What is your prime motivation for going to a 6N game?

Why do people go to the cinema? Is it for the cinematic experience? What is the cinematic experience? In days gone by you might have said the big screen and sound, the shared experience of riding through the rollercoaster of emotions with other people in a connected but, at the same time, vicarious way. Now with the digital age and the era of multiplexes, sometimes you wish for your big screen television or indeed projector at home, your comfy couch and the absence of people doing their impression of pigs feeding at a trough.

I read an article today from a SH perspective where people were either extolling the virtues of the 6N or dismissing it. I understand the appeal of the 6N - the proximity of the matches regardless of your team, the history of rivalry that rises above or degenerates below the game of rugby, the interaction with rivals before, during and after the game - but I'm just curious as to knowing what the prime motivation for going to a live game is.

In NZ, fans you might say are a dour, cheerless lot. Music is pumped out to create an atmosphere because it is unlikely to be generated by the crowd. Our most creative chants are All Blacks, All Blacks. We held meetings, conferences, reports were written. That's what we came up with. Occasionally bursts of creativity will break out - ooh look, there's Quade Cooper with the ball, let's get his attention - but there are no anthems to sing, no pipe or brass bands to stir the crowd. We might stretch to cow bells if the game is in Hamilton but nobody's overly happy about that.

There is a reason behind that and it's not because of the huge distances involved to travel to the game. You'd be surprised at how many of the resident expats make the games. Sydney seems more like a NZ home game. The exception is the SA home games, where the overwhelming majority are Bokke supporters but even then you can hear support for the rival teams in those games. The prime reason for fans watching a match in the SH, in my view, is to watch a game of rugby. It's the rugby that entertains and if it doesn't then the crowd goes away unhappy, regardless of the result. I think there is an element of corporate culture creeping into the game globally where the emphasis is placed more on the overall entertainment package. If you pay big bucks to watch a game, you want to come away with the feeling that you've got your money's worth. It seems that watching a game of rugby is not enough for that. There needs to be more.

I've been to 6N games. I can see the attraction of the big day out type atmosphere generated. The heart of Dublin is surrounded by both sets of fans leading up to the game and afterwards. That said, I remember the pre-match atmosphere around town in Christchurch where the Wallaby or Springbok fans would move from bar to bar and perhaps because the city centre was very small and concentrated and the rival fans easily stood out with their national colours, you got at least a similar atmosphere. I'm well aware that Christchurch as a form of entertainment doesn't stack up much against well known European cities and everything is reduced in scale, but at least the sensation of anticipation and rivalry is similar.

But I'm curious to know from you 6N fans whether you go to the games and what your prime motivation is for doing so. I don't wish this thread to be about which is the better competition or which has the better rugby. The 4N can serve up some tripe as well as some captivating games and the 6N is capable of both as well. But let's say you go to a 6N match and the rugby is awful, is it possible for you to come away with the feeling that the experience was still worthwhile. Obviously whether you win or lose plays some part in how you remember a rugby match but try to think what you are feeling before the match rather than after the match. Why are you at the ground? What compels you to be there live at the ground. What is the rugby experience for you much like how do you define the cinematic experience. Is rugby the film and that's all that matters or is it who you go to see the event with and the special atmosphere that is created with that particular audience?

Whatever the sport I always find it's better to watch live in the stands. Atmosphere, like minded people, the fact you don't have to celebrity spot whoever the director has spotted that day. The pie the pint, the build up. The sense of deflation or elation and talking in the pub afterwards. It's a whole day thing.

yes its a whole day thing specially for 6N games (for club games I tend to go back home straight after the game). pre game drinks and/or lunch, banter, rugby then post match drinks and dinner and more fun.

I agree, Six Nations matches are big events, not simply more Rugby matches.  I enjoy everything which goes with it.  There is so much energy surrounding a Six Nations match. And the centre of it all, of course, is the Rugby.  Club matches are a bit different, and I attend more simply for the Rugby and enjoying time with supporters.   Enjoy them both, just slightly differently.

