Explained: This is what the chino-chanting video actually was

Right. We know you’ve all seen it.

A video on TikTok, posted by @loosedays, of Newcastle rugby players chanting outside of The Gate has gone viral and left some viewers with a lot of questions. It’s never a surprise to see the antics of various societies being talked about, especially in Freshers’ Week, but for some people this video seems to be of particular interest. 

It’s fair to say the reaction has not been overwhelmingly positive. One commenter on TikTok called for the group to “go back down south and don’t come back,” while others were more confused than anything else: “Rugby lads are so odd” and “why are they all dressed like that?”

It’s true – you will not witness a horde of chinos and blue shirts quite this large on a regular basis, but if you’re familiar with Wednesday nights in Newcastle, seeing this probably won’t be much of a shock. 

The group in the video are the Armstrong rugby team, an intramural society at Newcastle University.

With it being Freshers’ Week, there is a whole host of new students who have, for some reason, decided this is what they want in their university experience. That’s why the size of the group might have caught you off guard. And if the lucky freshers haven’t actually been integrated yet, then that might explain the particular excitement of the group who clearly have very specific entry requirements. 

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But the truth is, this is fairly standard procedure for intramural rugby. The chanting, the blazers, the chinos: You can expect to see a lot more of the same if you come into Bigg Market on another Wednesday night this year. 

Generations of intramural rugby players have traditions that they’ll die by, and songs that they’ll sing unapologetically.

With the eyes that Armstrong has on them from this video, don’t be surprised to see one of the other intramural teams trying to one-up them next week.

Featured image: Loosedays Newcastle and Unsplash

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