Movember,
the time of the year when outrageous facial hair is allowed and when size
really does matter! This year our Premiership Rugby players have thrown
themselves into Movember in a big way... most squads have their own Movember
teams and I think that I’m right in saying that every single Premiership Club
has a representative supporting Movember within its ranks. For those of you who
are unfamiliar with the concept of Movember allow me to give you a very short
lesson; Movember was founded in Melbourne, Australia in 2003 and since then has
become a global phenomenon. For 30 days men grow their moustaches (Mos) from a
clean shaven start and become walking awareness billboards. The premise is
simple.... grow your mo and help your bro by raising huge amounts of money and
awareness for Prostate Cancer.
Not
growing a Mo myself I needed to hear first-hand from some people that are in
order to understand the intricate details of choosing the right Mo, Mo
maintenance and obviously finding out about their fundraising activities.
Before you ask, no I didn’t just stop some people on the tube and fire
questions at them... I went straight to the top and attended the Aviva
Premiership Movember Night.
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| Movember & Premiership Rugby (Pinnacle for Aviva) |
I
went through the usual pre-event preparations; doing a little research on the
players who would be attending, ensuring that the weekend's Premiership
fixtures were firmly in my mind and making sure that I was fully clued up about
Movember. I must say that all of this helped a treat however I did learn one
extremely important and significant journalistic lesson last night; do not to
start an interview with the words “So yours is quite small”! Don't worry I
certainly won't be repeating that mistake nor will I reveal exactly which
player I said it to!!
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| I believe that the question was regarding Twitter following!! |
The
evening was held at the Gillette Pop Up Barbers in Covent Garden and we were
joined by leading Premiership Mo'er; Dylan Hartley, the Wasps' trio; James
Haskell, Elliot Daly and Chris Bell and the Saracens duo; Ben Ransom and Will
Fraser.
As
I mentioned before some teams are having more Mo success than others; Dylan is
leading the way as the captain of the Front Mo Union at Saints whilst Ben and
Will informed me that their Sarries team would certainly like to have a few
more professional Mo growers in their ranks. Sadly for them I don't think that
Mark McCall will take that into consideration when approaching any new signings
for next year!!
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| Mo'ing Saracens Style |
Having
grown the largest Mo of the group it is no surprise that James Haskell spent a
little while having his Mo groomed. The result speaks for itself however I was
told from two very reliable team mate sources that James did have a little head
start!? Our Wasps' players are part of a Movember team that is captained and
led by David Kurk. David is an ambassador for a Movember having battled
prostate cancer himself this year; he is an inspiration and a driving force of
their Movember team. When you meet people like David it really hits home that
whilst Movember is hilarious to watch it has an extremely serious and important
message to it. The money raised makes a huge difference and I certainly hope
that with the help of our Aviva Premiership players this year’s fundraising
amount will surpass the 2012 total of £92m.
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| Chris Bell & David Kurk |
Our
hosts for the night; Premiership Rugby, are heavily involved in Movember and
are supporting various initiatives to generate awareness and funds. The Like
Your Prem Rugby Mo Facebook competition is by far the easiest to get involved
in and yes it is a simple as pressing ‘Like’ on your favourite Mo picture in
their album on Facebook. At the end of Movember the player with the most
'Likes' will have £2000 added to their fundraising total. Having done this a
few days ago I 'Liked' Mr Ben Foden, as I believe he, along with last night's
attendee Will Fraser, are two of the very few people who look as attractive
with a Mo as without one!!!!
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| It is important to style your Mo correctly! (Pinnacle for Aviva) |
It
was a superb night and with 11 days to go our Premiership players received some
well needed Mo maintenance and grooming advice! Whilst I still think that Mo's
are an acquired taste and was very worried when Elliot said that he might keep
his all year (I think that he was joking), it is raising money for a superb
cause and I for one will certainly be fully supporting our Premiership Players'
Movember efforts. So as we head into Round 8 of the Aviva Premiership don't
forget to 'Like' your favourite Prem Mo, look out for our MoBros running
out at the weekend and remember what they are Mo'ing for.
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| Movember & Premiership Rugby |
