There was a moment of silence honouring all those who are victims of the current conflict in the Middle East, before all the quarterfinals at the Rugby World Cup. Photo: AFP / Matthieu Mirville
First Person - The 2023 Rugby World Cup exists in an alternate reality - or at least, that's how it feels covering it.
With rugby fanatics, pundits and international media flooding into France for one of the biggest sporting tournaments in the world, there's a deliberate effort from World Rugby and France 2023 to build the hype.
Particularly so as the competition approaches its final stages, media releases of dramatic clashes and off-field antics are filling up my inbox. All well and good and expected.
Except that one statement is markedly absent.
Amid the tragic aftermath of the bombing of Gaza's Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital on October 17, 2023, doctors at Al-Shifa Hospital gather to make a press statement, surrounded by Palestinian bodies. Photo: MOHAMED MASRI / AFP
The Rugby World Cup is ramping up against a backdrop of rising global tensions, with violence erupting across Israel, the Gaza Strip and Arras in northern France, and it seems World Rugby has been careful to avoid directly addressing it - until now.
While the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict was reignited on 7 October, World Rugby issued a delayed statement - only one day before the quarter-finals kicked off in Paris and Marseille on 15 October.
Ahead of the four games, fans at both stadiums observed a minute's silence "in solidarity with all those affected by the tragic events in Israel and Gaza".
Assembly speakers, first in French then in English, also made mention of the terror attack at a high school in Arras.
"A moment of silence in solidarity with all and sundry innocent victims affected by terrorist attacks … a global sense of unity is more important than ever."
French President Emmanuel Macron, right, arrives at the Lycee Gambetta high school in Arras, northeastern France on 13 October, 2023, after a teacher was killed and two other people severely wounded in a knife attack. Photo: Ludovic Marin / AFP
The moment wasn't entirely silent though.
A cry of "free Palestine" met with hushed chatter and some cheers echoed through Stade de France before the All Blacks vs Ireland quarter-final.
It was supposed to be a defiant moment, but ultimately it just underlined how bizarre the Rugby World Cup feels right now under the circumstances.
The terror attack in Arras has put France on the highest terror alert level, and police and security guards are roaming the streets of Paris more than ever, armed with guns and riding on horseback in the areas that are likely to attract large groups.
Just this week, the Louvre had to be evacuated after receiving a written threat to its staff and visitors, and the former palace of Versailles had to do the same so police could examine the area after receiving a bomb threat.
A police officer at a cordon after the Louvre in Paris is evacuated due to a threat, on 14 October, 2023. Photo: AFP / Laure Boyer
It's just a dire, dire time. Of course, no one could have anticipated how things would be, and I'm not taking a hit at the Rugby World Cup for the state of the world.
If anything, sporting triumphs are like a cosy blanket on a cold day, where camaraderie and togetherness feel vaguely achievable for about 80 minutes. I would normally lap it up.
But right now, I'm struggling to feel the hype.
*Jogai Bhatt is a social media journalist at RNZ and is covering the Rugby World Cup in France.
