As you may know the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup are about to take place. What? You didn’t know? Perhaps that’s because Belgium got knocked out in the qualifying stages. Oh, yes, Belgium did enter. But only a select 20 teams made it to Australia, where the competition is being held.

Of course, to call these teams ‘select’ is stretching credibility somewhat. Although teams from all corners of the globe are taking part – for example, Canada, Argentina, Namibia, Japan and Fiji – rugby is played professionally only in the larger countries of the Anglophone world, plus France and Italy, minus North America. The national teams from these countries have a huge advantage in experience, training facilities and player-base (the number of people from which a national team can be chosen).

They also have an added, and outrageously unfair, advantage. Many of the best players from other countries taking part, especially the poorer ones such as Romania, Georgia and Samoa, just can’t afford to play in the World Cup. They earn their living playing for club teams in one of the ‘core’ rugby nations – and their clubs told them that if they absented themselves to go and represent their country in Australia, they would lose their jobs! If the sport’s international authorities are serious about spreading the gospel of rugby – and they always say they are – they will have to sort out this scandalous situation quickly. At present, it is not a level playing-field.

Meanwhile, rugby is enjoying unprecedented interest in England. English football is sinking further and further into the mire of scandal brought about by the behaviour of players on and off the field. A recent poll found that football was “not important” to 77 % of the English population. But the English rugby team is one of the favourites to win the competition. And rugby players, despite doing the most horrible things to each other on the field, always behave impeccably – and are friends with each other – off it. It’s as if the old saying that “Football is a game for gentlemen played by hooligans, while rugby is a game for hooligans played by gentlemen” is as true as it ever was.

to knock out (hier): uitschakelen.

impeccably: onberispelijk.

in the mire (hier): in de knoei.

player-base: aantal spelers in verschillende clubs.

to sort out: oplossen.

to spread the gospel (hier): ervoor zorgen dat steeds meer mensen rugby spelen en kijken.