Saturday was the first day of Rugby's Six Nations Rugby Championship, a tournament featuring Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, France, and Italy. Scotland's opening match was in Edinburgh at Murrayfield Stadium (the national rugby stadium for Scotland) against arch-rival England. As good fortune would have it, a friend from work had an extra ticket and was kind enough to invite me along.
This annual match between Scotland and England is referred to as The Calcutta Cup, and goes back to 1873, when a match between Scottish and English players first took place in Calcutta, India. There were about 68,000 people at Saturday's match, which made for quite an electric atmosphere. After taking the train in to Edinburgh and watching a bit of France v. Italy at a local pub, we walked through town to the stadium. As we got closer you could hear the increasing sound of bagpipes, and I was surprised at the number of men who were wearing their kilts to the game. Temperatures were in the low 30's, and I was pretty bundled up, but that obviously didn't stop the locals from breaking out their national gear. Seeing as the supporters are referred to as "The Tartan Army", I guess it was only fitting.
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| Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh |
Our seats were in the upper level, which offered a great view of the game, plus excellent views of some snow-capped mountains in the distance and Edinburgh Castle. The stadium was a sea of chanting and singing before and during the game. I haven't seen anything like it since I saw a World Cup soccer game back in the 90's. One great thing about the game was the interactions between the English and Scottish fans. They were all mixed together, decked out in face paint and waving their national flags, without any of the police presence or tension that we've seen at football matches.
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| A little tailgating before the big match |
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| Pipe band playing Flower of Scotland (national anthem at sporting events) |
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| Scottish team ready to run onto the pitch |
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| Action from the first half |
My knowledge of rugby is limited to say the least, but it's an easy enough game to follow along with, and I was lucky to have people around me explaining the game as it went along. Scotland had the lead at the half, but a bad start to the second half seem to have done them in. In spite of the loss (England 13 Scotland 6) I had a fantastic time at the game. You could tell by the energy in the stadium that this was a special game, and it certainly was a terrific substitute for this year's Super Bowl.
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