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Bash: When I first joined there was a lot of hype about doing the initiations, which were obligatory if you wanted to join the rugby club. It was like you were a 'lad' if you had done them. So, I was pretty nervous like every other fresher. We went down to the sports ground. The second and third years took control and geared us up; told us to "man up", sort of trying to scare us.OK, what did you actually have to do?
It was kinda like an obstacle course, the first one was 'ale of tuna'.What's 'ale of tuna'?
Well, its a pint of ale mixed with tuna. I didn't mind the tuna, I munched that away, but the ale was horrible.Of course. I'm heaving. Then what happened?
Then there was a bunch of stations which involved chinning loads of vodka and sambuca with chilli in them. The whole point of it was to make us drink, throw up and then keep drinking. It's mainly about drinking. People were vomiting everywhere.
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It was kind of a good experience. The year after that someone died in Gloucester, though, so it can go wrong and it eventually got stopped. But before that I ran my own initiations.OK, what made your signature initiations special?
You started by smashing eggs over your head, chinning a pint, doing a roly-poly and then running around a pole. Then there was the ale and tuna. Then wrestling in a tub of beans, mixing it up a bit.Hmm, that doesn't sound as extreme as what they do in America. What was the worst thing you had to do or made people do?
The blades of glory, probably.What's 'blades of glory'?
You're in your boxers doing slip 'n' slide on some tarpaulin, and you launch yourself at each other legs first. You have to aim to clash in the middle with your legs interlocked, like scissors, so that your balls smash together. That's why it's called blades of glory.

Yeah.

Well, we start by stripping everyone down in the changing rooms, blind-folding them and walking them out in a line onto the pitch with an arm on each others' shoulders. It's a bit humiliating, walking through the sports ground, naked. The football lads do initiations as well, but it's less drink, more just flour and eggs and getting naked.What other things go on that help make you 'one of the lads' in a rugby team?
On tour we have court sessions for misdemeanours – little things, spilling your drink or whatever. Some of the punishments include running slave errands for other people, swimming in the freezing cold, naked, eating dog meat…
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Yeah, three times. I actually really enjoyed it. I was drunk the whole time so dog meat was a bit of a luxury.

Well, I think we do stuff like that on a normal night out.What about some of the worst stuff you hear about at fraternity houses, like taking people being made to swim in pools of human shit?
We don't do anything that bad, but we do have this thing call 'the list'.Tell me about 'the list'.
So, it's a list of a hundred things you have to complete in 24 hours and you need photo or video evidence for each one. So, for example, someone has to put toilet roll up their arse and light it. Someone has to shit in a pub…Shit in a pub? I know pub toilets are a bit gross, but that doesn't sound that bad.
Not in the toilets. In the actual pub.Like on the floor in the middle of the pub?
Yeah.OK.
Also, drinking the top shelf of the bar, ringing up your dad and telling him you're gay, puking on a bird –Puking on a girl? A complete stranger?
Yeah. Getting naked in a lift with a bunch of people, vomiting in each others' mouths… That kind of thing.Is there anything as violent as 'blades of glory'?
Nah, we have to look out for the welfare of the people.Surely vomiting in someone else's mouth while they vomit into your mouth is just as hazardous to a person's health?
Yeah, well that was concealed, hopefully.
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Yeah, basically.You do that in public?
[laughing] Yeah. We do 'bum sweats' , pouring beer through your bum into someone's mouth.

We had to end it because of the whole someone dying thing in Gloucester. I do miss it, but there are other ways for people to bond with each other.There probably are. Thanks, Bash.@joshuahaddow