hi guys welcome to another episode of ultimate bucket list
and on today's show i'm here at the world famous
and undisputed home of rugby
twickenham stadium i don't need to add to that introduction
but for those of you who don't actually know what this place is
this is the world's most famous rugby stadium and is home to the england
national rugby team arguably the best national rugby union
side in the world though there's a lot of countries that
might disagree with that and it's also home to the world rugby
museum which will be going in later many people consider this to be hallowed
ground because it's not just a stadium twickenham is also the base of the rfu
themselves the original governing body of the sport
of rugby union worldwide effectively this
is the epicenter of the sport of rugby union and many people across the world
would give their right arm to be here built in 1902
and holding exactly 82 000 spectators this is the fourth largest stadium in
all of europe and is the largest rugby union specific
stadium in the world but what's this place
actually like well i'm here to find out so after
leaving twickenham train station you literally walk 10 minutes in this
direction and it's down one road so you can't
really miss it mainly because it's effing huge
the most noticeable thing when you come in from the train station is the world
famous line out sculpture by none other than world class artist
gerald wang it's a pretty cool statue and it gives
you some amazing photo opportunities but various parts of twickenham are not
open to the public they fence it off and only open it on
match days so unfortunately you can't do laps around the place
anyway the entrance to the stadium tours is
left of the statue and you'll need to go inside of the
england rugby store after checking in you'll get rounded up
and introduced to your tour guide this is andy by the way he's our tour
guide for today and we're joined by one other guy i
think his name was martin or paul or something like that
but he's a trainee tour guide and that's it
i'm literally the only person in this tour
so basically it's kind of like a private tour of twickenham stadium
so as you can imagine i'm feeling kind of like a rock star at the moment
anyway the first part of the tour you walk through the corner gates where you
get your first glimpse of twickenham stadium
and boy this is huge i mean it looks big in the pictures and videos
but it's only when you're up close and personal that you realize just how big
this place is if you told me that this stadium
holds more than 82 000 fans i would seriously believe you
it's pretty palatial everywhere you look we get to spend a bit of time here and
the tour guide tells you a lot about england rugby and about the stadium and
he tells you some very interesting facts such as why england wear the rose as
opposed to the three lions that every other team wears
and why england play in white at this point you can fire him a lot of
questions but be sure to take plenty of photos and videos
whilst you're down here it's also when you're down here that you realize that
it takes an army of men to make that pitch look
pristine and boy these guys are working hard
literally they are walking about seven miles each day just to mow the lawn
you'll also learn various facts that not a lot of people know about
such as why they put the flags on top of the goal posts it's basically to help
kicking and why they have a weather vane also to
aid kicking so anyway once you've finished with the
pitch it's now time to walk outside towards the player's entrance gates
now not a lot of people know this but rugby is a sport that is steeped in war
and this place entrance especially with these gates commemorates our fallen
heroes if you look carefully the roses down
below eventually turn to poppies at the top
this is to signify that we should all be grateful for our forebears who fought
for the freedoms that we enjoy today and this is a very poignant reminder to
the players that there are men and women who have died to give us the pleasure
of being able to play in a free country and whilst you're looking at the gates
you can pretty much tell that this is a giant stadium it's time to go
back into the stadium through the spirit of rugby entrance
into the player's foyer here you learn a lot about the historical
story behind the england national team and once again if you didn't know the
story as to why england wear the rose and england play in white
it's basically down to rugby school of where the sport originates from
he also tells you about some of the more famous matches that we've ever played as
a rugby nation most notably our 2003 world cup win
against the aussies in sydney as you're walking through the stadium
you'll notice that everything is branded perfectly they even have their own mini
hospital you know it's a medical center for
players unfortunately we don't get to go in that but it would have been cool to
see next up is the player's dressing room
and boy this is very detailed they've carved the
details on the walls with regards to what
they've won their best players and you also get a
short historical talk about the uniforms that england wear but
once you pass the england rugby logo you're met with one of the nicest
changing rooms that you'll ever see especially for a rugby team now it looks
pretty plain right now but generally shirts are hanging on these
lockers and they've taken them down because the
stadium is kind of undergoing a little bit of a renovation
it's pretty cool to walk around and this locker room is built to the minutest
