuters into the mix. England’s opening match of the 2015 World Cup was held on a Friday, but the endeavour has yet to be repeated.
With Fridays now permanently pencilled in on rugby fans’ calendars, a new record is about to be set in 2018. For the first time ever, this year’s tournament will see a Friday night game that doesn’t feature Wales, with France hosting Italy at the Orange Velodrome in Marseille. Reports that Warren Gatland is planning to attend the game anyway and then go on a drunken search for a kebab shop at 3am are sadly unconfirmed.
Saturday afternoons will always appease the traditionalists, with the bright lights, pumping music and lasers of many Friday night games turning the Principality into an overblown facsimile of PRYZM on one too many occasions. But with viewing figures necessitating a continuation of the current scheduling, it’s certainly looking like Friday night fixtures are here to stay.
Comments on RugbyPass
Absolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
97 Go to commentsHo hum.
97 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
97 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
97 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
97 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
97 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
97 Go to commentsBen, nobody gets fooled anymore by selective and biased data to support an hypothesis. Games are decided on such small margins these days that you win some and lose some, and dominance is a thing of the rugby past. Look at the RWC circle of fortune…. Ireland beats SA who beat France who beat NZ who beat Ireland. And so it goes on. Match officials help to eliminate real indiscretions. If they had been with us years before, no doubt results would have been different. Remember Andy Haden’s dive from a lineout in 1978 for which a match-wining penalty was awarded? Wales should have beaten the ABs that day. They took the loss like the gentlemen they were.
97 Go to commentsWith all the analysis and how good the all blacks were.The fundamental mistake with the ABs is that this is a test match and not an exhibition.There is no better team(country) in world rugby than the Boks that knows how to win a test match(we are post masters at this).We know our rules, we have the discipline, we tackle like beasts, we take our points and we never give up.I now have educated the ABs supporters(at least say thank you).Please stop “bitching” , accept what the outcome is and move along swiftly.
97 Go to commentsAnd they came from behind to win two big games before the final. No one can say what would have happened. Had the boks gone behind the game plan changes and the result may changes. Ifs and ands are irrelevant. The boks won. Neutral critics enjoyed the games they played. Its not a popularity contest. Get over it and move on.
97 Go to commentsI'm happy for the people of SA to get a second WC. And I mean that. I was very disappointed with this man's “stand on the hand” incident with Josh Van Der Flyer (Ireland). Ireland's downfall in the last WC was they did not rotate their first 15 as the head coach probably should have. That said, I'm happy for SA and genuinely hope it lifts the mood in their country. Ireland did beat them in the first match of the tournament. And before the trolls start trolling ….. please don't bother. Etzbeth said recently that the Irish players said after the match “see you in the final”…..this was actually wishing the SA team the best of luck in the rest, the Irish team were not dismissing the AB’s. This is what Etzbeth was implying. But he was wrong. I no longer live in Ireland. But I hope to see them lift that cup before I pass. Anyway, congratulations SA. 👍
12 Go to commentsMore bloody click bait. Dan Carter has said absolutely nothing. As he should do. Poor journalism again from a site that should know better
9 Go to commentsOh god please help these loosers get over it!!!! You lost. Doesn't matter how many times you dummies are gonna analyse the game, you still lost and we are still Rygby World Champions….get over it, you lost.
97 Go to commentsThe next Willie le Roux. SA are made not to use him.
3 Go to commentsDan has always been as controversial as tea with milk so we were never going to get any definitive answer. So DMac for the win.
9 Go to commentsGoodness. When are the All Blacks and New Zealand commentators going to stop complaining about how they could have won and just try to win next time 😂. In South Africa if you lose you get up and try again. Get over it.
97 Go to commentsHonestly, it doesn’t matter a whole lot. RSA has a ton of experienced talent in its leadership group. I am more interested in who is the new 8 man/8 men and the younger props. The captain may change but the system does not
1 Go to comments