Rule the World - Take That

N.B. Not a Take That fan, but had to use a second song as a theme is emerging.

I set off with Geordan Murphy, or at least his book, from Snow Hill station to get down to Marylebone to attend the  #WearTheRose send off for the England Rugby Team with Take That. On arrival, a call of nature meant that I had to dig for change in my purse. The 30 pence I paid to go was well worth it, as the loo had been decorated like a Monopoly Board, with each cubicle having a different token on the door, (hat, dog, car etc.) and in the cubicle, a street card on the wall. (I went in ‘Regent Street’, certainly wouldn’t use ‘Old Kent Road’.) I took photos and jumped on the Tube to go to the O2. I went in my rucksack for some reason and couldn’t find my purse. In a hot and cold sweat, I jumped off the train at Baker Street and went back, not expecting to find it, but it had only been 5 minutes, so maybe I would be lucky. I don’t know whether it was the excitement of seeing something I wasn’t expecting, the dodgy zip on my ruck sack, or just plain carelessness, but as I arrived back at Marylebone, my name was being called over the tannoy. Someone somewhere had been honest and handed my purse, plus money in. (Thank you whoever you are, not only this act had restored my faith in human nature, but it pumped me up for the evening’s events.

On arrival at the O2 Arena, the ‘Make Them Giants’ marketing and posters were everywhere, the success of the #WearTheRose clear to see as white shirts were in the majority, although the occasional Take That fan hadn’t quite got the message. I met my sister and we ate in a Pie Shop – Pie and Mash, what else to eat in the East End? (drinks paid for by O2 Priority – great marketing!)

We took advantage of the Sky Marketing and went into the Sky Backstage, for pre-event drinks. Like ‘Talk Sport’, Sky Sports only really featured Premiership football, not even the different levels , even the International team didn’t get a mention. I wondered if that’s why Premiership Rugby jumped ship?

We entered the Arena early and watched the white shirts slowly come in. A few rows in front of us, a large couple in All Blacks black shirts came in with beers, hotdogs and chips. (I don’t know where they put it!) Suddenly on the other side of the Arena, there was a kerfuffle, as men in suits walked in. The light wasn’t good, but it was the England team and their wives, girlfriends, and in Maku Vunipola’s case, his sister. (Just think of Benjamin Button, he’s a young man with an old face).

Not watching TV, I didn’t know who the camp man with the sequined jacket was. He could have been famous having his own game show to win a holiday in Ibiza, or making losing on the National Lottery fun, I really don’t know, but he got the crowd going with stirring renditions of Sweet Caroline. Of course Swing Low was there, but none of verse or proper actions, which could have been fun, teaching people. I suppose that the event was a family one though.

He left the stage and Vernon Kay, who I know is famous, although not quite sure what for, came on to start the event. It was then that I found out that it was on TV anyway, so the stress of flying down and flying back the next day, could have been on my settee with a cup of tea and a biscuit, PJ’s, slippers, and no bra on.

Laura Wright was first on, and she looked nervous. Having met her, she is an ordinary young lady with an extraordinary voice, so this was another big occasion for her. Next on was a singer that Jools Holland recommended, Andreya Triana, so good enough for me.

 In between each artist, a group of players came on stage. The first group were the front five. The players that determine whether a game will be won, who play with their heart on their sleeve, the ones that always have tears at their national anthems, unlike the cool clinical backs.  There were 5 Sarries players on stage, with the player I predict to have the biggest impact, as he was on no one, other than Sarries’ fans’ radar,Jamie George, falling up the stage. As he is my ‘little’ boy, all 17 stone of him, my heart went out to him. How not to look cool, but then again, the front 5 are rarely considered cool anyway.

Callibro, a boy band opera singers ensemble came on. I was getting frustrated at this point. I never realised how incontinent the public had become, and how desperate they were for food, as there was a constant stream going up and down the stairs, during the acts and even when the players were speaking. £85 to eat and drink – cheaper to watch it on TV, when you can pause and go when you want.

The player interviews were bland, as expected. Teamwork, respect, hard work, excitement. All the things that you would expect from pre-staged questions and answers. The players themselves were taking selfies with each other on stage, no longer club rivals, but members of a new team. One of the highlights for me, was Stuart Lancaster’s speech about the journey the players were on. He went through the various stages. The first and most important, was family. For his first game in charge, he asked every player’s parents to write a letter to their sons, explaining what it meant to them that their son was playing for England. He asked the players to pick 5 people in their lives, to do the same. Stage two was to build the culture, of honesty, trust, team work through hard work and working for each other, demonstrated by the players forgetting their teams and grouping into their new teams – functional areas like the front 5. He then stated that he felt that being English, we have been on the back foot for long enough and it was time to get on the front foot and be proud of being English again. Hurray. Too often being English is seen to be a crime, we’re racist, too arrogant, aloof and a 100 other reasons to be disliked. No one seems to value the good points, the integrity, openness to other cultures – there’s a diaspora in the team that covers at least 5 other cultures. Why won’t our politicians state that? I wanted to run on the pitch and play for him. In 5 minutes he’d showed more leadership than any home grown politician has done for years, more passion about the real values in life and work and what team work can achieve. If only work was like that, with people pulling together with a common vision, teamwork, and values, to share a common goal. England won’t win the World Cup, haven’t quite got the pizzazz in the players, but I believe that it won’t be for the want of trying or working for each other.

