191. Physicality

Each weekend during the winter, their ageing bodies get belted across fields in pursuit of physical pleasure, chasing the adrenalin charge, not of winning, but of contesting. ‘Ageing bodies’ is relative as these are the lithe fully fit bodies of men in their thirties. Even they have long left youth in their wake. This rush of physicality with be paid for on the morrow, with bruised shins, torn muscles, and a myriad other aches and pains.

Rob and Kiao-wei have been competitors on the playing field since early primary school, when Kiao-wei was a scrawny Vietnamese kid straight off the boats, with no English, no schooling and very few prospects. He did, however, have an innate skill on the field of being able to judge angles, and a blistering turn of speed. In his new country, that was all that was required for his instant acceptance. The rest would follow.