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“Yeah, that’s Mom,” Aidan says with a grin.
Slowly, the crowd around Aileen starts to clap, and before long the entire Carmichael section—including us, obviously—is on their feet, cheering for the players.
On the field, players who’d been wearing hesitant expressions at the crowd’s initial reaction flash bright smiles as they get on with their warm-up. The pride radiating from them is palpable, and I feel a sudden burst of warmth for all these kids. I know this idea was sparked by their loyalty to Finn, but it’s definitely become more than that and I’m in awe of how brave they are.
20
FINN
I’m not going to lie; I was incredibly nervous about how the makeup thing would play out. I went along with it because the guys seemed so pumped about it, and of course because it took their minds off of other kinds of retaliation against Westbourne—the kinds that could lead to player suspensions if they weren’t careful. But I worried that it would be a distraction, both in the lead up and during the game. And the protective side of me definitely feared my boys would be negatively targeted because of it.
But ultimately, I had to leave the decision up to them. And now that’s it’s happened, I honestly couldn’t be prouder. Hearing the Carmichael crowd—and even a few Westbourne folks—cheer when the team walked on wearing makeup was pretty amazing. And I definitely needn’t have worried about the players getting distracted; as soon as the whistle blew, they were just as focused and disciplined as usual, leaving everything they had on the field and clinching a nail-biting two-point win. The only dark spot of the day came in the final minutes of play when KC dove for the try that equaled the scores and landed awkwardly, dislocating his shoulder. There’s no telling yet how serious the injury is or how long he’ll be sidelined, but it’s definitely a major blow. It always guts me whenever any of my players gets injured but losing our first-choice fly-half in the opening game of the season is particularly unfortunate; replacing him isn’t going to be easy.
Despite everyone’s concern for KC, the locker room is full of well-deserved positive vibes as the players all stand around talking and laughing with each other while Ellie and her friend Genie move amongst them handing out makeup remover wipes. Genie assured everyone before the game that the makeup was sweat-proof, but I’m still amazed at how well it stayed on through the game.
“What’s this?” Tups asks Ellie, taking a wipe from her.
“It’s to get the makeup off,” she says with a fond smile. “And it’s moisturising, so it’ll make your skin all nice and smooth.”
“My skin’s already all nice and smooth,” Tups says with a grin.
“Just like a baby’s ass,” Royce teases, reaching over to pat Tups’s cheek.
“Royce, how d’you know what a baby’s ass feels like?” Redden calls from across the room. Royce’s response to that is flip him the bird.
“Why don’t we just wash it off in the shower?” Royce asks Ellie, taking a wipe from her.
“Duh, ‘cause it’swaterproof,”Tups says with a dramatic eye roll.
“Even when you’re wearing normal makeup you should still use something like this to remove it so you make sure to get it all off and it doesn’t clog your pores.”
Both boys just stare at her for a long moment, before Royce finally says, “Yeah, no offense, Coach’s girlfriend, but this was a one-time thing. I’m not going to be wearing this stuff on the reg.”
Ellie just grins and lifts a shoulder in a casual shrug. “None taken.”
“Hey, coach, there are some reporters outside,” Garrett murmurs, sidling up to me and drawing my attention away from the players.
I draw in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay, thanks.” I give a brief nod and then head back out of the locker room to take care of my least favorite aspect of this job.
Rugby isn’t quite as popular with the local press—or any press, really—as sports like football, basketball, and hockey, so usually I only have two or three reporters to deal with after the games. Today there areeight.And there are several cameras shoved in my face, which isn’t exactly unheard of but it doesn’t happen often.
“Wow. There are a lot of you today,” I can’t help commenting, silently cursing Garrett for not giving me more of a heads up. I reach up to nervously adjust the cap I’m wearing before gesturing to a female reporter from the local news station.
She smiles at me. “Your players made quite a statement today. Was it your idea for them to wear makeup for the game?”
I’m an idiot. Of course there’s more press interest than usual after what the guys did today. I suppose that’s a good thing, right? “That was a hundred per cent their idea,” I tell her. “But I support them completely. So does the school.”
“What was the purpose of it?” a kid who I recognize as being from the school’s news team asks.
“I guess the main reason was to show that toxic masculinity and sport don’t need to go hand in hand.”
“Are you saying you want the boys’ and girls’ compeitions to be combined?” a male reporter asks.
I barely manage not to roll my eyes. “That’s the exact opposite of what I’m saying. Wearing makeup doesn’t make men any less masculine, which is what my guys were out to prove today. Just like the girls playing tomorrow, who aren’t any less feminine because they love playing rugby. I’d support a mixed league if it were on the table, but that’s not what today was about.”
“There were a couple of cards given to Westbourne players for offensive language,” the female reporter states. “One of them even got a red. Was that a tactical thing on your end?”
My brows draw together. I’m pretty sure I know what she’s getting at, but I want her to spell it out. “A tactical thing?”