The final act of the evening was Take That. At first, I didn’t get the connection. Not an obvious choice for a rugby event, but as they played their set, it became clearer. ‘Greatest Day’ ‘Shine’, ‘Rule the World’, maybe there was a fit. Their final song was ‘Never Forget’ and the players came on to  
sing it with them. I went home buzzing, next week can't come soon enough.

A Message to You, Rudy - The Specials. RIP Rico.

One of my many reasons for being a volunteer is because I enjoy going to and around sports stadia. So, when The Pack, offered a tour of Villa Park, I jumped at the chance, even if it is the ground of one of the Baggies arch rivals.

We assembled at 5.30pm, to a ground that has a striking Victorian stand, almost palatial. (Designed by Archibald Leach.) whilst the other stands were more modern, meaning that the ground is very 'disjointed'. We were welcomed by the leads of the functional areas, as well as Villa's Logistics staff. This was done with great humour, especially by the Villa's Security guy, who looked like Lurch and like many ex-policeman, had a dark humour, about what is a pretty dry subject. He explained that as we were volunteers, we would not be part of any emergency response, but because we were in uniform, we were likely to be looked to. He then explained all the calls. 'Stewards to Post' means that something is kicking off. 'Blue', 'Red', and 'Black' alert are the critical calls - crowd crush, fire and bomb respectively. From his size, it was no surprise when he announced that he was a rugby fan, and he and his stewards were looking forward not to have to say 'No', 'You can't go there', 'you can't do that'.

The Villa Event Manager ran through some of the history of the team, and as THE founder member of the Football League, and creators of the format, it was interesting to listen to his talk. Niall was formed by some cricket players who wanted something to do in winter. They played a half of soccer, and a half of rugby and decided that rugby was too rough, so stuck with football. Their loss. Villa Park have also held more semi finals than any other ground in the country. Handy for the 13 FA Cup Semi Finals that the Baggies have been in, the fans just had a short bus ride home.

He explained the work that had gone on over the summer, which Villa hoped would lead to the ground hosting more rugby games. 4G has been laid around the perimeter of the pitch as a mandatory requirement to protect rugby players against head injuries, along with the foundations for the rugby posts on the 6 yard line.

Being a 'statto', the Catering Manager gave us some interesting facts. in the 13 World Cup venues, there are 652 bars, with the prediction that 21 million pies, and 9 million pints of beer, (Heineken) will be drunk. I think that the number of pints drunk is a conservative estimation on how much beer will be drunk, as rugby fans, especially British ones, favour Guinness and 'Real Ale', and as Heineken have supplier rights, I anticipate the pubs around Birmingham, (Barton Arms anyone?) will be seeing an increase in trade, or at least I hope so.

The Media Manager explained that even at what is some of the lesser games, there will be 150 journalists and 88 photographers, all of which have to apply for tickets to get in. The post match process, is that 30 minutes after the game, the losing side, probably the captain and coach answer questions, 15 minutes later, the winning team, coach, captain and up to 3 players, answer questions.
There are a variety of media rooms, including rooms for 'flash interviews', which were once my favourite interviews as they usually had players being interviewed with their shirts off!

I enjoyed this evening far more, than the previous training, no silly ice-breakers or games, just the Event Managers and staff giving facts and figures about the matches, and our roles. I wondered if, although this was voluntary, the Organisers 'sheep dip' approach to training was too unfocussed and bland, and they had decided to  respond with a training session that would give the volunteers a more sporting and focussed experience.

For the tour, Villa allowed us to visit all the critical rooms, including Tim Sherwood's Office, the Players' Lounge and the Changing Rooms. Whilst the ground is very traditional with little rabbit warrens of corridors, I found these key rooms strangely sterile, white walls, very few photos, or plaques etc. In the Players Lounge, there were these weird, 3D like pictures of key players, although I couldn't recognise them, not like the good old days of Peter Withe, Gary Shaw, and Gareth 'Pizza Hut' Southgate. Interestingly, the teams that won the toss chose the away dressing room, which seemed bigger when we visited, (although we were assured that it wasn't.) This has particularly stressed the South African coach, who is a big Manchester United fan. Manchester United have a fantastic record at Villa Park, not just versus Villa, but also in the numerous Semi Final victories there. South Africa lost the toss, could there be an upset on the cards, when they play here versus Samoa?

