THE ESHER LOOSEHEAD PROP TAKES US THROUGH HIS PET HATES FROM THE RUGBY WORLD AND BEYOND

OLLIE MINES

1. Halloween

I went to my local shopping centre the other day. There were dozens of plastic skeletons, witches and zombies dangling from the roof. And almost every shop had pumpkins and fake spiderwebs in the window. My prevailing thought was: does anyone actually enjoy this? What are we celebrating, exactly? And why is it all so hopelessly naff? It feels like we're doing a bargain-bin version of an American tradition. Why do we bother when we have a perfectly good historical festivity ju...