Atlantica - 01.06.2011, Page 67

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Reykjavík, where James Broad, David Jarron,
Ranald Haig, Martin Kelly, Tim Bishop, Adam
Wood and Stefán Smári Kristinsson met to dis-
cuss the possibility of playing rugby together.
They all agreed that the Icelandic physical
structure and mentality would be perfect for
the sport.
In February 2010, the team started training
together. At first it was just a bunch of guys
getting together to play a casual game. Only
two months later, they had signed up for the
Scandinavian Open Sevens in Copenhagen. At
that point, the team began training in a regular
and organized manner for their first unofficial
competition.
Today, the Raiders are 34 with 20 Icelanders
as well as 14 experienced players hailing from
countries across the globe such as the United
Kingdom, France and South Africa, sharing their
knowledge and passion for the game with the
less experienced players.
The team shares facilities with the Valur
Football Club, training twice a week for 2-3
hours at a time. The players all have daytime
jobs and families to be with yet they take the
time to meet up twice a week to play a game
they love. And what’s not to love? Unlike the
initial impressions of the novice spectator, the
sport is a gentlemen’s game. The game itself
may seem a series of ruthless tackles and scrums
yet the reality of the game is very different.
“It is a hooligan’s game played by gentlemen,”
explains Christopher S. Cook, a member of the
Thunderbirds. And it truly is. Cook left Iceland
with more than bruises: a book by Hendrikka
Waage, Rikka and the Magic Ring, for his two
children.
The gentle-natured players who play this
hooligan’s game leave the grassy fields after
80-minute long games, embracing one another,
exchanging shirts and forming a tunnel to clap
each other off the field before the visiting team
is introduced to the Icelandic swimming pool
tradition.
Then they come together at a barbeque bring-
ing wives, girlfriends and children to mingle
under the midnight sun in Nauthólsvík. The
youthful spirit of some of the players comes out
as the sun sets in the West and sleepy children
have been laid to bed. They run naked into
the freezing sea to cool down. Long nights of
drinking indeed come with the territory, but
instead of hostile scrums, bonds of friendship
are formed and a mi casa es su casa mindset mani-
fests the deep-rooted respect the players have for
one another.
Injuries are common enough, as in any sport,
but when the Raiders’ hooker was carried off the
field on Sunday July 3, both teams lined up to
see him off and waited anxiously for news from
the hospital regarding his health. Thankfully
it was a mild concussion and a mandatory rest
from participation in the second game played on
the eve of July 6.
The Thunderbird Old Boys Alumni Rugby
Club from Phoenix, Arizona, was founded in
1976 and numbers around 900 today. The play-
ers participating in the Mjödur Tour gradu-
ated between 1986 and 2012. The Thunderbird
School of Global Management is one of the
leading post-graduate business schools in the
world today, and has one of the highest number
of international student body: 30% against 70%
domestic.
The Mjödur Tour to Iceland ( July 1-8) was
not the first one for the Thunderbirds. The
past two tours brought them to Cuba in 2003
and Argentina in 2005. The teams played two