detail so notice the ambient lighting notice
the england flag in between the lockers and also notice
the names on the walls believe it's not if you've ever
represented england you are immortalized forever
this war signifies every single player that has ever played for england
and it's a proud moment to see your name amongst these great men
what they also do is they put your name in the locker itself
so this is where the names of the previous players have sat before you
it's pretty inspiring and it's done to motivate the players
and to remind them that representing england is a privilege
not a right but the locker room and the surrounding areas
are branded beautifully and there's nothing that's really out of place
or out of color by the way this is the place called tub area
they still use the traditional baths but they've replaced some of them
with slightly more scientific cryogenic units
you get a short walk around the team's massage facilities
this is the coaches locker room which is significantly smaller of course
and you get time to take your pictures and look at the carvings on the walls
next up is the players tunnel and boy this is a massive tunnel and branded
really beautifully red lights white lights red white and
black everywhere before you let out of the tunnel and
onto the pitch itself now for some reason we don't stay on
pitch side for very very long and the reason why is probably because
guys are working like crazy and around the clock to get the rugby
pitch ready for its next match so i would have liked to have spent a
little bit more time here on pitch level but it's still nice to see
anyway once you're done with the pitch it's time to walk up the stairs towards
the royal box this is where the most important
dignitaries and royalty sits and it's also the place that you as a
player will come and collect your medals or trophy
if you've actually won anything here at twickenham
and the view from here very very nice indeed
i would pay serious money to sit here you're right in the middle of all the
action and i can imagine the tickets here
aren't particularly cheap you get a short talk as to the price of
set facilities though that's a little bit out of my
price range at this moment in time maybe i'll win the lottery tomorrow and
be able to afford it next week maybe but let's not consider that rather
unrealistic fact and walk up the stairs to get a slightly higher view of the
stadium but as with the pitch we don't get to
stay there for very long before it's time to walk down the stairs
and all the way along the pitch believe it or not
that's the end of the guided tour now i know what you're going to be telling me
nin there was nothing there you didn't get to see all that
much and if i'd paid for just the tour i'd probably have to agree with you but
included in the price is admission to the world rugby museum
it's competition time guys and you get a chance to win this free bag of swag
that i've just bought at the england store stick around to the end of the
video to find out more but until then back to the video so it's
up the stairs you go and into the entrance and so long as is
better than the rubbish tour and museum that i did at the stad de france
i'll be relatively happy as it turns out this is actually a very
very good museum you get to see some original artifacts
such as the original rulebook and some of the original balls used back
in the day and it also highlights the rivalry
between england and scotland the first ever international match in
any code of football which was won by the scottish though we
don't really kind of advertise that and to this day england and scotland
duke it out for this the calcutta cup so every time england
and scotland play each other it's for this trophy which is pretty
spiffy but the museum itself has lots of
artifacts that you'll find interesting and they're not just from
england they're from all the way around the world
there's also a section highlighting the rfu stored refusal to accept
professionalism especially from us lots here in
lancashire which led to the split of the two codes of rugby rugby remained
proudly amateur up until about the mid 90s where they
eventually had to accept professionalism as part of the modern game
come on guys it only took you over 100 years
there's a special exhibit celebrating the 150th anniversary of the rugby
football union and it's mainly full of england
memorabilia but that doesn't detract from the fact that it's a very
interesting exhibit you get to learn a lot about the history
of twickenham stadium and get to see some paraphernalia that
belong to various players this shirt belongs to owen farrell
and as you walk through the museum you'll learn an awful lot about rugby
union not just the sport itself but the sport
in other countries and you'll also learn about different
kinds of rugby such as wheelchair rugby yes believe it or not that's a thing and
you'll also learn about the women's game so it's a very educational museum indeed
and no surprises here there's also a big exhibit
highlighting the six nations arguably the best rugby tournament between
nations in the world and if you haven't been to
or watched a six nations match i highly recommend that you do so
they even have the six nations champions cup right here on display
but there's also an interactive area where you can test your own rugby skills
so for example here let's see how well you pack a scrum
technically this was shut but i decided to have a go anyway
seems though i'm the only one in the museum want to test your vertical jump
