Local man Darren Jones has achieved what many thought impossible: perfecting the art of pretending to understand rugby rules. Darren, a 34-year-old accountant, has been attending rugby matches for years, nodding and cheering at appropriate intervals despite having no clue what’s happening on the field.
“I just copy the crowd,” Darren told The Bendigo Standard. “If someone shouts ‘Offside!’ I shout it too but with more enthusiasm. And when they scream about a ruck or a maul, I throw in a few enthusiastic fist pumps. I don’t even know who any of the players are. It’s all about confidence.”
“We watched the State of Origin, and Darren explained the intricacies of the ‘scrum’ in such a detailed way,” said his wife, Linda. “I only realized later that he was quoting lines from The All Blacks documentary he’d watched a couple of days ago.”
Local rugby enthusiast Graham Williams remains sceptical. “I’ve been playing and watching rugby for over 30 years, and even I don’t understand half of what’s going on,” he said. “But Jonesy’s got something. Maybe it’s ignorance, maybe it’s genius.”
For now, Darren Jones proves that you can fake it until you make it.
