Of course, one of the amusing things about playing sport, in my case rugby, to University level is when you talk to Americans and casually mention, “I played rugby for my university”, their eyes light up and they picture you running out in huge stadiums, with tens of thousands of fans.
My rugby for my University was usually in front of a few girlfriends, a few mates, couple of injured teammates, a few random people and a dog.
There was always a dog. Whether school rugby or uni rugby. Always a dog. Why?
Not the same dog, obviously, and no special theme of breed, size etc. just always a dog. Watching the rugby. Bizarre. Never seen a dog at Twickenham, but I always gave the game my best shot, because I figured that if the dog bothered to come along, the least I could do was put in a shift. Always a dog.
BTW I love US College football. I went to a Bowl game between the Longhorns and the Razorbacks in Houston. It was amazing.
And I did get into a conversation in the bar with an American, and mentioned that I played rugby for my university. He was impressed. I didn’t mention the dog.