We also got to walk down the Players Tunnel onto the pitch, and Villa had put the stadium lights on, so that we could appreciate it. Like many grounds, the lack of sunlight can affect the growing of grass, and the warm 'cannabis' style lights were making up for it.

When we got back, we all met our Functional Manager. The Freight and Logistics guy was a top bloke, who will drive us hard but give us a lot of fun along the way. (He's taking us down the pub on Monday for 'lunch'.) He's also said we can work extra shifts, which is a bonus for me, as I am not working on the Captain's Run day. Now I can. If we want, we can also work at the Leicester game, as the pressure to set up and take down is huge. As fate would have it, Villa are 'hosting' the Bluenoses in the League Cup on the Tuesday before the game. Apparently, the Bluenoses will trash the toilets, as a thanks you for the Hospitality, so Villa have plumbers on standby to repair them post game, the stadium branding company will have to work 24/7, and pressure will be on us Wednesday and Thursday.

At the end of the evening, for the first time, I felt excited about being involved. Today, I woke up to the sad news that Rico Rodiguez had passed away. For many years, Rico's party piece at the end of a Jools Holland concert was to sing, 'Enjoy Yourself, its later than you think'. I promise I will Rico.

Never Forget - Take That

I can't even start typing before I have to comment on last night when England were thrashed 25-20 by the French team that are allegedly under performers and out of sorts due to a poor coach. Looks like England are the under performers and have the poor coach. Not sure that is the case, but at some point these players have to look up within the match and play what is in front of them. Stringing across the field to defend is great, and they actually defended well as France had 80+% of the ball but only scored one try. The big but is that you can't score without the ball and the way to get the ball back is to contest the breakdown. Preferably without giving penalties away. When England had the ball and went through the phases, 70 minutes too late, and had 2 playmakers on the pitch - bang - two tries, through good backs moves.

I left for Solihull early this morning for the 'Home Turf' training, the last compulsory training session before the tournament begins. Outside the College, two branded Land Rovers were parked, close to its manufacturing base. The first stage was to show proof of identity for your accreditation pass. We've been made to feel very special, the chosen few etc., but at each session, I wonder at the quirks of people. Maybe they are special in other ways. One woman had forgot her ID, as she had only got back from her holiday yesterday. She didn't know that she needed to bring it. The e-mail telling you what time and place to be, also asked for ID. Surely she checked on that for the start time?

There was a presentation running while we waited for everyone to pick up their passes, of the history of rugby. So the FA was founded to stop people running with the ball, something England found difficult to do the night before. Thus Wendyball became our national game and rugby its quirkier cousin. The presentation moved onto the tourist attractions of Birmingham and showed Birmingham Central Library as one of the attractions, The old one!!!!!. The old one that's closed off, well in fact being knocked down, rather than the impressive modern blue and gold building. No wonder Birmingham suffers with people having a poor perception of it.

The next stage was the introductions. has to be done, the text books says so. We had to find something unique about the person next to you and something in common. I found a like minded person who disliked the 'tell me something about yourself'. I realised again I'd got a strange one, when she refused to tell me anything unique about herself, whilst everyone else was in "News of the World mode. Still I suppose that is unique. We then had a quiz about the Villa, including the usual when was it built etc. They didn't include the factoid about Villa going half the season without scoring, but brought up their European Cup win. Most people attending the Villa games will be from Staffordshire, but geographically people are coming from as far away as Skye, and Canterbury, Kent. For our Skye visitors, a warning about the horseless carriages on the roads, even in Birmingham occasionally they go fast. As Villa is a 45 minute walk away from the city centre, there will be a set fan route with mobile bars, food, souvenirs, bands etc. to make the journey pass a lot quicker. There will be shuttle buses, from Curzon Street and the Fanzone at Eastside - after the game, you will be directed to the city centre as there's nothing around Villa.  We then had to come up with 3 off the beat tourist attractions. We came up with 5 or 6, without too many problems, including the Jewellery Quarter, great bars, Tolkien and Michelin starred restaurants.

The training itself was really dry. This included Hints about security - 100% bag search, and random body searches, Health and Safety, when we were asked about the main causes of injuries, the reply came 'slips, trips and falls' in unison. The Manual Handling 'competition' led to 5 out of 5 scores, I think we can safely say everyone knew how to pick up a box, unlike Electricity and Machinery, where we guessed the answers. We will also be responsible for watching out for Guerrilla or Ambush marketing, around the stadium.

The final scenario, was a power cut stopping trains coming into Birmingham on match day. This got the most reaction, as there were people with mental scars, (although electrification is not present on all of the lines), as horror stories about how long it took everyone to get home when the scenario was actually fact too often on our railways. Too regularly sadly. The woman who did not want to reveal herself, earlier, pushed to leave early and the trainer was upset. Again, if you volunteer for something, you see it through not moan about it. Finally we got to pick the kit up. 1 tee shirt, 1 rugby shirt, 1 fleece, 1 rain jacket, 1 pair of trousers plus belt, shoes, socks, back pack, lunch bag, and a bright yellow hat. (eBay will be advertising loads of the hats after the World Cup has ended: yellow baseball cap, hardly worn.'.....)

