BS: rugby

Subject: rugby
From: gaber
Date: 11 Aug 03 - 11:18 AM

I was talking to some people about playing rugby. I was just wondering how easy it is learn the rules of the game as opposed to tackle football.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: Gareth
Date: 11 Aug 03 - 12:11 PM

Dead Easy Gaber, after all English Public (trs=private)schools pupils can manage it.

(And no comments on the state of our National Game - Please.)

Gareth

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Aug 03 - 12:45 PM

I played it once.

You want to move a ball to a goal, but the other side doesn't want you to. So you and your team try to beat the hell out of the other time, and they try to beat the hell out of you; this is called a "scrum" or somesuch. After the match, and sometimes before the match, everyone gets drunk to kill the pain of their injuries. The drinking is the best part.

Not every game has someone killed.

The only thing worse is Gaelic football.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: mike the knife
Date: 11 Aug 03 - 02:03 PM

I played more rugby than can be safely considered to be a good idea. More fun than a barrel of monkeys if you can get your fitness level up & don't mind having your face stepped on. Count on a broken bone every once in a while. Study up on hangover remedies. You'll make friends for life.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: okthen
Date: 11 Aug 03 - 02:24 PM

Although I don't understand American football, there are similarities, but there's no body armor, crash helmets, or as many coffee breaks in rugby.Some say it's a game for gentlemen played by hooligans.There are rules, of course, but most players seem to think they're merely guidlines and the only rule that must be observed is "Don't get caught".
I played it at school and being of Welsh descent I presumed there might be some sort of genetic ability (there wasn't)and rapidly came to the conclusion that there was more to life than standing around in shorts and t-shirt on a rain soaked, freezing February afternoon, in the teeth of a howling gale; waiting for someone to kick a waterlogged, inflated ovoid pig's bladder at me. So now I content myself with crying my eyes out when the sing "Bread of Heaven" at the Millenium Stadium, and watch as the team in red jerseys get massacred by Italians (or French, or Scots, or Irish, or the bloody English).
Apart from that it's a marvellous game, and I'm bloody glad I'm too old to play it.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Aug 03 - 02:35 PM

There are two versions, or "codes" as they say - Rugby League and Rugby Union. I've never understood the differtence. Mind, I never really understood the rules when I had to play Rugby Union at school many years ago. Both are pretty lethal anyway, and played without those curious RoboCop costumes that "footballers" in America appear to favour.

Best version of football to watch is Aussie Rules, even better than its close relative, Gaelic Football.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: HuwG
Date: 11 Aug 03 - 02:49 PM

WARNING - the prolonged regular playing of rugby can damage your brain !


At least, that's what happened to mine.


Well, close enough. I lurched off the pitch after my last game, seeing double. The club physio diagnosed concussion, for which the remedy was to soak my head with a sponge, and send me back on. However, the referee objected to the amount of blood spouting from my nose.

To cut a long story short, I now have the floor of one eye socket replaced with a titanium plate, and have been told never to play again. I regretted it for a while, then I took up the guitar, began annoying the neighbours with it and have never looked back.

While I enjoyed playing the game, even being on the receiving end of 64-0 hammerings, and a lot of my social life revolved around the local RUFC, there are hidden costs. Such as, lurching into work on many Monday mornings, doing an excellent impression of Quasimodo (one shoulder hunched higher than the other, black eyes and other marks, which do not go well with any job which involves soft-soaping customers face-to-face).

Within the game, there are degrees of masochism. Somewhere at the top of positions to be avoided are prop-forward (where I played) and full-back, as both positions collect more than their fair share of battery. Legend has it that the most worrying sight for any team is an opposing stand-off half with no visible injuries. Either he is a relative newcomer, or is so good that nobody has managed to catch him with the ball (and therefore in open season).

So, gaber, by all means give the game a go, but keep your sense of proportion.

Incidentally, okthen, I believe that the original quote was by Oscar Wilde. Football is a game for gentlemen played by hooligans, rugby is a game for hooligans played by gentlemen. With oddly shaped balls.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Aug 03 - 04:00 PM

"Football is a gentlemen's game played by hooligans. Rugby is a hooligan's game played by gentlemen"

I'm not sure who said that first, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't Oscar. I don't think he'd have deigned to admit to knowing anuything about either sport. People tend to use him to earth a quotation when there's no clear source.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Aug 03 - 06:53 PM

HuwG, there are good reasons why those who play American football wear protective gear!

