Rain, Rivalry, and Rugby

I feel as though I should describe my first British rugby game. On Wednesday, I went to the University of Leeds (referred to affectionately as Uni) versus Leeds Metropolitan University (not-so-affectionally referred to as the Met) varsity rugby game at the Headlingly stadium (is it only because I'm in England that I kept thinking it looked like a Quidditch field?). The two schools have a long-standing rivalry, making this the game of the year. I had a wonderful time. It was kind of one of those experiences that's difficult to put into words, but for the sake of remembering, I have to try. So let me recount the many glorious things the experience taught me:

• When it decides to properly rain (and it was a downpour), even if you are wearing a beanie, a hood, two jackets, a sweatshirt, and carrying an umbrella, you will still look like you just got out of a shower by the end of an hour. I'm not sure how that's even possible, but I have pictures to prove it. 
• It is a smart idea to make the Uni students and the Met students go in separate entrances and sit on opposite sides of the stadium. Even so, fights will still break out in the stands and on the pitch. Oh, and there's a standing tradition of streakers. 
• When the queue to get into the stadium is miles long (not hyperbolic), you find any means by which to queue jump. Desperate times call for desperate measures, as they say. 
• If you lose the people you're with, that's pretty much a permanent problem. It's impossible to hear phones, it's dark and raining, and everything is non-descript. "I'm over near the pillars and the chairs in this crowd of people by the steps" just isn't a good enough locator.  So, hold hands for dear life.  
• Pushing, shoving, and squeezing my way through a tight thicket of bundled-up, wriled-up students to the opposite side of the jostling, rowdy crowd (just because a confused-and-stressed-looking attendant in a vested jacket told me that's where I needed to go to pick up my pre-paid ticket). . . not an easy task. Saw my life flash before my eyes a little bit. 
• When there is complete chaos, you have to just join in. When I couldn't get into the right queue from where I was, I hopped a barrier rather than going back through the afore-mentioned jostling crowd. How's that for rebellious? 
• The Met students have way better cheers, even though they're meaner. I'm sorry to say this, but it's true. The Uni students just chant "Un-i," over and over. Because everyone has an accent, it sounds like "Uuuuunn-naaay-aaay." I felt very school-spirity joining in (which as you might know, I'm not the best at being school-spirity, so yay for me).  
• Rugby is kind of like American football, but kind of not. That's all the expertise I can bring to the subject. 
• They weren't selling hotdogs, but you can get deliciously warm meat pies. Love it. 
• A "scrum" is when all the rugby players make themselves look like a human spider. It's a word that either makes me think of a dirty, sweaty old T-shirt, or a scrumptious cookie crumb. . . cannot quite decide which. 
• You will leave smelling like beer. Apparently winning means "Let's throw nearly-full pints out into the crowd." 
• If we win (which we did!), Uni students get the right to run around in the streets yelling "Uuun-naay-aay," but will get honked at by irritated bus drivers and anyone who is not a student and does not care about the epic rivalry, or understand why their commute home has been turned into a harzard.
• The words "I'm putting the kettle on," and "Would you like some warm socks?" will never sound so good.