After arriving in sunshine, we left in rain. Next World Cup adventure is a tour of Villa Park in September to get our bearings. Can't wait.

August 17 - Fast Car - Tracey Chapman

Last week I received an e-mail from 'The Pack' informing me that I would receive an e-mail from a third party, to check my driving licence details, so that I could use the World Cup vehicles to fetch and carry and respond to emergencies etc. I hope that emergency will be South Africa running out of Powerade. Needless to say, the e-mail did n't come and there was a close deadline for the 2 stage process. I contacted 'The Pack' who told me to contact the third party. Eventually the e-mail came, and I submitted my licence details. Stage 2 was an online training and testing module, that you have to pass.

Anyone in the West Midlands will know what happened last Friday. I saw it start to build up outside the office. Traffic was stationary at 1.30 in the afternoon. With the 3 sets of roadworks within 5 miles of the office that I have to navigate each night, my heart sank. Idiot alert on the M6 or Aston Expressway. A quick check on the net revealed a lorry had gone through the central reservation which had closed the M6 in both directions until 10 that night.

My cunning plan kicked in. I would leave the office and go southwards to pick up some more of the colourful owls around Birmingham. The gauntlet has been laid by the Big Hoot, 89 large owls, 120 small ones, and I had to get the lot as photos on my phone. There were some outlying owls that I could pick up if I followed the ring road out of Birmingham and away from the accident.

Driving around the ring road I timed my arrival at Birmingham Central Mosque at the end of prayers. This meant pedestrians crossing at the pelican crossing at the roundabout, people getting into cars that were parked on the roundabout (I kid you not!), and just the congestion of people trying to get home. 20 minutes later I got over the roundabout and the road was clear. Oh how I felt smug. I'd beaten the traffic, so drove to the Airport to photograph 3 outlying owlets - small owls designed by schools local to the airport. £4.50, 19 minutes, and 3 photographs later I jumped into my car to go home.

The M42 was stationary, so I thought "I know what I can do to beat the traffic, I'll go up the A446". Why did I think that no one else would have that idea? I didn't move for 20 minutes, and 90 minute later, I had travelled about 9 miles. Once I got over the roundabout where all the traffic was being directed away from the M6, and the redirected A446 traffic southwards, I contemplated why 4 hours after I had noticed the traffic building up, the road was still shut. Is there no way of putting a giant curtain around the scene, to stop rubber necking but keep the road open? When I arrived home 3 hours 45 minutes after I left, I didn't care if I ever got in a car again, let alone fetch Powerade for any of the International Rugby teams.

The next day, I jumped back in the car to finish off the owl hunt, only 2 large ones, and 4 locations of smaller owlets I looked forward to having the next weekend free of driving. Alas I failed miserably. I didn't want to do the hunt the 'App' way, with directions and guidance on numbers etc., I wanted to have an adventure and use my investigative skills, so was doing it a lot more slowly than I could have done. I arrived 15 minutes late to pick up the last 2 owlets, so next weekend, on the way to the next training module, I will finally finish at Sutton Park Donkey Sanctuary. (the driver who caused the chaos will be in there, along with the Law. ('the Law is an Ass' - Geddit?)

Today I have spent about 4 hours running through all the driver training modules, including the voluntary ones. I suppose it would have been easier had I read the Highway Code somewhere along the way since I passed my test at 17 years, 5 months and 3 days old. However, I've learnt that a speed limit is not a target, that driver error accounts for 95% of all accidents and it is perfectly legal for motorbikes to weave through traffic, but cars can't undertake. (Please explain the difference, other than the former is harder to police). I did the lot, because if there is the chance of me putting Powerade in the changing rooms, I want to take it!

PS was there ever a better driving song to listen to on a rare sunny day, on an even rarer open road than Tracey Chapman's Fast Car?

Young Hearts Run Free - Candi Staton

Today I attended the next training session on the way to being a volunteer. Since my last blog, I have been given my shifts - all 7 of them! In terms of lost earnings I must be mad to do it - and eating bread and jam until Christmas! I asked to be dropped from 1 shift as I have a ticket for South Africa v Samoa - which happily I was allowed to do. Big thumbs up to the organisers.

Today's training was called Talking Tactics, and was held at Aston University, so again I got on the roadworks that is called the A38 and went into Birmingham. There are 4 main routes north out of Birmingham, A38, A47, M6 and A5127. Roadworks on all of them. Great planning! Worst journey home this week has been 2 hours 10 minutes due to a car, more than likely German made, jumping in front to get one car ahead. (Is that racist to hate German cars? or rather their moronic drivers who think they own the road, speed limits or signs do not apply to them?)

