Sometimes we need to play rough.

I must admit I am no angel. Even after realizing the existence of God, karma and reincarnation, there have been times when some of the things I did, especially when I was young, were nothing to be proud of. They are things I ought to be ashamed of. Nevertheless, I must insist that sometimes such deeds are necessary.

One of such deeds was carried out on a rugby field. I was in form four then and was a member of a rugby team. As I was then comparatively quite powerfully built (I had been into weight-lifting.) with good stamina too, (I was in my school’s Cross-Country teamas well as the Round-The-House Relay team.) I was chosen to be the hooker who is the player right in the middle of every scrum.

In one of the games we played against another team, there was this huge opposing player who always puts out his hand with his fingers stretched forward to dig into our eyes. After a few of us got hurt by him, we decided to put an end to the nonsense. The referee was unable to do anything as it happened so fast as the ball was carried towards the touch-down line. He was the biggest guy on the field and, individually, we were no match for him. The only way to seek retribution was to unite as a force to teach him a lesson and indoing so put forth a message to him. We knew we had to do it again and again until this foe understands that we were going out for him.

So, the next time one of us managed to tackle him down to the ground, everyone of us moved in, pretending to get the ball when our actual aim was to kick him and hurt him enough to have him think why we were acting that way. We had to make him realize he would never get away with jabbing his fingers into our face and our eyes.

I took us three, or was it four, times of dealing out such a punishment before he got the message that we intended to teach him a lesson. Eventually, he stopped poking his fingers into our players’ faces. When that happened, we stopped our punishment.

Well, rugby is a rough game, certainly not for true gentlemen. We had to play rough to stop any more injury from him. We proved that a bully can be stopped if everyone can be united to accomplish a goal.No, we were not proud of what we did. But we were proud of what we achieved. We taught a bully a lesson, we stopped further injury to ourselves and we learned the benefits of being united. So, even in such a rough and tough game, lessons can be taught and learned.

It was a lesson which I did apply to real life every now and then especially when faced with gangsterism as a discipline teacher. That is another story I may tell you one day.