I love the six nations because:

I really like the away fans of all teams. When they arrive in Dublin they always add a massive buzz and excitement to the city both on the streets and in the bars after.

I love being at the games because the long standing traditions of the 6 nations has created such strong rivalries and friendships and as a result the games mean so much to the fans and the players.

It is the pinacle of the NH rugby season and as a result there is extra excitement.

Finally I also love it because I am accustomed to love it. Like anything you have grown up with and have done all your life it becomes almost a habit and obsession as it has provided so many happy memories to draw from even from the dark days of Irish rugby.

It is an excuse to meet with old friends.

For the day, the buzz, the rugby, the craic. Nothing beats it. Do you have a link to that article you mentioned about the Six Nations in your second paragraph?

GunsGerms wrote:

I really like the away fans of all teams. When they arrive in Dublin they always add a massive buzz and excitement to the city both on the streets and in the bars after.

We'll work on trying to get you to say such nice things about particular "away fans" of a certain Provincial team, guns.

SecretFly wrote:

GunsGerms wrote:

I really like the away fans of all teams. When they arrive in Dublin they always add a massive buzz and excitement to the city both on the streets and in the bars after.

We'll work on trying to get you to say such nice things about particular "away fans" of a certain Provincial team, guns.

What has that got to do with the six nations? Six nations is and always will be what matters most to me rather than some faux, boring, media manufactured provincial non-existant rivalry based largely on a one way engrained, deep-seated bitterness that has very little to do with rugby.

................nothing, absolutely nothing.

Hatred   

hmmmmmmmmm...... okay.  Don't let it get to you, guns.  A few deep breaths, a vallium and back to the lovely away fans of Six Nations.

Seeing how much cheating we can get away with is my teams motivation going into a 6N game. We got away with 80 minutes of it versus France. I hope we can get away with the same against England.

I don't see the 6N as all that different from the Autumn Internationals or RWC games within reach of home. At HQ there are usually plenty of away fans, whatever the visiting team.

It's irrational, because I can get as good a view from the comfort of my sofa for much less money and without getting cold. But why does anyone go to watch sport live? It's vicarious combat and we're programmed to want to be a part of it.

"And gentlemen in England now-a-bed on their sofas
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods fandom cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us roared from the stands upon Saint Crispin’s day [insert date of game here]."

Notch wrote:For the day, the buzz, the rugby, the craic. Nothing beats it. Do you have a link to that article you mentioned about the Six Nations in your second paragraph?

Sorry Notch. Have been out in the sun today (last two days have been amazing as opposed to the bitterly cold three days before them): http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/international/9796481/Southern-hemisphere-fans-envy-the-Six-Nations

The comments are probably more enlightening than the article in terms of how 6N is perceived. There's the obvious and familiar mix of reason and wummery but there were some good comments that inspired this thread.

Get slaughtered innit, being a NZ I thought this would be easy to answer.

Seeing England score a try.

Good question Kia.
After some of the recent Scotland games I've asked myself why I keep going!

It's funny because I could watch it at home on the TV, few friends round etc we'd have a better view, a much comfier seat, be warm, wouldn't have to spend 6/7 hours on a train or splash out ££££ per trip.
So why do I go?

The main reason is simply, the rare times, when Scotland win and the Murrayfield crowd erupts there's nowhere I'd rather be. That feeling of elation that courses through you is just awesome. Add into it that most of our victories tend to be close run things and you can add overwhelming relief to the feeling of elation. Really wish that feeling could be bottled!

Other reasons, I love getting away from Aberdeen. Edinburgh is a lovely place to visit &   . I love rugby. And my best friends lives in Edinburgh so it's a great way of meeting up.

My first match was England hosting Wales during the old Five Nations. The tickets came through our club, and we had a draw to see who would go. That made the four of us who did make the trip feel like ambassadors, with a duty to drink in as much of the day as possible and report back.

Even today, going to a Six Nations match feels like a wholly different experience to attending a club match, sevens event or even something like a Barbarians game at Twickenham. You do feel like you want to make a day of it. I've never been to one of the big Heineken Cup clashes and Iwonder whether that might be comparable.