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RUGBY TOWN — It takes a specific kind of individual to play rugby.
I mean, football is a rough-and-tumble sport, but you have pads and helmets to take some of the impact. Baseball has hard balls hurled at you at sometimes over 100 mph, and soccer is just a head injury or broken ankle waiting to happen. But a lot of people step up and take the risk so they can play these sports.
In order to play rugby, you have to have a level of intensity and a pain tolerance most people don’t possess.
If you don’t know much about rugby, or just don’t believe me, that’s fine — because I have proof right here. I’d like to warn you this video will make you cringe, but you also won’t be able to not look at it.
Recap! In the 77th minute, Joe Westerman dislocated his kneecap in a tackle
— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) June 27, 2019
What he does next, wow 👀
He then played on #SLHKRHulpic.twitter.com/i8AH2ZI2W8
#tweet_embed
Joe Westerman plays rugby for Hull FC in Yorkshire, England, and this man does something I have never seen nor want to see again. During the 77th minute of a match, Westerman goes down on a tackle and dislocates his knee.
Did he lay there and wait for help? No. Did he roll around holding his knee screaming in pain? No. He simply starts punching his knee, trying to get the dislocation back in place.
Yes, he starts going all Muhammad Ali on his right knee telling his skeleton to get back to where it belongs.
I can speak from experience. I once dislocated my kneecap, and I did not take things this well. I screamed for awhile, hallucinated from pain, and then complained for weeks after. It hurt, people. It hurt so bad. If I was ever in doubt about whether I could play rugby or not, I know now. I cannot.
Maybe you all have Westerman-level intensity and can be a rugby player, but I cannot. I leave that to the Joe Westerman’s of the world.