In a semipro game, my brother, who was wearing a helmet and face cage, had fingers thrust towards his eyes while in a pileup. He walked off the field right then. There have been deaths and paralyses all too often even with the protective gear. In the early days, when helmets were not worn and there was little or no padding or rules, it was carnage (I understand).

I don't think mayhem is sporting, organized or not.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: Gareth
Date: 11 Aug 03 - 07:08 PM

Hmmm! Rapaire, never played Rugby in South Wales, or the West Country then.

Ah the straight arm tackles, the gouging and the raking in the loose, sharpening up the studs on the concrete of the changing rooms !!!!

Then thank the Lord I am too Old and Unfit these days.

Gareth

"If I, Sir, was the marrying kind,
And thank the Lord I'am not Sir,
The type of man that I would wed,
Would be a Rugby ......."

Continue for many, many verses

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Aug 03 - 07:22 PM

I suspect that, over a certain level, protective gear could actually encourage vicious fouling. The same way there's a certain sort of driver who is probably more lethal with a safety belt or an airbag because it makes him feel invulnerable. Or in this case makes him feel that his opponent is invulnerable to serious damage.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 11 Aug 03 - 08:08 PM

Gareth:
If I were the marrying kind,
Which, thank the Lord I'm not, sir
The kind of girl that I would wed
Would be a winger's daughter.
I'd go hard, she'd go hard,
We'd both go hard together.
We'd be alright, in the middle of the night,
Going hard together!"

If I were the marrying kind,
Which, thank the Lord I'm not sir.
The kind of girl that I would wed
Would be a scrum half's daughter.
She'd put it in, I'd put it in.
We'd both put it in together.
We'd be alright in the middle of the night,
Putting it in together!

If I were the marrying kind,
Which, thank the Lord I'm not sir.
The kind of girl that I would wed
Would be a full back's daughter.
She'd find touch, I'd find touch.
We'd both find touch together.
We'd be alright in the middle of the night,
Finding touch together

Just a little clarification. For a scrum (US Scrimmage) two opposing groups of 8 players each lock together facing their opponents. The 'scrum half' throws the ball into the tunnel between the two teams (although usually to the feet of his own team)

The 'Winger' is something of a 'running back' although the rules only allow for the ball to be passed backwards from hand to hand.

The 'Full back' is the last line of defence before the goal line (touchdown area) and will attempt to kick the ball back 'up-field'. If possible he will kick the ball out of play at the side of the pitch (find touch), so that play restarts with the ball being thrown in from the sideline between two equal lines of opposing players.

Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 11 Aug 03 - 08:50 PM

Nigel, 8 in a scrum is Union. I think it is 6 in League.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: HuwG
Date: 11 Aug 03 - 09:28 PM

Some more position definitions, in scrum formation:


                            Opposition


|          Loose-head prop | Hooker | Tight-head prop
|
| Open-side flanker | Second Row | Second Row | Blind-side flanker
|
|                            Number 8
|


                                    Scrum-half

                                    Stand-off (or Outside-half)

                              Centre

                        Centre

                   Winger                           Winger


                               Full-back

The loose-head prop has one side of his head in the open air, while the other is pressed against the side of the opposing tight-head prop. The tight-head prop is meanwhile having both sides of his neck and face sandpapered by the opposing loose-head prop and hooker, both of whom of course gave up shaving at least three days before the game. (The resulting rash is known as "scrum-pox").

The hooker is so called, not because of any occupation off the pitch, but because he "hooks" the ball out of the tunnel between the opposing front-row forwards' feet, back towards his own side. (A digression here; when I first joined my local club, I gave a telephone number with one digit wrong. For several weeks, I would assume that I had not been selected, and stroll into the club in mid-afternoon, expecting to be a spectator. I would be greeted with shouts of "Where were you ? You were supposed to be playing away !" Then one day an ex-girlfriend tried to ring me to wish me a happy birthday, and dialled the same wrong number. A woman answered, and once explanations and apologies were out of the way, the unknown lady said, "You've solved one riddle for me. Every Saturday lunchtime, the phone rings, and some rough male voice at the other end shouts, 'You get your a**e down here, you're hooking for the first fifteen!'")


If I were the marrying kind,
Which, thank the Lord I'm not sir.
The kind of girl that I would wed
Would be a prop-forward's daughter.
She'd bind tight, I'd bind tight.
We'd both bind tight together.
We'd be alright in the middle of the night,
Binding tight together.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: mouldy
Date: 12 Aug 03 - 04:31 AM

I have a tee shirt with that quote on!

