重庆有个特别的国际橄榄球队

□ 文/本刊记者 李静

在重庆，有这样一支特殊的球队，说它特殊，不仅因为这是重庆第一支英式橄榄球队，还因为球队的队员们非常“国际化”，分别来自中国、新西兰、澳大利亚、美国、英国、德国、哥伦比亚、波兰、丹麦、芬兰、俄罗斯、阿根廷、斐济等十几个不同国家，这样一个“联合国”式的球队在重庆从无到有，经历几年的风风雨雨，已经成为在重庆的外国友人圈子里的热门团体，这就是重庆“征服者”橄榄球队。

重庆第一支橄榄球队

橄榄球队最初是由一个美国人和一个重庆人共同成立的。2006年，美国人马特（Mathew）来到中国，在重庆交通大学担任外教。作为一名狂热的橄榄球爱好者，从到重庆的那一天起，他就一直在寻找一群打橄榄球的志同道合的朋友和场地。2008年，一次偶然的机会，马特认识了一个会英式橄榄球的朋友，叫成杰，也是现在征服者球队里的资历最深的一名队员，曾打过两年的橄榄球业余联赛。因为抱有共同的目标和对橄榄球的热情，两人开始计划组建一支业余橄榄球队，在克服了队员少、无固定训练场地、合作商缺乏等等难题后，2008年，重庆首家英式橄榄球队——“征服者”终于成立。

如今，球队的创建者之一——马特已经回到美国，Ting也已经离开了重庆，回忆起当时组建球队，积极拉人入伙的场面，成杰仍然记忆犹新。“我们的球队最初把队员锁定在高校的外教和留学生身上。在很短的时间里，我们找到了几位具备一定橄榄球基础的战友，华裔新西兰人Ting，曾经打过橄榄球的重庆小伙夏嘉良，以及一些在重庆生活工作的外国人等。慢慢地，球队队员也增加到20多名，其中外籍球员与重庆本地球员各占一半，球队得到初步的发展。”Ting还建立了重庆“征服者”橄榄球队自己的网站，以此更多地宣传这只球队，同时吸引更多的橄榄球爱好者加入进来。

从“征服者”到“麻辣联盟”

球队的影响力正在一步步扩大，他们也开始参加大大小小的比赛，并受邀到其他城市，如成都、上海、厦门等，与当地的橄榄球队进行友好比赛，技艺切磋，最初球队战绩一般，经过多次战场上的磨练后，队伍也越挫越勇，慢慢赢得比赛，小有成绩。

经过几年的积累和发展，越来越多的外国友人加入其中。Miles Taylor，英国人，现在重庆一家咨询公司工作，两年前，Miles在来重庆前就在网上搜索到了重庆征服者球队网站，因为自己从11岁就开始打橄榄球，他对重庆有这样一个球队感到特别兴奋，便提前报名加入进来。如今他已在球队打球两年，还是球队分组的队长。

Juan Lopez-Pena，来自阿根廷，也是通过网站找到征服者球队加入进来的。Juan对橄榄球非常热爱，球技精湛，现在也是征服者球队的兼职教练，帮助队员训练和提高打球水平。

越来越多外国友人加入其中，很多来重庆工作、生活的外国人都通过网站、朋友介绍等各种渠道得知征服者球队，很多重庆本地的橄榄球爱好者也踊跃报名加入，征服者球队的阵容已经越来越庞大。于是，球队的队员们想到把这样一只球队分成3个小组队，组成七人或十人制的橄榄球队，每组都有自己的队长和负责内勤事务的人员。就这样，征服者球队发展成了一个重庆本土与外籍友人结合的俱乐部，这里的成员们不仅一起训练、比赛，也组织各种活动，增加彼此了解与认识，并丰富外国人在重庆的业余生活，他们还为这个俱乐部想到了一个最能代表重庆特色的名字——麻辣联盟。

麻辣联盟的成员每周都会严格按照要求进行三次训练，有时在重庆大学的操场，有时在渝北的一个体育场，有时在一家叫Comjoy的健身房训练轮换训练。队里还制定了“不训练，就不能比赛”（No train，No play）的规则，所以队员们都特别认真对待每一次的集训。虽然征服者球队里的队员来自不同国家，队员们操着不同的语言，但沟通似乎并没有成为他们之间交流的障碍。Miles告诉记者，我们的球队里有的外籍球员会说中文，中国或者其他国家的朋友也可以说英文，都是有语言基础的，所以沟通不成问题。他们表示，打橄榄球用到更多的是肢体语言，以及对这项运动的激情，有了这两个条件，一切问题都可以迎刃而解。

