At one of the few sporting events to go ahead this weekend, 10,000 rugby fans gathered at Sandy Park in Devon ahead of Exeter Chiefs versus Premiership champions Leicester. As many were here to say their own goodbyes to Queen Elizabeth II as were to cheer on their side.
The usual jamboree that takes place before every rugby match was replaced by a sombre hum of chatter around the stadium bars. Fans discussed how strange it would be to recognise the passing of a woman who had been a constant in their lives, not least sing God Save The King for the first time in their life. Many expressed nervousness of belting out the words for Her Late Majesty because they have known no other words.
As the pitch-side clock approached 3pm, the players lined up on the pitch, the backroom staff at its edge. No instruction was required as the fans rose together as one. Whether a person of faith or of none, the crowd bowed its head as the club’s Chaplain, the Reverend Simon Atkinson, led them in prayer.
As referee Christophe Ridley blew his whistle their silence was one like no one had experienced. Not a sound, no one moved an inch.
As spontaneous applause broke out, heads raised and many wiped a tear from their eye. They had come here for a reason far more important to them than a game of rugby.
Then the roll of the drums echoed on the stadium sound system. The moment to sing this most unfamiliar of anthems had come.
No one faltered. God Save The King was belted out as loud as any cheer that followed during the match itself. Rugby fans do like to sing, and they sang the anthem with gusto and great emotion.
There are those that believe all sport should have been cancelled this weekend. Some believe it should remain cancelled until after the Queen’s funeral a week on Monday.
I am not one of those people. Neither are those thousands who had gathered with me.
For many of us there to pay our respects, this is our church. We may not have faith, but, nonetheless, we feel the need to be together in our space to commemorate the most important moments in all our lives.
There had been no more important moment on which to gather than now. To pay our respects to a woman who had dedicated her life to us, and millions, billions, more.
While the Rugby Football Union is not known for making the correct decision when it comes to anything about rugby, it did so on this occasion by allowing matches to go ahead this weekend.
Not least do fans of any sport wish to gather to honour their Queen, there are other sound reasons for continuing with sport, not least that many clubs across all sorts of games can ill-afford more enforced closures, adding to the losses accrued during the Covid lockdowns.
But more than anything, it is that need to gather that other sports like football have denied their followers.
That urge to come together is, for many, a powerful one. They should not be denied the opportunity to remember their Queen along with their own congregations.
At Sandy Park in Exeter, the atmosphere was anything but disrespectful. It was, as a lifelong fan of rugby, the most moving of moments I have ever experienced at any match. I was by no means the only one to feel that way.
Of course, once the match kicked off, the fans roared on their team. Just, I suspect, as Her Majesty would have wanted.