I was needlessly early, so sat down with a drink, and a guy sat next to me to chat. A Saints fan. I jokingly booed. He pompously said 'Rugby Fans' don't boo. I asked why did England Fans boo Chris Ashton then? and Owen Farrell? and in fact most Saracens players. Sportsmanship is not alive in rugby as people like to think.... hence the need for rugby to set 5 core values....Teamwork, Respect, Enjoyment, Discipline, Sportsmanship for us to follow to support the ethics of the game.

One thing I do enjoy is fascinating facts (my sister calls me Rainman), and we were regaled with these throughout the day. World Rugby expect that 4 billion people will watch the event on TV, with over 2 million tickets sold, 400,000 plus international visitors (not sure whether a trip over the Severn Bridge counts), its the third biggest sporting event in the world.

The day had a corporate feel to it. 221 of us went through 'Death by Powerpoint', as we were given the Vision of the volunteers, the goals of the Volunteer Programme and then the Roles and Responsibilities which was when we got the PEP talk. By PEP I mean Personal Engaging Proactive, which we had to tell a story via a playing card we were asked to choose at the start of the day when we reported in to articulate the Personal side of it all.

 With the card, those with black suit with numbers had to relay the song that portrayed their life. There could only be one to sum up my life....hence the title of the blog. Unfortunately though, I had the Queen of Spades and I had to come up with my party trick. I haven't got one. I don't drink, and when I did, I don't think falling asleep in friends' chairs, nightclubs, cars etc. count as a trick, (although I did fall asleep leaning against a wall mounted iron once), so when I had to explain to the guy next to me, we decided to talk about whether Cipriani would go to the World Cup as a third fly half - I said not as I thought that would be Alex Goode as Lancaster likes the 'safe' option. We enjoyed that far more than me pretending I have an interesting party trick. (He had to tell me what he was proud of. A lovely young man, he told me that rugby had built his self esteem from being a fat kid with glasses, to his club's 'Go to Prop', and he was much fitter then he'd ever been. This gave him the confidence at work to influence older people, (he was early 20's) that his ideas and decisions were good one to follow.)

There was more psycho-babble to follow. 'Could we relate where we had recently had good service,' 'what were our natural strengths'?And then learning about proactive v reactive listening, where we had to listen to the story of Goldilocks and answer questions afterwards. I was middling in my result. How do I know that there were only 3 bears, there's plenty in the woods...., after all I know the song about Yogi and his many friends. Apparently we should look for non-verbal clues as they represent 55% of a communication. (Maybe my friends were the problem why I nodded off in random places, I was bored......or just damn tired from my young heart running free).

I did enjoy the conversation about what was the most important about the Rugby World Cup. Without doubt in the room the two most important were numbers 5 and 8, that the Spectators have an amazing experience, and that it improves the global reputation of the game, so others can see why we enjoy it so much, in whatever form it takes - TAG, Touch, 7s or the full game. Interestingly the room was very similar, and a touch pragmatic about the least important to a successful World Cup. The consensus was that the economic benefits and the fact that matches may not be exciting. It's hard to remember an exciting World Cup Final in any ball sport- probably the last truly exciting Rugby final was 2003, as there were tries in that game!! Sport is not just about entertainment, drama and winning are equally important. If you want entertainment, go to Glastonbury (but not when Kanye West or The Who are on), human stories (Drama) and winning within the rules are the memorable things. No one remembers entertaining losers, the cup has the only winners' names on there.

As in all true Conference tradition, lunch was sandwiches, crisps, tortilla chips and fruit to eat, and fruit juice or water to drink. I've still not mastered the art of taking a sandwich off a plate, whilst holding fruit juice standing up, so I sat down. A young woman sat on the floor next to me and I mentioned this to her. Faux Pas 2 of the day, as she was an emotive vegetarian, and maybe a confused one too. The sandwiches were laid out Pastrami and cheese, chicken mayo, salmon, and final two cheese (the vegetarian option). The queue went that way too. She moaned to me that meat eaters were eating the first plate (pastrami) and that was the vegetarian option. (I daren't tell her that Pastrami is meat....) The meat eaters wouldn't leave much for the starving vegetarians to eat. (I feel an appeal coming on - 'feed the world, don't they know its pastrami time.'). Don't worry about her, she didn't wither away as she had another 6 sandwiches.

I enjoyed the session after lunch much much more. We got to learn what we'd be doing and met the first acronym of the day - VLM - Venue Logistics Manager. Ours had worked on the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and a rock festival in Australia. Just to give you an idea of the logistics of a World Event, the kit we will be lifting and shifting will have been used in the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and if Sepp and his cronies hadn't taken a back hander, probably at the Wendyball World Cup in England as well. The stuff will be shifted from the DHL depot near Coventry into Villa Park, and afterwards to Leicester for the games there. Once finished, it will be shipped into the community game. There re 20 volunteers per venue, and we will be handling 9 loads a day at Villa, over 5 days, and will need to pack it all up and away in two days! Getting it into the site is called 'Bump In', and getting it out of the site, 'Bump Out'.

