Hamish Champ: Rugby, booze and good behaviour

It's been years since I've been to Twickenham to watch a game of rugby - the last time being 1983, when those brave boys from North Of The Border beat the home side to lift the Calcutta Cup - and perhaps a pre-World Cup 'friendly' against the damn Frenchies was never going to be a hugely entertaining spectacle.

Still, England gave a reasonable account of themselves against a near full-strength 'Bleus' side and Twickenham, likewise almost full, looked glorious in the sunshine late on Saturday afternoon.

Now I don't go to see rugby often - I'm more a fan of the round ball than the oval one - but I came away from Saturday's game reminded that physically-demanding sporting events featuring two national sides don't have to descend into the nasty side of patriotic fervour. They can be full of spirit, of endeavour and of fair play.

Rugby fans can be as boisterous as football ones, certainly, but I never got the sense that things were going to quickly spiral out of control. On Saturday, French fans were sitting amongst English ones, and while the banter was spirited, it was always friendly. Even when the opposition scored, fans - all fans - would applaud.

Alcohol is in abundance in and around a stadium like Twickenham, and yes, there were many people a medical practitioner might have argued were well over their monthly unit allowance, never mind their weekly one. And this consumption had occured way before the game had even started. But of the slightest hint of trouble there was not a sign.

While no pub is willingly going to turn away customers, I suspect boozers may prefer rugby fans, since they know the chances of troubles are slim.

Outside Twickenham railway station before the game a couple of young women were advertising a pub further down the road with the offer of "buy one pint, get one free". Ethically this was questionable marketing to say the least, but this was a rugby crowd and perhaps they took the view that a booze-fuelled riot wasn't on the cards.

In the stadium itself I had to laugh at an exceedingly polite notice pinned up alongside the several bars dotted around the concourse. It informed customers that yes, they would be allowed to take their beers back to their seats, but they would be limited to carrying only four pints per person.

I assumed they could go back and forward as often as they liked, but hey, four pints per trip was your lot! Sadly, I can't imagine such a liberal policy being rolled out at my beloved Stamford Bridge.

I don't know whether rugby fans are literally a different breed from football ones. I know lots of well-heeled football supporters and a fair few not-so-posh followers of rugby, so I doubt background comes into it. But something's going on.

Perhaps, despite being faced with ever-increasing financial pressures from TV and big business, rugby is still able to instil in its participants - players and fans alike - a sense of doing the right thing​.

And perhaps it's because what thuggery exists is kept on the pitch, and forgotten off it.