Local rugby club provide safe hands at Gloucestershire cheese rolling
Every year, Gloucestershire’s cheese rolling competition captures imaginations around the world, but for Brockworth Rugby Club the day is not far removed from a rugby match.
While attentions focus on those throwing themselves down Cooper’s Hill after a wheel of Double Gloucester cheese, at the bottom of the hill stand a line of players from the local rugby team.
Their role is one of, if not the most important on the day as they are tasked with preventing competitors from careering into the fence at the bottom of the hill.
This is where their rugby skills come into play and the players must use their tackling ability to bring runners to a (mostly) gentle stop.
Club captain Alex Fisher said: “Being a rugby player you have a certain joy for impact and maybe even pain. That rugby mentality of enjoying a tackle definitely suits the role.
“We’ve had a few people who don’t play rugby say they want to try catching and when people start hurtling towards them at full speed they get a bit scared.”
Although the aim is to slow the cheese chasers in a gentle fashion, sometimes the situation requires a slightly more physical touch.
“There are some occasions where people are coming at you at such force that unless you put a good hit on them you are going to go flying with them so you have to get the shoulder in,” said Alex.
“About 95 per cent of the time though it is a passive tackle or just a cuddle to take the momentum out of it. Unlike on the pitch we have quite a high success rate!”
Not only do the rugby players prevent people from hitting the fence, they also serve as a barrier between competitors at the bottom of the hill.
For example, if a runner reaches the bottom but is carrying an injury, a couple of players will protect them from onrushing racers by forming a guard, similar to protecting a ruck!
Brockworth RFC has fulfilled this crucial role for at least 10 years while also seeing one of their own take home title after title.
Chris Anderson, who plays in the back three for Brockworth, is the world record holder in cheese rolling, having won the coveted Double Gloucester a phenomenal 23 times.
He always does a bit of catching at the bottom of Cooper’s Hill, but is primarily a racer. He grew up in the village and therefore knows the hill well, estimating that he has ran down it more than 200 times.
“I’ve got a line that I prefer to take,” said Chris.
“There is a track that goes over the hill and I try to stick to one side of it. Once I’m halfway down it’s just about being on your feet and sprinting to the finish line.
“Rugby gives you that sort of robustness, you are a bit more used to the hits because hitting the floor is not too dissimilar from a tackle.”
With the event continuing to grow over the years thanks in part to the internet, there will be more cheese chasers, but with Brockworth’s finest rugby players at the bottom of the hill they can be sure they are in safe hands.
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