今年，球队还将从新西兰邀请到一位专业的橄榄球教练来重庆为他们执教，同时在秋天即将举行6场麻辣联盟之间的内部小组赛，并将球队里最优秀的球员选出来代表征服者球队参加重庆与其他城市橄榄球队的比赛。队员们对即将来临的赛季跃跃欲试，抱着极大的热情，甚至为每个小组队都设计了球衣和最能代表他们特色的标志。他们希望征服者球队的名气能因为他们这样一群有激情，有想法，有技术的国际球员而变得越来越有影响力，越来越专业。

We Have a International Rugby Team in Chongqing

There is a special team in Chongqing. We call it special not only because it is the first British rugby football team in Chongqing, but also the players of the team are very international. There are players from China, New Zealand, Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom,Germany, Colombia, Poland, Denmark, Finland, Russia, Argentina, Fiji and many more. This"United Nations" type of team in Chongqing has experienced years of ups and downs and it became really popular in Chongqing among the expats. This is "The Chongqing Conquerors"rugby football team.

The First Rugby Team in Chongqing

The rugby team was originally set up jointly by an American and a local Chongqing person.In 2006, an American guy named Mathew came to China and worked as a teacher in Chongqing at Jiaotong University. As an avid rugby enthusiast, he had been looking for a group of like-minded friends to play rugby together. In 2008, Matt by pure happenstance met a rugby friend, Cheng Jie,who is also one of the most experienced players in the conquerors team and now has played two years of Amateur League rugby. Because of their common goal and passion for rugby, they began to organize an amateur rugby team, after overcoming the lack of players, training venues, official partners, etc., the first Chongqing rugby team - "The Chongqing Conquerors" - was finally established in 2008.

Now, one of the team's founders - Matt has returned to the United States, and Ting, known as a “rugby legend” in Chongqing, also had to leave unfortunately. Talking about the beginning of establishing the team, Cheng Jie said, “Initially our team players were mostly made up of foreign teachers and students in colleges and universities. In a short period of time, we found a few with a bit of rugby skill; the New Zealander Ting, who played rugby in Chongqing; and Xia Jialiang, as well as a number of foreigners who were living and working in Chongqing.Slowly, the team has increased by more than 20, including foreign players as well as locals; the team is developing every day.” Ting also created a Conqueror’s website to promote the team and to attract more rugby fans to join in.

From the Conquerors to Mala League

The team was expanding step by step, and they also began to participate in large and small competitions. During these competitions, the team was invited to other cities such as Chengdu, Shanghai and Xiamen to play friendly games with the rugby teams there; after many setbacks, they started to make small achievements.

After years of accumulation and development, more and more foreign friends joined them.

Miles Taylor, from the U.K, who now works for a consulting company in Chongqing, is currently the captain of the team. Two years before Miles came to Chongqing, he searched online and found the conquerors team website.Miles started playing Rugby at age 11. He was so excited to find out that there was a rugby team in Chongqing and registered to join in. He has played on the team for two years now. He also captains a Mala league rugby team.

Juan Lopez-Pena, from Argentina, also found the team through the website and joined the Conquerors. Juan loves rugby, he has played for almost 20 years and is quite good at it. Now he is not only a player but also the team's coach and helps players train and raise the level of play.

Many foreigners who are working and living in Chongqing have found the Conquerors team through websites, friends and so on. Any of Chongqing's local rugby enthusiasts are encouraged to register to join the conquerors team, which has become much bigger now. They plan to divide this team into 3 groups, consisting of rugby tens or sevens, each of which has a captain with 10+ years’experience playing rugby, a co-captain, and a social captain.The Conquerors developed into a combination of both Chongqing locals and expat friends. Members of the team are not only busy with training and competition, but they also organize a variety of activities, enhance mutual understanding and awareness, and enrich the life offoreigners in Chongqing. Also, they named the club with the most representative characteristic of Chongqing - The “Mala”League.

Mala League members are strictly in accordance with the requirements for training three times a week, sometimes on the fields at Chongqing University, sometimes in a stadium in Yubei District, and sometimes in a gym called Comjoy. The team has also developed a “no train, no play” rule, so at each training session, the teams are particularly serious with their practice.

Though players on the Conquerors team are from different countries, the communication does not seem to be a problem for them. Miles told us that some of the foreign players on the team can speak Chinese, and some of the Chinese players can speak English, so communication is not a problem. They said that playing Rugby relies more heavily on body language, as well as the passion for the sport. With these two conditions, any other problems can be solved.

This year, the rugby team has invited a professional coach from New Zealand to Chongqing, to help them improve their training plan and, in this way, also their level of rugby.The Mala league teams will play against each other a total of six times in the Autumn Season and the most outstanding players will be elected as representatives of “The Chongqing Conquerors” when they play against other cities. Players are eager and have great enthusiasm for the coming season. They even designed jerseys and representative logos for each team.They want the reputation of the team to become increasingly influential and professional because of the passion, love, and effort that they put everyday into their rugby team.