As last time, the official transport partners are DHL, and I was excited this week to see this vehicle appear on the drive at work. They will be shipping in 4 tonnes of 'stuff' per team, and at the moment the World Cup Logistics team are liaising to get the import paperwork correct, as there's some weird and wonderful requests.

If you want to know the secret of the All Blacks success? They use deer's blood as a supplement to get fitter! Want to know the secret of the Georgia's success? 400 litres of red wine they want to bring with them, To me that sounds more like a proper rugby tour - Georgia aren't going to win it, unless possibly 16 other teams get disqualified, so they will enjoy testing themselves against the game's best and celebrating their minor victories afterwards.

We then ran through some basic tasks, stretch wrapping a pallet; the VLM didn't look too pleased when one fat guy said he had a bad back so couldn't do it- the jobs about carrying stuff you idiot, why did you volunteer for that? - mind you he cheered up when he heard he could volunteer to drive and fill in paper work. We also had to lay out a room according to a CAD room data sheet, (this was awkward, as we didn't know each other and it needed someone to take charge), and also build shelves. Obviously building is men's work, and despite me telling them that they had the 'legs' upside down, and unfortunately they were suffering from selective deafness, i.e. could only hear male voices, so had half built it when they realised it was wrong. I did have a satisfied grin when they found out and even more so, when they were timing the whole thing and we didn't finish first. (Oh I would hate the smugness if it was in someone else!)

In answer to the guy at the start when I jokingly booed against rugby's values, and how we have to protect them etc..... a child was air lifted into the Children's Hospital next door as we left the University. In the grand scheme of things, we all enjoy rugby, its fun and banter, but its not what really matters is it?

Going My Way - Paul Weller

During the week, I received another e-mail, inviting me to do the On-Line Training, ready for the net stage of my Pack Training, 'Talking Tactics'. This was always going to provide a challenge, as experience of On-Line Training at work has never been good - I had to do some training twice as the site didn't register that I had done it, despite an e-mail confirmation and a certificate that of course I'd put in a safe folder, but couldn't remember how safe. I have drawers like that at home. Maybe there should be an App where you can record where you'e put something. Knowing me, I'd call it something different when I wanted it.

I decided to ally my weekend's training with a visit to the town where it all started over 175 years ago. Rugby. I combined it with a guilt trip for the wrinkles, having let them down the week before. 'Of course I love you mum, but Saracens are in the Final'. Little did I know that they would also blow away the media favourites, Bath. Dear Media, there is more than one way to win a rugby match and it is the range of styles that is interesting. Defence is interesting, Scrummaging, when does properly, is interesting, otherwise we have a game called basketball. Anyway, 3 tries to 1 for the League's top scorers, Saracens, not Bath proves the fact. But I digress.

Rugby is a town dominated by a huge concrete tower that looms up on the horizon whichever way you enter Rugby. Ironically it is the cement mill? or would you call it a factory not any homage to Rugby's famous residents? On the way we visited Ryton Organic Gardens. I shocked my mother, not by my outrageous behaviour, but she thought I'd taken her to a garden centre. Garden Centres are, in my opinion, for people who have given up living. Flowers and plants are beautiful, but looking at garden implements, Mrs Bridges Chutney, and Cotton Traders' middle aged leisurewear does not equal entertainment. From what I could see, Ryton is how gardens should be, higgledy-piggledy with weeds (green manure), unstructured flower-beds, bees, vegetables mixed in and a sense of chaos. A lovely colourful vegetarian menu, where people come for the food, not just the obligatory coffee and cake after the visit.

Onto Rugby. Having taken the detour, I came at it from a different direction that I would have planned, so we seem to go around the outside before unlocking the secret of entry. It isn't as charming as other towns close by, such as Warwick and Leamington, but has buildings stretching back to the 16th century and traditional independant shops in the town centre along with the usual Stepford Wives stores. Our first visit was the Library, Museum and Art Gallery, as there was a modern art exhibition. Mum, bless her, in a stage whisper, complained that she didn't like it, as she couldn't see what it is. Credit to RugbyThink though, a medium sized Midlands town having an annual art exhibition, art coming to the masses.....and later this month a Festival of Culture. At the entrance, there was the tourist information, where the rugby souvenirs, with for the sport and town, were displayed to celebrate the coming World Cup.