I don't know what it is about rugby (union), but I love it! I don't pretend to understand all the little nuances of the game, but I've grasped the main points and try to see as much of it on TV as I can. (Roll on the World Cup!) All I am waiting for now is to be able to persuade my daughter's boyfriend (winger for Selby RUFC when in his teens, and before he broke his ankle a couple of times) to escort me to Headingley for a Leeds Tykes match. That's the nearest "big" side.

My son lives in Cardiff. Used to go to Glamorgan Uni near Pontypridd, where some of the Welsh national side used to use the gym. He used to play either tight-head prop or hooker for his school till he developed knee problems at about 15 years old. What a waste...6'4"...14/15 stone...24 years old. He tries to keep his weight down now, and is into kitesurfing instead.

HuwG - the first time I saw one of the vicars in our parish, he was in church sporting a black eye. Before we started the service, he announced that his wife hadn't lamped him one with the frying pan...he'd been pulled out of retirement to play for Selby A! Big bloke. Castleford man. Played union but used to go most Sunday afternoons to watch the Tigers.

Andrea

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: gnu
Date: 12 Aug 03 - 04:58 AM

The quote I recall from my university days is, "It takes leather balls to play rugby."

Now, I have a question, the answer(s) to which will help me enjoy my footy much more. Can some of you tell me what and when all of these cups and leagues are ? For instance... the Ellis Cup is the "World Cup" played as a single tournament every four years, in September/October, right ??? How are tems chosen for inclusion ? What are the other leagues, cups, seasons ? Thanks in advance.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: Hrothgar
Date: 12 Aug 03 - 07:11 AM

Gnu,
The top four teams from the previous World Cup go in automatically, and there are playoffs among the other 100 or so nations to see who will make up the other 16.

In the southern hemisphere, we have the Tri-Nations series between Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

In the north, they have the Six Nations - England, France, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Italy.

There is an Asian Cup - Japan, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, etc.

I think there is a South American competition, and there is fierce rivalry between the Yanks and Canada.

Then you get down to club and provincial level ...........


Oscar Wilde is the one who said "Football is all very well for rough girls, but not for delicate boys." He must have foreseen the women's team at my club. I'm scared of some of them.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: greg stephens
Date: 12 Aug 03 - 07:50 AM

The rules are basically (1) drink a lot of beer (2)know the words to a lot of dirty songs (3)if you see a pair of opponent's balls accessible in a scrum,grab them and twist.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: GUEST,T-boy
Date: 12 Aug 03 - 08:30 AM

Nigel Parsons: Don't forget the Spectator's daughter (she'd come again ...).

The basic difference between Union and League, from which many of the other differences follow, is that if you're tackled in League you try to hold on to the ball to play it again, whereas in Union you've got to let go of it.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Aug 03 - 08:51 AM

Yup, the game hasn't changed. There's a ball on the ground and a whole bunch of people gathered around it, kicking the shit out of each other, gouging out eyes, biting off ears and noses, trying the cripple each other. After the game, after the medical care and amputations, both sides sit around getting drunk and singing dirty ditties.

Shucks, there's a couple of bars around here where you can do that and you don't need the excuse of a game. And you can drink while the scrum is taking place, too. There's added excitement when the cops come and are forced to eat their tear gas, pepper spray, and handguns -- and you should see what they did to that cop's nightstick! Some of the fellas even wear locked-rowel Spanish spurs. And for fun, why, brass knuckles, caulked logging boots, cant hooks, quirts, and broken bottles have it all over rugby.

"All the blood, and you can drink at the same time!"

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: mooman
Date: 12 Aug 03 - 09:57 AM

Yes...I've played a fair bit. All positions except full back, hooker and scrum half and mainly wing forward and centre because of my build and speed when I was younger. School First XV (not public school but a good team - 19 wins and a draw out of 20 games), University First XV, a good league club and then various "Old Farts" XVs!

I've two broken toes on my right foot, one broken toe on my left, a broken finger and a broken thumb, both knee cartilages were badly damaged especuially the right, my eye was put out once and I was also in hospital twice with concussion. Also the usual cuts, bruises, strains and pulled muscles and ligaments. I don't believe I ever injured an opposing player despite the provocation! I have also played Gaelic and it is worse!

Ah....they were good days but I'm glad I'm too old to play now!

To answer Gaber's question. The rules are a little bit complicated but not impossible. The strategy of good play is another thing.

Peace!

moo

P.S. It seems I may have played against Eric the Viking at school and maybe afterwards without knowing it!

