Rugby World Cup 2015 - Leeds

Where do I begin? I mean, what is there to say about the least interesting city I've ever visited a place where I couldn't find anything to do but watch rugby?

When they announced all of the game venues for England's 2015 Rugby World Cup, I was initially annoyed that Scotland wasn't getting a game at home in Murrayfield. I mean, if they were bending the definition of 'England' to include Wales, they should bring Scotland in as well. Of course, I now realise that the referendum made that a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation for the organisers. Had Scotland voted for independence, claiming Edinburgh under the England umbrella would have been pretty politically challenging. On the other side, with Scotland remaining in the UK, calling their stadiums English would have been rubbing salt in the wound for many. Either way, Scots would've kicked off, so it was really the only sensible option for them to stay away.

Regardless, when the game lottery started a year ago, I assumed I'd be living in Scotland and picked 3 random games that I wanted to see, paying no attention to date or location. Given that I'm not living here at game time, it means an extra long trip, only half of which can be spent with Jody. And it all started with me flying into Leeds.

Supposedly Leeds is the UK's third largest city, its second biggest business hub, and its top destination for shopping. You'd never be able to tell any of that from the airport, which was small, dismal, and incredibly slow. I had to settle for the best hotel I could get in the RWC craziness, which claimed to be 10 minutes' walk from the city centre with lots to do nearby, but all we found within 10 minutes' walk was rundown old buildings. In actuality, it took at least a quarter of an hour to trek to the closest hole-in-the-wall takeaway places, with no sign of a city centre nearby. In addition, Leeds is in one of the highest pollen areas of all Great Britain, so within a few hours, Jody and I were both miserable and feeling like our faces were going to explode.

Determined to make the best of my visit to a new place, though, I opened my England guidebook to the West Yorkshire section and tried to find us something to do. There were 8 sightseeing options listed. Eight. That included two art galleries, three museums, and three historic sites, alongside mentions of "lively nightlife" and shopping that we weren't particularly keen on. So our Saturday night abroad was spent in our hotel room, downing decongestants and watching sports on TV.

On Sunday, I woke up early, stuck on a cap to shade me from the unseasonably warm and sunny weather, and left Jody behind to trudge the miles across town to my first Rugby World Cup game of 2015: Scotland versus USA.

Despite being confused by the signage and initially going in the wrong entrance, I eventually made it to my seat at Elland Road Stadium. I was in a very nice suite area of the ground so that the bar and such indoors were great, but the seat itself was so tiny that I had to keep my elbows glued to my sides all game and despite my medium-length legs, had my knees jammed into the back of the seat in front of me.

But it was worth it. The World Cup atmosphere is completely unlike anything else. There were roughly 33,500 people in the stadium. The majority were Scotland fans, there were a large number supporting the Americans, and some local folk just there to take it all in; all categories of fan were chatting across team lines, laughing, cheering, and generally loving rugby, together.

The game itself was a great one. The US team came out to play, while the Scots made mistake after mistake, which kept it close and had the Americans leading at halftime. In the second 40 minutes, though, things sort of reversed and Scotland came back to win 39-16, including 5 tries to get them a bonus point in the tournament. They're currently leading the pool with 2 tough games to go, so I can only hope they'll fight their natural predilection to pull defeat from the jaws of victory and get to the next stage.

After spending another night in with our allergy medication, Jody and I caught the train back to  Edinburgh Monday, where I'm now working and living normal life until it's time to venture out for more of the World Cup next week. Despite how quickly 4 years went by between games last time, the next one seems like ages from now. I can't wait!