A tattoo the super-fan surely won’t regret.
Lots of us have a favourite celebrity or sports star, but how many of us have had that person tattooed onto their body? More than you might think, and Gloucester Rugby fan Shoshone Bishop, 18, is the latest person to join the club, with a large tattoo on her calf of Richard Hibbard taking a lineout.
She became something of a viral sensation after going under the needle for 4 hours at the tattoo parlour Alzone, on Gloucester’s Eastgate Street. She said: “I am very pleased with it. I had faith in the artist, but I never thought it would be as good as this. It looks like the photo I took has been printed onto my leg. The shadows are perfect – the last sitting was very painful, but it was worth it.”
The tattoo will eventually form the centrepiece of a whole leg of tattoos dedicated to Gloucester Rugby, who the teen has been following for just two years.
She recently bumped into Hibbard, the star of her tattoo, in the BBC Radio Gloucestershire car park. She had been interviewed about the tattoo while Hibbard had mistakenly turned up a week early for his appearance on the same show.
“He was in the car park and he stopped his car because he recognized me from Twitter,” she said. “He showed his daughters my tattoo. He was impressed. He is a sound bloke, he is so nice. It was nice to know I am recognized. When all the other rugby players walk into the ground now, they recognize me as well, and say hello.”
So what’s the appeal of Richard Hibbard?
Well he’s one of rugby’s biggest names. The Welshman was born in Neath and began his career with the Swansea based Ospreys. After a decade there, he moved over to Gloucester Rugby, where evidently he’s become a favourite amongst fans of the side!
Also a member of the Welsh national side, Richard plays in the hooker position, and the Glocester fans’ love affair with him is clearly mutual. “The fans at Gloucester are brilliant,” Hibbard said. “I’ve had nothing but great backing off them since I came here.
“They are a great club to play for. We can get 13,000 here on a Saturday and they can generate a heck of an atmosphere. Some games are like mini-internationals. The club is just a friendly place with some top people in it.”
And what about that tattoo? Having seen it in person, he says: “A lot of work has gone into it. I think the girl told me that it’s been four hours already and there’s another four hours to go so I hope he does my head justice, that’s all I’m asking.”
Few entertainment agencies can boast quite such a fantastic roster of rugby players as MN2S, and Hibbard is one of the big names on our books. He’s a cult favourite who’s sure to go down well with an audience of fans, so get in touch if you’d like to book him.
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