Many people who know me have heard me say this statement many a time. And if you are to ask me when this “obsession” came about, I can’t honestly pinpoint it, but I thank my parents for coming to South Africa so I could get to know this AMAZING AND BEAUTIFUL game!

Now how much do I bleed for Rugby? Case in point, when I was 13 years old, whilst at the KZN U/13 rugby trials, I was tackled so hard, that I broke my left leg in 3 places, and till this day, I still have the steel rod and screws keeping my leg together. Then less than a year later, during my first year in an all boy’s boarding school; against doctors’ orders, I got back onto the field behind my parents back. End result, during another bad tackle, my right knee cap broke like a chicken bone and did a 180 degree. I was rushed to hospital and had to have my right knee popped back into place and reconstructed. I had a full leg cast for months.

Sure you are all wincing in pain, and probably thinking that I learnt my lesson? Well not really, as the pull and hold that rugby had on me, drew me back to the rugby fields just over a year later and there I have stayed ever since, I just can’t help it to be honest. It is one of the reasons that I decided to study PR, because if I can’t play at the level that I had always dreamed, I want to one day at least be part of a team that brings a team’s brand and the power and passion that this game can create to as many as possible. And I got a taste of this whilst interning for the Sharks in ‘09, and it affirmed that I had made the right career choice.

Looking back, would I do it all again? Most def! Even though I get aches and pains now and then over a decade on from the surgeries; I can’t walk as fast or easily as I would like and my left foot tilts slightly to an angle no matter how I try to straighten it, I wouldn’t change a thing. For I bleed rugby and my experiences have taught me a lot about myself, passion and perseverance against the odds (many with my injuries would probably not be able to walk today without a cane). So when you have a passion or a love, live it out till your fullest, because only then are you truly alive!

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