📺 Cure it with Movies: Rugby

Today starts the 2019 Rugby World Cup and this year is hosted by Japan. The matches will be held in various stadiums all over the country and the final will be held at the Nissan Stadium in Yokohama, the city in which I lived until 3 months ago...(lost in memories now)

I first started getting interested in rugby 5 years ago, during the summer I spent in Galway, Ireland (lost in memories once again) because, along with hurling, it's the national sport.

At first, it could strike as a violent and dangerous sport and, while it is not completely false, anyone who practices it said it teaches respects for others and how to deal with conflicts peacefully.

To celebrate the first kick of this World Cup I made a list of movies about this incredible sport and if you know others not mentioned, let me know in the comments.

Probably the first movie that comes to mind when someone says 'rugby' is 2009 Clint Eastwood's Invictus, with Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon. I watched this movie multiple times and it always manages to give me goosebumps both because of the brilliant acting and the message of unity and cooperation.

This 2008 movie centers on rugby as a way to get your life back together as well as a way to grow up. A troublemaker young man gets his second chance by playing in a rugby team that's direct opponent of the team he's been kicked out of, who's coached by his father, nevertheless.

Any post I checked for rugby movies agreed had one point in common: 2005 docu-movie Murderball is a must-watch for rugby's fans...and also who don't care about it, should watch it anyway. 

Focused on a group of Paralympics athletes playing rugby in a wheelchair, getting ready for the 2004 edition of the Paralympics, held in Athens, Greece.

This 1991 comedy movie revolves around the fictional character of Bleddyn Morgan who, on his death bed, makes a confession that will force New Zeland's All Blacks and Galles' Red Dragons to replay the (fictional) 1966's match...with the same team of that year. Looks like a lot of fun!

The Ground We Won is a 2015 movie on a New Zeland's rugby team made of farmers who seek for a chance of redemption after a long series of defeats. This appears to be a much harsher and 'dark' movie in confront of the others listed above...At first sight, I feel this will make the viewer think a lot after watching it.


So this is it, there are not a lot of movies about rugby (if compared to the similar America Football), still, I say 'few but good'.

Are you going to watch the World Cup?

Ph: impawards.com