Rituals from the Old School

A custom from a bygone era of rugby is the jersey presentation.

It’s old school. Someone who’s lived what this jersey means stands up and shares their story, and the values that come with it. They read out a name and hand that person the jersey. There’s a depth of silence and an unspoken exchange at that moment. That’s the moment.

Me and Willie were talking about foundations of rugby and a core piece was building the ‘rugby experience’. How do you create space around the game so people feel the values, not just hear them?

Willie ran a jersey presentation for his team. Stripped down, it’s nothing. A garment changing hands. Naturally there’s resistance around something that could seem trivial. Especially this far into the season. In the end, someone who’d lived that jersey’s story ran the presentation.

You could feel it.

The values don’t transfer when you stand up and state them. They transfer when someone who’s lived them hands it over. Let them tell their story.

That’s the whole thing.

You’re not teaching a player what the jersey means. You’re building the space where they can feel it from someone who knows. Knowledge doesn’t move in a vacuum. It needs the people, the story, the space.

You don’t own the jersey. You leave it better than you found it.