Today was probably the worse rugby game I've ever played, or at the very least made me feel the most shitty. No, it was not the hits to the head I received nor the hand stomps my hand can testify to, but the totally lack of team unity I witnessed today and the clear distrust among the players.
No one's listening to the fly-half. No one is passing the ball. No one is sticking their tackles. No one is running! How do you expect players to give it their all and put their body on the line, when no one else seems to give a rat's ass about the game? I personally have enough to worry about in a game, I don't want to pick up anyone else's slack! Too many dropped balls, crap tackles, and jogging and next thing you know, the 15-player team just became a solo act. I can't trust you to play your part, so why should I depend on you to make a play, when CLEARLY you can't.
It's just me, myself, and I now. To hell with y'all. I put the "me" in team.
We lost, to everyone's surprise, the game and each other's trust.
As one of the veterans on the team, I can't believe how much this team has fallen apart. Just last year on this very field, we played with exactly 15 girls, no subs, but our love for the game and for each other was so much more prevalent. Everyone played their part, whether with tackles or kicks or passes, and not one person dared to take on the team herself. I remember my teammate limping back onto the field because she'd rather shoot herself than let us play down players. I remember that even though we lost that game, that we did not lose respect for each other, and we arrives as a team and we left as one.
Flash-forward to today. There is literally no back I can fully trust to actually play the ball correctly, I fear for my life every time we scrum, and we can pretty much count on our full-back to not catch that ball and let it roll 20 more meters.
Team unity. Though I have read how important it is to a team, today I've come to understand how lack thereof can be detrimental to a team. Without it, everyone fends for themselves, communication falters, and effort plummets.
There's a correlation for sure between strength of team unity and effort, and thus injury. Perhaps this is why last year my team was riddled with injuries, and this year everyone seems to be breezing on by. Yes, technically we're all safer, but we're sure all bored and sick of this damn fucking around attitude. Or least I am.
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