This was followed by a quick visit to see the schools ground where William Web Ellis picked up the ball and ran with it, and to the small rugby museum, next to the Webb Ellis store, where I succumbed to buying my first of what will be many souvenirs of the World Cup. The store had leather balls from the 19th century as well as a pigs bladder. The size of the pig's bladder amazed me. It must hold about a gallon - I bet there's a lot of people over 50 who would be envious of it, as there would be no need to have any night time trips to the bathroom. The museum is quirky, has some beautiful stained glass windows in it, mixing international rugby memorablia, with local bits and pieces such as club ties and a Newbold shirt from up the road. There are lots of eateries around, a countdown clock, and a traditional market to give the place a vibe. We ended up in a Weatherspoons, named after the founder of Rugby School, Lawrence Sheriff (No not Thomas Arnold) that celebrated other famous Rugbians, Rupert Brooks, Frank Whittle, and the only honest men to enter Parliament, the Gunpowder plotters. My first rant, how the hell did it take so long to produce my salad, 10 minutes after the Wrinklies brown food came out? How difficult can it be to chuck some rocket on a plate, but it took forever. Obviously don't make them that often, whilst the 2 for 1 'something and chips' can be turned round quickly...

I will re-visit the town, closer to the start, to visit the fan zone and maybe walk around Tom Brown's Schooldays. Rugby will be one of the places to be this World Cup.

So I needed to tackle the on-line training, pardon the pun. I opened my e-mail In Box to access the link, to find an e-mail asking me for my final Final payment. YES! All done and paid for. I'm going to the World Cup Final. Here's hoping England will be there too. After opening the link, the fun started. The training wouldn't play. I had to unblock pop-ups, but where? I've joined the Apple brigade, after years of cursing Windows, so had to hunt around for 10 minutes until I could find the pop-up unblockers and the volume to hear "David" introduce the training and then Maggie Alphonsi welcome us to the World Cup. There were 11 modules, on what should be 'Grandmother to suck eggs' training. Yes, I know to arrive promptly, with clean uniform worn properly, and good personal hygiene, but many of the other modules were a little more detailed than that. How to communicate, assist with spectator issues etc. If it was left to me, every school and college leaver would undertake this training as it gives them the basics of how to be a good employee, including making eye contact, standing up straight, being calm and confident in a work environment as well as explaining the best way of being courteous whatever the age, gender, disability, etc. I did get frustrated, however, as each module awarded you three stars, and I couldn't build up three stars on one module, despite getting every answer right (4 times), meaning that I didn't get a perfect score, despite listening to David and his Mr Tumble voice and explanations several times. I gave up, but did write an e-mail to see if my total could be adjusted manually.

Apparently we think five times faster than we can speak, as we had a memory test on some of the Cup's chief facts, so we need to listen properly:
48 games on 44 days, 20 teams playing at 13 venues in 11 cities, there were 203 matches involving 83 teams to get the final 8 countries to qualify. There will be over 400,000 international visitors, hopefully getting chance to visit Rugby, as well as the matches and fan zones.

Everyone can get involved, for minimal cost, I'll test you on the facts at a later time.

PS Paul Weller's new album is brilliant.

Thinking Out Loud- Ed Sheeran

It's been a long and tiring season, I'm ready for the summer break. It's been a season of disappointments. Early season optimism vanished by October, something wasn't clicking at Saracens. Work is physically, mentally and emotionally draining at the moment as well, so when my alarm woke me at 5.30am, I wondered why the hell I put my name forward to be a Rugby World Cup Volunteer- part of The Pack!

Number 1 son, ( I only have one), wanted to be out of the house by 7.30, otherwise, I'd have thrown a sickie. 2 bottles of caffeine later, I still wasn't reviving. I realised I forgot my coat and the weather was looking decidedly dark and cloudy to sit in a stand all day. Still, the journey down to Milton Keynes was a relatively smooth one, and I parked easily.

I walked into the ground to Ed Sheeran's song, Thinking Out Loud, and I began to perk up. I bumped into a Saracens Pioneer, and we discussed the woes of the season. I was handed a bottle of Coke, labelled with The Pack. Coca Cola is never one to miss an advertising opportunity, a sticker book, and a blue tee shirt. I voted last week, yep I'm that old, why would I want a sticker book? My son completed 2 Panini books as a boy, and I think I could have bought the company with the money it cost me to complete. At least these are free, and I would anticipate finding them on eBay in September.

After a free hot chocolate, I bumped into a couple from BRFC, who had come on the train, with a well functioning shuttle bus, (they must have listened to my email feedback from my visit to Stadium MK). Lawrence Dallaglio was interviewing people waiting, and rugby legends started to mill around. The morning felt good and my excitement grew, even when 20 minutes late, the morning finally started.

John Inverdale, the scourge of Celtic rugby, took ages to mention Jonny, as he introduced the timetable for the day, including the new RFU President, the youngest ever, Jason Leonard. Talk about poacher turned gamekeeper. Less than 20 years ago, he tried to nick the baths out of the changing rooms in his Transit van, now he will be attending committee meetings, meeting royalty and dignitaries. He will be very good at eating and drinking though.
He was greeted with a well deserved standing ovation, and talked about the legacy, the showpiece of the sport and on how The Pack are the face of the England 2015. He's a charmer, no wonder he's been appointed.

