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The Rugby Pass Hall of Fame Welcomes: Whoever Is Behind The Barbarians Twitter Account
By Hayden Donnell
We found it: the only funny international rugby team Twitter account in the world. Hayden Donnell inducts @Barbarian_FC into the Rugby Pass Hall of Fame.
A good corporate social media account is rarer than gold, silver, or any of the precious metals. Most brands on Twitter, Facebook, and the secret networks where the teens hide, read like badly programmed robots trying to impersonate a human. Rugby teams are no different, regularly churning out aggressively inoffensive messages and sprinkling them with hashtags no one has ever used.
It gets worse when you reach the game’s administrative levels, where all you get is dense blocks of unintelligible text, occasionally broken up by news of Aaron Smith being censured for having sex in a toilet.
Only one team dares to not be awful. The Barbarians Twitter account has been an almost unmediated stream of rugby joy during the team’s recent Northern Hemisphere tour. Its live tweets during games are unique not only for avoiding being very bad, but often being extremely good. @Barbarian_FC started getting flamboyant during the team’s draw against South Africa.
But it really came into its own during their 71-0 thrashing of the semi-professional Czech Republic side.
It followed that excellent joke with a series of zingers directed at Jeremy Clarkson and the anonymous account runner’s lazy, biscuit-addicted lawyer.
At least a dozen more #FactCzechs were posted throughout the game, in the first recorded incidence of a good hashtag. But @Barbarian_FC wasn’t done. It went on to invent a classic commentary box catchphrase in the dying minutes of the match.
Enough. You’ve already made your case.
For services to social media, we induct thee @Barbarian_FC, the rugby Twitter redeemer, into the Rugby Pass Hall of Fame. May you rest forever inside its hallowed walls.
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Latest Comments
A few comments. Firstly, I am a Bok fan and it's been a golden period for us. I hope my fellow Bok fans appreciate this time and know that it cannot last forever, so soak it all in!
The other thing to mention (and this is targeted at Welsh, English and even Aussie supporters who might be feeling somewhat dejected) is that it's easy to forget that just before Rassie Erasmus took over in 2018, the Boks were ranked 7th in the world and I had given up hope we'd ever be world beaters again.
Sport is a fickle thing and Rassie and his team have managed to get right whatever little things it takes to make a mediocre team great. I initially worried his methods might be short-lived (how many times can you raise a person's commitment by talking about his family and his love of his country as a motivator), but he seems to have found a way. After winning in 2019 on what was a very simple game plan, he has taken things up ever year - amazing work which has to be applauded! (Dankie Rassie! Ons wardeer wat jy vir die ondersteuners en die land doen!) (Google translate if you don't understand Afrikaans! 😁)
I don't think people outside South Africa fully comprehend the enormity of the impact seeing black and white, English, Afrikaans and Xhosa and all the other hues playing together does for the country's sense of unity. It's pure joy and happiness.
This autumn tour has been a bit frustrating in that the Boks have won, but never all that convincingly. On the one hand, I'd like to have seen more decisive victories, BUT what Rassie has done is expose a huge number of players to test rugby, whilst also diversifying the way the Boks play (Tony Brown's influence).
This change of both style and personnel has resulted in a lack of cohesion at times and we've lost some of the control, whereas had we been playing our more traditional style, that wouldn't happen. This is partially attributable to the fact that you cannot play Tony Brown's expansive game whilst also having 3 players available at every contact point to clear the defence off the ball. I have enjoyed seeing the Boks play a more exciting, less attritional game, which is a boring, albeit effective spectacle. So, I am happy to be patient, because the end justifies the means (and I trust Rassie!). Hopefully all these players we are blooding will give us incredible options for substitutions come next year's Rugby Championship and of course, the big prize in 2027.
Last point! The game of rugby has never been as exciting as it is now. Any of Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, France, Argentina, Scotland, England & Australia can beat one another. South Africa may be ranked #1, but I wouldn't bet my house in them beating France or New Zealand, and we saw Argentina beating both South Africa and New Zealand this year! That's wonderful for the game and makes the victories we do get all the sweeter. Each win is 100% earned. Long may it last!
Sorry for the long post! 🏉🌍
Go to commentsWouldn’t mind seeing that grounding in slow mo there. Too much to ask?
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