let's see how i do not very well especially if i'm holding a camera this
is a test of reaction times how fast am i well not very fast
although at the time i thought i was doing well
and test your conversion kicking skills can i kick it
yes i can still got it but have a walk around the museum slowly
because you get to learn an awful lot if you do take your time
to read all the exhibits and to take in what they're trying to teach you
you also learn about the unholy alliance that is the british and irish lions
i know we generally hate each other as nations but when we're together
we crush rugby teams everywhere but the best exhibit happens to be in
here and right on display in the middle is
the holy grail the 2003 rugby world cup
all right that's enough of that just for the australians that happen to wander
into this museum we've even displayed the ball that
johnny wilkinson kicked to win the 2003 world cup on australian
soil against the australians yes aussies
we love to drink your salty tears
anyway that's the end of the museum and what a museum it is
when you're finished simply walk down the stairs press the button
and you'll be let out back into the club shop
it's a very lovely club shop mine and you can buy all sorts of rugby
paraphernalia here england shirts british and irish lion
stuff and overall really good place to shop in
and the staff are very lovely too now eagle eye
viewers will know that there's a stadium literally here but
there's another rugby stadium that's across the street what's with
that believe it or not there's actually two
stadiums here in the town of twickenham there's the main twickenham stadium
which is the tour that you've just seen me go on
and there's this place twickenham stoop which is home to premiership side
harlequins now the reason why there's two stadiums
is because harlequins though they are a professional side
can't really fill out an 80 000 seat stadium
so they play here at the stoop now it's called the stoop because of a
famous former player called adrian stoop and the stadium holds about 18 000
spectators which is plenty if you can't get tickets
to an england game or if england not playing
i highly recommend that you come here and try and get some harlequins tickets
instead unfortunately they don't do tours here
mainly because it's a tiny stadium and there's nothing
really interesting around here to see if you are doing the twickenham stadium
literally walk across the street and have a look at the stupid now whilst
you're here you might as well explore the town of twickenham
now it's not that big and there's not all that much to it
but it does have some nice roadside eateries this lovely river where you can
cross the bridge and walk along the river thames
and feed the ducks or the canada geese in this case
and there's lots of traditional looking streets pubs and buildings
that will make you feel that you're in the south of england mainly because you
are
now the town of twickenham itself well it's very nice but admittedly
there's really not that much to it but overall guys
if you are a fan of rugby union i highly recommend that you come to twickenham at
least once in your life okay nin i'm sold
what do i need to do well you need to come here to twickenham
twickenham stadium is located in the town of twickenham
and it's about half an hour outside of central london
the best way to get here is via the train so i just took a train this
morning from victoria changed the clapham junction
and here at twickenham main train station
which is located in the center of town and that roughly took me
about 30 minutes from start to finish you can also drive here from the center
of london or you can just use public transport
but the train is by far the easiest method as
it's literally a 10-minute walk from twickenham station to twickenham stadium
the cost of both the tour and the museum was about
27 pounds if you just wanted to do the museum
you can do but that would cost you 15 pounds
and whilst it's a very nice stadium i don't understand why you would just do
the museum if you're traveling all the way over here
so i recommend that you do both the tour and the museum
if you want to see other parts of twickenham like twickenham town center
or the twickenham stoop they are literally walking distance
in fact twickenham stoop is literally across the road so it's really not that
hard to find is there anything else i need to know
yes you have to book in advance because of
all these stupid covet rules and because of kovid they limit the
amount of tours that go on and they've closed a few of the
exhibits in the museum so bear that in mind that even though
it's a safe environment there are various covered restrictions
that apply but if you have enjoyed this video
please be sure to like share and subscribe
comment on the comment section below and if i get enough suggestions for other
bucket list ideas you know what to do tweet them at me get
no suggestions i'll be sure to do that so guys
thank you very much for watching and we'll see you in the next episode
right guys it's competition time and i'm giving you the chance to win
this england goodie bag which i bought from the england store
that comprises of an england hat an england scarf
this england bag and i will also send you
any england shirt of your choice in your size
to enter click on the link in the description below and help me share my
content if you like this sort of thing good luck Ninh Ly - www.ninh.co.uk - @NinhLyUK
oh it's starting to rain i hate the fact that it's starting to rain
and i'm next to a busy road and people are looking at me as if i'm a weirdo