Substitution, Ian feels, is taking away something for him from his game.
Because now, he only gets half a game. Wheras before once selected Ian
would get a full 80 minutes on a field, these days he gets 40 minutes.
Either the first half or the second.
In the bad old days, injury replacements were always wanted/needed, and
Ian, like us all, took his turn of sitting on the bench, often naturally
not getting a game at all. But due to the nature of bench warming,
Devizes ensured that he (and others) did it as little as possible and
shared it around. Maybe one week in eight.
However, today, with legal substitutions, not only must a team carry a
sub (for injury's sake) ... but they effectively are bound to use him.
Because if they don't, the oppo will have.. and potentially Devizes are
at a disadvantage, being a fresh man down in a crucial stamina
orientated position. So Ian either goes off at half time... or comes on
having sat out the first half. Consequently, today, Ian gets
effectively four games in eight on the bench.
Now, I can hear some saying... hold on, this is a team game. If that's
what your club requires of you, then that's what you do. That's all
well and good, says Ian, and he would agree with you... but by the same
token, who is "the club"? People like Ian, that's who. Not
professionals, who get paid whether they play or not, but blokes that
pay for the privilege of playing - 25 quid a year and 3 quid a game.
But now they are getting half the amount of rugby for their money, due
to the changes in the game.
It's not Devizes RFC's fault. It's not Ian's fault. It's not Ian's
captain's, or coach's faults. But it is there, and the situation will
not now go away.
And so due to the changes made for the cream at the top, thousands, if
not millions of ordinary blokes that play this wonderful game week in
week out for enjoyment, and pay for that privilege, will now potentially
only be playing half as much.
Which all seems a bit sad to Ian. Because all he wants to do is play
rugby. For a full eighty minutes like he always has done. That's all.
