WATCHING THE ELECTIVES*

 *Elective: Something that's elective is optional — you can choose to do it, or not.

I've been watching the Women's World Cup Rugby 2025 and it's proving to be just as exciting as the last world cup series.

One of the noticeable differences is the prevalence of elective try celebrations which I didn't notice so much in earlier tournaments.

Sports scoring celebrations are actions performed by a player, often the goalscorer, to express joy, pride, and triumph after a successful play, and can range from simple gestures to choreographed routines, though excessive celebrations that delay the restart of play may be penalized. Celebrations are more common and elaborate in lower-scoring sports like football, and famous examples include Cristiano Ronaldo's "Siu" and the "Ickey Shuffle".

       Thanks Google's AI Overview

It's nice I guess to see players taking pride in their achievements but like so many things in our social media obsessed age this is being taken over the top and the planned little routines, to me, are a pain in the arse.

Especially the elaborate and rehearsed ones.

Sheesh!

When I played rugby at secondary school and university I didn't have any victory celebrations planned for when I scored tries and neither did my teammates.

Of course Richard wouldn't have needed to have anything planned - he was a forward.

Somehow this Elvis Costello song seems appropriate.

 

Nice girls, not one with a defect
Cellophane shrink-wrapped, so correct
Red dogs under illegal legs
She looks so good that he gets down and begs
She is watching the detectives
"Ooh, it's so cute" .....