Laura Wright, opera singer, worked with us to get us to sing Jerusalem, not difficult for most of us, but with people coming from Germany for the day to be part of it, and a big Welsh contingent from the Cardiff venue, it may have proved a challenge. There are 74 different countries represented in The Pack, such is the power of sport and global events, to engage people, The Rugby World Cup being the third biggest, but in my world the best. By splitting the 4000 there into 3, we each sang two lines, or at least tried to, its not easy for tenors, baritones, and a failed alto (me) to get anywhere near Laura's soprano voice. Me, and the rest of the Villa contingent (Ugh how that sticks in the throat as a Baggies fan), wouldn't cease from mental fight, but we all joined together to build Jerusalem. Before lunch we all sung it together, it echoed off the other 3 empty stands, and made the hairs stand on the back of my neck stand up. (RIP Andy, you were right, it should be England's anthem. The last time I sang it was at his funeral).

On a lighter note, we were lucky enough to have three legends of the game telling stories, answering questions. Maggie Alphonsi, World Cup winner, and probably the greatest ever women's player, Serge Betsen, French flanker, and Ickle Shane Williams. All good sports. The question to poor Shane was by a Sarah Williams (a relative perhaps, but in Wales, they prefer not to vary surnames too much so probably not.) She asked him, as he wasn't very big, who worried him the most. Shane said that his size was a common complaint by women, but as a small player, he was scared before every game, as players were about 4 stone heavier than him. It didn't stop him though, as rugby is a game of all sizes and as Will Greenwood noted, they couldn't find the little bugger in the 2003 quarter final.

Will Greenwood was probably the highlight of the morning. For non rugby readers, Will is lanky, thin and blond. An excellent motivational speaker, he must charge a fortune on the after dinner circuit. He reminded us all that as a team, England 2003 really were World beaters, but nearly cocked up against Wales, and an inspired Shane Williams. As he left the pitch at half time, 4 lads from Ponty called out to him, 'Oy Rodney Trotter, you are F-----ing Useless'. Had the last laugh though.......

He talked about the time with the Marines, who talk about the strength of the wolf is the pack and the strength of the pack is the wolf. The team work better as one, and is only as strong as the weakest. Need to keep changing and adapting to stay in front. A lesson for all of us to work hard as The Pack, the face of the event.

Inspired we went for lunch, a chicken salad sandwich, crisps, Mars bar and a satsuma, with a bottle of water. Not sure all there had experienced water as a drink. Used to it being brown with hops and malted barley. Seeing them dance after lunch, the hops and barley were definitely needed. The rugby EXPO was a little disappointing, a chance for a photo with the World Cup, meet your venues, mingle with others, and some of the key sponsors, but it was difficult to get near anything - not enough people to speak to the enthusiastic people there. Still two more sessions to attend to find out more. I was e-mailed inviting me to meet the Freight and Logistics team, to talk about our roles on the balcony. I went to the balcony, but they weren't there. Maybe the logistics weren't right - oops!

The afternoon was a bit of an anticlimax. It started about 20 minutes late, we spent the afternoon singing and dancing to a made up song about being part of The Pack,  bit of fun perhaps, but as it was being filmed for the website, I hope I wasn't on there. (I have to find a new job later in the year - will this be career limiting?)
The directors spoke about the role of The Pack, the recruitment, the vision and all that corporate stuff,we've all been through to please our companies, whilst secretly wanting to hear more juicy stories, in this case rugby ones, like Will Greenwood calculating that Mike Tindall was a light airplane crash away from being King before Charlotte was born, now he's an A380 away.

Bill Beaumont came to speak. Top guy, respected and liked by all nations, well received by the crowd, but his knees are shot. He could hardly walk, and stumbled along like an old man. (He's probably 62-3?) I bet he'd still play the game again if he had his time over. Sport gets you like that. I felt it today. The camaraderie, the desire to sing better than the other choirs, wanting to be part of something bigger, being a success. Winning.

We were shown our uniform. Phew, thank goodness, it was pretty ordinary. The jacket was Royal Blue with Black trim, and pockets, black trousers, and blue trainers. It was just the hat. It was yellow with the pink, blue and green trim. Don't think I'll be wearing the hat. I'm sure that I will be inside (I hope so), carrying boxes, so it will be no use there (I hope). There was also a film with Jonny in. It broke down. Bit like his career really. Blighted by injury.

All in all, it was a professional set up and presentation. We will be unpaid. Free lunches, uniform, sticker book and being part of a global event, our reward. But a cautionary note about our sport. I was talking to a guy at lunch about his son who played for a Level 5 team. For winning their county cup, he got a £500 bonus. I played hockey at Level 5 for love and paid subs for the privilege, most sports clubs at that level survive on local sponsors and goodwill of the likes of the Pack. At some point I wonder if volunteers will start to say we are working hard doing this to give people sport and they expect payment? Not anymore.

The day finished with Laura Wright singing Jerusalem, so we go out on a high with such a rousing tune. In the words on Ed Sheeran, I'll love rugby 'til I'm 70.

PS and probably beyond.