Back in the days when I played sport whether it was Rugby or Cricket socializing with the team was a big thing. Late nights partying to all hours with women and booze was just a normal night out.
I played sport because I enjoyed it and the team element playing with other people you had never met before and getting to know them was the fun part. Every team has their characters who make everyone laugh and those were the special times I remember fondly. Enjoyment on and off the field creating bonds that you will have for a lifetime. Booze was a big part of that time off the field and I even turned down a job working for the brewery. Could you imagine how bad that would have become as everyone is now your mate.
The cricket team was a successful team as we won the league yet if you saw us on a Friday night before the game you would never had thought so. Things often got out of hand and we would sleep in the grounds changing rooms whether it was home or away so we wouldn't be late for the start of the match. When you are young and fit you can get away with such behavior, but I know it would be frowned upon today. An hour in the sun drinking loads of water and we were all sober ready for the days play.
Rugby was not quite so bad as I was working with a decent job so I had to behave to some degree. When you have branding all over your vehicle everyone knows your name and there is nowhere to hide as you represent them at all times. That was actually a blessing in disguise even if my work mates were mainly hooligans and worse than my sporting buddies. I will revisit some of the drama with them in future posts as they were wilder than wild.
After the game we would end up drinking in the changing room as normally there would be sponsored beer just lying there in crates ready for when we walked off the field. Friends who came to watch had no idea what took us so long to shower and get dressed. It was like an unwritten rule to not drink even if you didn't wan to. I am not a big beer drinker and back then being so fit I was drunk after my second beer so normally nursed one very slowly.
These days you will find no beer, but energy drinks and iced baths for recovery as everything is now scientific with little to no fun to be had. Once we started to get paid for playing things did change as results mattered more as sponsorship paid for the money we were now receiving.
The yard of ales in the club house disappeared after the games and was replaced with a meal or a cocktail party to entertain our opposition and guests. Things were far more formal and well mannered as clubs were out to impress players hoping to poach them for the following season. The clubs became businesses which they weren't really before as they relied on membership fees to just get by and now they had sponsors knocking at the doors offering all types of deals.
I bought this up as we are currently on an alcohol sales ban and wonder what my team would have thought about that if we had that happen to us. Most likely we would have lost all of our games as that wouldn't have been normal.
