Fans commitment matched by Wilko

On Friday night we decided to head down to the Stoop and watch the Quins game against Connaught, and having heard about Jonny Wilkinson’s book signing, thought we would tie it in with a trip to HQ to meet the man himself (and get a few books signed for Xmas presents).

The fans turned up in their masses – at least 500 strong at the time that we were waiting outside the rugby store. It’s hard to define a demographic of the crowd – but I’d say that most were between 5 and 80 years old and were either male or female. One young girl was so excited as she sprinted past us, size 2 ball in hand, swallow dived and face planted on the tarmac outside the West Stand – referral to the TMO and the try is awarded. I chatted to a lady behind me whose due date is next week, she seemed more excited about meeting Wilko than her third child.

As we approached Jonny, a nameless male RR colleague summed up the feelings of most people in the room. ”He is a very good looking man”. Rob was right though – dressed in a simple long sleeved t shirt and jeans and sporting a smart new lid, there is no denying that Jonny is in great shape.

I always find it amusing in these situations; where people have waited, 3 hours in some cases, to meet their idol and then they rush it through silently as they are so in awe. A few lads in front of us had been discussing the ways in which they were going to make Jonny laugh, and the questions they were going to ask etc etc… Yet when push came to shove only one of them spoke at all and that was after Jonny asked how they all were.

When we meet with Jonny he greets us with a smile. He signs away while we chat to him about what it is that we do. He shakes our hands – a strong handshake, looks us in the eyes and wishes us all the best – we offer him the same good wishes, although I reckon he will be okay.

We pop off to see Quins win and head back past HQ, where at 10.30pm there is still a queue of hundreds of expectant Jonny fans. An RFU tweet that I read on Saturday morning lets us know that Jonny was signing until 2am, a total of 8 hours of smiling and signing – a nice guy.

The patience showed by the hundreds of fans reflects the kind of commitment that Jonny has been so famous for. Standing for hours out in the cold to get what he wanted.

He has been on the receiving end of some harsh criticism at the low points in his career, but there is no denying that Jonny is a great guy and a true professional. Others could do with taking a small leaf out of his book (excuse the pun)!

I'll leave you with this - I know alot of people prefer the Ntamack hit but i like this one...

Andy