A Glasgow Crimbo

Friday 30 December 2011

A Glasgow Crimbo

Kia Ora,

Meri Kirihimete (Merry Christmas) to all my readers. I hope you all had a happy and safe Christmas with family and friends. To everyone that read my first blog I hope you enjoyed it and thanks for the comments and feedback.

Christmas day was pretty quiet for me as usual, I did however manage to have a nice home cooked meal with my partner and the lonely Warriors boys, 'The stern' Tommy Seymour and Dutch/Kiwi Rob Verbakel who were also away from their families for the holidays. Rob proved to be a bit of a dark horse at poker while Tommy showed his competitive side when competing against a girl on the Wii!

This is the time of year when I get most homesick looking at photos of mates at home enjoying the southern hemisphere festive weather on the beach, having beers and cranking up the BBQ. When I was young I always wondered why Christmas cards had pictures of snow on them while I spent Christmas Day on the beach on my summer holidays from school! But since moving to the northern hemisphere I now realise all too well why there is snow on the Christmas cards and why Santa grows his beard at this time of year. I've taken a leaf out of his book to keep the chilly weather off my face!

When I moved to Glasgow I was told about the lovely winter weather to expect but thankfully I haven't had to experience too much snow....yet!

On Boxing Day my car thermometer read 14 degrees which has to be some kind of record?! I never realised that the Scottish summer could last for eight months!

One of the things I promised myself I would do while living in Glasgow was to go to a Celtic versus Rangers Old Firm derby and guess what, I ticked that box on Wednesday night - thanks to Santa Moray Low (@moray_low) for the hook up with the tickets. I have never experienced an atmosphere like it before. Feeling a stadium with 60,000 roaring soccer fans shake was quite a frightening experience and definitely one to remember.

So has anyone else noticed the amount of big signings we have had in the Warriors camp the last few weeks? The latest being Rory Lamont's brother Sean. Either the Lamont brothers were missing the motherland or one of the management team quietly won the euro millions. If its the later then give me a pay rise or I'll hunt you down ha!

The last couple of weeks has been tough with our back to back run against Montpellier. Playing at Stade Yves du Manior with 10,000 screaming Frenchies was an amazing experience. The French really know how to make a trip memorable starting with our police escort to the game. Speeding through five red lights and driving at least 30 miles an hour over the speed limit from the hotel to the stadium you would be forgiven for thinking we were staring in 'Speed 2' with Keanu Reeves. It definitely got the adrenaline pumping before we even reached the stadium.

Without doubt the biggest highlight of the festive season has to be the 1872 Cup derby versus Edinburgh Rugby. The matches commemorate the year when one of the oldest rivalries in world rugby was inaugurated. The first ever clash between the inter-city foes took place on 23 November 1872 at the then home of Glasgow Accies, Burnbank, in the city's west end. Since the start of the season I had heard what a massive occasion it was for both sides but it was when I arrived at training the week before Christmas and saw profile shots of the Edinburgh players posted all over the gym that it really hit home how big a deal these games actually were.

As you can imagine 5:35pm on Boxing Day couldn't come quick enough. The atmosphere running out onto the pitch at Murrayfield was electric, with 13,000 roaring Scots on the sidelines. A final score of 23-all shows that Monday's game against Edinburgh was a ding dong battle. For a split second the twirling winds made me think I was back in the Sportsground in Galway on a good day! Not to mention trying to avoid the rubbish being blown round the field. It's definitely a massive derby battle of Scottish territory for the full 80 minutes of play.

After last weeks performance it's all to play for in part two at Firhill this Sunday. With our Glasgow fans back on home soil it promises to be a game to remember and hopefully it will be a full house. Let's hope we can keep the silverware where it belongs!!

Over the coming weeks I'm going to attempt to try some of the boys home cooking with a 'come dine with me' style blog. Stay tuned to hear all the banter from some up and coming Scottish internationals when I put them to the test.

Stay Cool,

Troy

@dizTroy_