Twickenham, home of English rugby

Twickenham Stadium, or 'Twickers' as it is affectionately known, is the home of English rugby. It isn't the biggest stadium in the United Kingdom, that is Wembley, but it is the largest rugby stadium. 82,000 fans can sit down and watch the match, with a great view from every part of the ground.

Just over 100 years ago, in 1907, the Rugby Football Union, the RFU, bought a piece of land in Twickenham for £5,500. It was originally used for growing cabbages and even today the ground is sometimes called The Cabbage Patch. Anyway, the RFU built the first spectator stands in 1908 and the stadium has grown and grown from then on.

Rugby is a very popular sport in the UK, and the fans are extremely passionate about it. The Welsh fans singing their songs in the Millennium Stadium, the Irish at Croke Park or the Scots at Murrayfield will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. And I know, because I'm lucky enough to have seen matches at these stadiums. Twickenham, however, was known as 'The Vacuum' because it didn't have a very good atmosphere. That was until 1988, when England were in the middle of a terrible run of results. They couldn't score points and the play was not at all exciting. Then, during the second half of the match against Ireland, England started to play well. Indeed, Chris Oti, a black player, scored three tries and England went on to win the match with 35 points. Some sections of the crowd started to sing a traditional negro spiritual song, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, in honour of this amazing performance by Chris Oti. Suddenly the atmosphere at Twickenham changed and the stadium had at last found a song to rival those of the other British teams. This song is now synonymous with English rugby and you can hear it at the stadium and in rugby clubs up and down England.

The Cabbage Patch is also used for other events, mainly concerts. In recent years bands such as The Rolling Stones, Genesis, The Police and U2 have played in front of 55,000 fans - 27,000 less than for a rugby international and probably without England's anthem, Sweet Low Swing Chariot!