At the beginning of our Sport in England class, well before we took off for London, we were assigned groups. Each group was then assigned a venue to research. During the semester, each group had to prepare a typical presentation that would eventually be given in London ahead of visiting that actual venue. Additionally, each group was tasked with creating a podcast about the venue.
I was assigned to work with Marisa Amarino and Sam Demmon, and I couldn’t have been happier. These were the people I knew the best going into the class, and I was pumped to get to be in their group. Our assigned venue was Wembley Stadium, which all of us had heard of, so we were thrilled to get to learn more about that iconic stadium.
Our presentation on Wembley was actually due in December ahead of our flight to London, with the goal being to have everything ready to go without having to worry about sitting down to work a ton in London. Marisa, Sam and I met via Zoom over winter break, and our presentation was coming together when we got the dreaded email on December 17: “Postponed not cancelled.” We were no longer going to London for New Years.
Among the many dominoes to fall with this change was a reduction of students in the class since a few people could no longer go during the newly scheduled May dates. With fewer students, the assigned venues no longer had perfect matches, so the professors were forced to make one venue presentation-less. Our group was asked if we were willing to trade Wembley for Twickenham Stadium, with the main reasoning being that it seemed to make more sense to leave Wembley without an assigned group since most people were somewhat familiar with it compared to Twickenham. Marisa, Sam and I agreed, as we knew nothing about Twickenham and wanted to learn more, and thus was born the Twickenham Trio.
We had so much fun all semester researching a venue—and a sport—that we had zero clues about. We would meet at least once a week, and oftentimes twice a week, to work on our assignments and learn more about the home of England Rugby. From the grass outside the magic stones, to our little corner table at Starbucks in Coates Library, we found several great spots on campus that allowed us to work together while also getting to enjoy each other’s company and the university atmosphere.
It wasn’t always easy. We all had busy and different schedules to maneuver around, and as mentioned, we knew nothing about rugby, so we were really starting from scratch. Making our podcast was the most difficult, but also the most enjoyable part. We honed in on the split between Rugby League and Rugby Union—known as the “Great Schism”—and told the story of Dicky Lockwood, a player who went on trial for receiving payment while playing rugby. Making a podcast allowed us to be creative and tell a unique story in a new format. You can listen to our podcast called “Twick Talk,” here.
You’d think a semester of work and a 5,000 mile flight was a long enough wait to see Twickenham, but even while in London Twickenham was the second-to-last venue we’d visit. It was all a test in patience. Finally, on our second Wednesday in England, we were headed to the “Cabbage Patch.”
In the morning, Marisa, Sam and I first had to lead the class to our IES Study Abroad classroom near Holburn. This was where we’d give our long awaited presentation, which began with a little live action role play. We kicked a ball around when suddenly I picked it up and ran out of the room while Sam yelled at me that I had a “fine disregard for the rules of football.” This was a showcase of how the game of rugby supposedly began, which was when William Webb Ellis picked up a football with his hands, ran with it and unknowingly created a new sport separate from football. I think people were engaged with this fun start!
After our presentation, our next task was to lead the class to Twickenham itself. As luck would have it, Twickenham required some new transit adventures that the Twickenham Trio had to master. To this point, we had only taken the tube within the city. Getting to Twickenham, however, required first taking a tube and then transferring to the national rail services. We learned in our research that Twickenham was purposely built in a hard-to-reach spot of the city so that if you couldn’t afford to get there, you wouldn’t get there. That was one way of keeping rugby a class above football, known from the start way back in the 1870s for its hooligans and lower-class participants. Of course, this only made it harder for us to get there now, but nothing was stopping the Twickenham Trio.
We arrived in the city of Twickenham and hightailed it through the town to the stadium to be on time. We really pushed the limits, but let it be known that we made it exactly at 11:00 a.m. Remember, on the Brian train you’re never late. We had truly arrived at what critics once called a “concrete monstrosity.” Hello, Twickenham!
Our wonderful tour guide, Jackie, began our walk-through by taking us to the rose and poppy gates. The rose is the symbol of England Rugby, and it is absolutely gorgeous. The poppy is an English symbol that commemorates those lost in World War I because poppies are a rare flower that actually thrive when its seeds fly through the air to a new spot. During the war, the seeds were tossed when bombs would strike, so in the middle of these battlefields, poppies began appearing. A little bit of life in the middle of so much death. To this day, poppies are used to remember those lost in that terrible war. We learned a bit about poppies at Westminster Abbey as well, and I continue to be struck by how beautiful that tradition is.
Another cool feature above the gates were statures of players performing the four actions of rugby: scoring a try, throwing a pass, kicking the ball and running with the ball. Remember, rugby is totally foreign to us, so even small details like this are impressive.
From the gates we made our way into the stadium and the royal box, where we got our first look at the pitch. It looked an awful lot like a football stadium, except there were no yard markers, and the goal posts were of course a bit different. We saw where the big whigs sit and drink tea during games, and then we sat in the royal seats. Just like Wembley and Lord’s, every national stadium thus far featured special seats for her Royal Highness.
We next got to go underneath the stands and walked out right next to the pitch. There were sodium lamps out helping to rejuvenate the grass, as the stadium had just hosted a rugby 7’s tournament. Then we went into the locker rooms, which were super nice. The beautiful English rose continued to appear everywhere, and Marisa, Sam and I even found the locker at which Dicky Lockwood sat!
Jackie taught us many fun facts, including that Twickenham once hosted the NFL and also hosts concerts. She also showed us that across the street, referees attend a school to train. In addition to that, television match officials (TMOs), who review replays during games, are actually in a remote location so that they’re not influenced by the crowd. Since most of us were totally new to rugby, most of what Jackie said was new as well. For some that could be intimidating, but for a class like ours, we welcome being pushed outside our comfort zone.
Before our tour wrapped up, the Twickenham Trio presented Jackie with a swag bag as a way to say thank you for her time with us. We then took a trip to the gift shop with a close eye on the clock, as we had to be back at IES for an afternoon session. Before we left though, the Twickenham Trio had one last assignment.
We had just received news from across the Atlantic Ocean that Trinity announced Vanessa Beasley as the new president of the university. We were all thrilled to not only have a new president but to have our first female president. So, to show our enthusiasm, the Twickenham Trio filmed a welcome message for President Beasley before bringing in the entire class to the video for our greeting. Beasley responded, and it was a great way to cap off a splendid day at Twickenham.
Looking back at every moment in London can be as difficult as it is fun, just because of how much I miss being there with everyone. However, there is not much I miss more than working as a Twickenham Trio. Even in the most difficult days of the semester, Marisa and Sam were always there to bring a smile to my face. Meeting as a group served as a bright spot of every week. We learned so much, and every get-together featured endless laughter and happiness. I am incredibly grateful to have worked with them all semester, and I am thankful we got switched to a venue that allowed us to discover a brand new sport and stadium. Long live rugby, long live Dicky Lockwood and long live Twickenham!
