Rugby movie does wonders to spread the word about the game
But what about the rules?
Invictus tells the story of the South African rugby team at the 1995 World Cup focusing on the political and social situation in South Africa.
Matt Damon plays one of the focal characters Springbok captain, Francois Pienaar.
When Damon was asked if he knew how to play the game, he said
“it seemed to me like just kind of kill the man with the ball and then they all drink beer afterwards”
(30sec mark of this review, after the 30sec of advertisements – sorry)
The Houston Press has a review of the movie that includes some interesting and funny insights to describe aspects of the game to people who don’t know anything about it.
Being an ex-prop, I especially loved the scrum description
“The Scrum
The scrum serves the same purpose as a face-off in hockey, or a tip-off in basketball. The fattest eight people on each team huddle together — three in front, four in the middle, and one in back. Then they push against the fattest eight people from the opposing side. Someone throws the ball into the middle of this. Each team then tries to kick it backward to their side.”
It’s these bits that should raise concerns for how to sell our game to a broader audience:
“We assumed the basics would be covered as the movie went along, but, aside from the mention that all passes must be thrown backward, no real explanation came as players packed into man-mash-ups on the field, randomly kicked balls through uprights and threw each other into the air.
[]
Penalties
Can be for lots of things — not releasing the ball after getting tackled; tackling too high; throwing a punch; touching the ball during a ruck before a bird can shit on it. Penalties play a big role in the final game of Invictus, because, true to history, the only scoring comes from kicks. In the movie, the refs don’t explain which penalties are being called. But that’s why the teams keep getting those free kicks.”
And this was the 1995 version!