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Aug 03 - 03:21 PM

I gather there are some tough souls in the USA and Canada who play the authentic game.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: mike the knife
Date: 12 Aug 03 - 04:58 PM

Yep- We Yanks do play "proper" Rugby Union. It's still a bit of a "fringe" sport, but getting more & more popular. In fact, the US of A is the last winner of the Olympic Gold Medal in Rugby. 1926 I think.
If the US ever gets serious about rugby the way we are "serious" (read: throw money at) other sports, look out World Cup. I of course will be a crippled old relic grousing on the sidelines & reminiscing about the "good old days" when we had to change into our kit in our cars, how our co-workers scorned us on Monday mornings when we limped/lurched/staggered into work with mashed-in faces, and how nobody understood our foulmouthed singing in bars while covered in mud, blood & other substances. It will all be on MTV & be very stylish and they will ruin everything and I will hate them for it.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: Hrothgar
Date: 14 Aug 03 - 03:45 AM

US Gold Medal in 1920 - with an Australian coach.

I have tickets for two of the USA games in the World Cup in Brisbane in October - against Fiji and USA.

Interesting to note from the comments above that the Northern Hemisphere teams never really understood rucking as a means of getting the ball back into play - they just think it is an opportunity for foul play and for setting up more scrums.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: ard mhacha
Date: 14 Aug 03 - 09:04 AM

Rapaire, And it is Raparee here a , your spelling matches your ignorance of a fantastic game Gaelic football.
Crowds in excess of 70,000 have watched our All-Ireland Series, every year, and please don`t compare it with bloody US football a game for trained Gorillas.
Get along to any Irish pub in the US and see the two best games in the World, Hurling and Gaelic Football. Ard Mhacha.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: mike the knife
Date: 14 Aug 03 - 11:42 AM

Thx Hrothgar for the date on the Medal. I didn't know it was w/ an Aussie coach- Interesting. As for the ruck being used to set up/clear quick ball, we (my old club) tried to institute quick "over & go" to get the ball back into play. The old method of everybody getting stuck in to rucks sucks up players that are better dispersed to field passes on the attack or defend against a loss of possesion. Good following support is the key. When the blood is up and there is play on the deck, it's herd/pack mentality that draws the forwards in for tap-dancing practice. I personally regard that as Bull$hit. Dirty play is dirty play & there's no room for it- with the possible exception of "schooling" a player who displays consistent disregard for "propriety" (if there is such a thing). Two wrongs don't make a right, I know, but I've seen players who've stopped raking/punching/etc. after a proper "Come To Jesus" meeting w/ a few crafty forwards.
As for Gaelic- It's a wonderful sport. The only "live" Gaelic match I've ever seen was a match between the NYPD & the FDNY squads in Gaelic Park in the Bronx. Skill levels may not be as high as you'll see in the Emerald Isle sides, but it was a, shall we say, "passionate" match.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: alanabit
Date: 14 Aug 03 - 03:11 PM

I always thought that rugby was invented for those who were disappointed to learn that actual murder is not allowed. Rugby is a pretty perilous undertaking even if you weigh over two hundred pounds and stand at over six feet. I am five foot four and a half inches small and (in those days) weighed aound ten stone (if not less). The exploits of Borocourt Rugby Club have quite rightly been ignored by rugby historians. As I experienced it, the game was divided into three parts. Firstly there was the terrified anticipation as I readied myself to be charged over by fifteen pairs of studs propelled by muscular legs. Then there was the frantic rush to hide, feign injury or run away when they arrived. Then there was the time standing beneath the goal posts waiting for the conversions to fly over. Happily I am now too old to indulge in such hostilities and console myself with the gentle practice of Pencjak Silat (Indonesian karate). I did enjoy the comradeship along with the singing and drinking, but middle age ushers in gentler pleasures.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: mike the knife
Date: 14 Aug 03 - 04:37 PM

Ah Alanabit- you've tipped your hand. I've dabbled a bit in the blade arts, and there's quite a bit that's anything BUT gentle in Pentjak Silat...

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: alanabit
Date: 14 Aug 03 - 05:50 PM

OK Mike - I'll own up to a cracked toe. However it's all relative. When I took my four year old son to parent/child judo, he cricked my neck AND broke a toe in the same session. I've retreated to the relative safety of Pecjak Silat since then!

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: Gareth
Date: 14 Aug 03 - 07:51 PM

Michael Green's defnitive works "The art of Corse (SP) Rugby" & "Even Corser Rugby" are recomended reading.

Vocal - Try any recording by the "Jock Strap Ensemble"

Then there is the marathon thread in the Cat "Rugby Songs" - Nah! its late - look it up yer self !!!

and, as a source " MAX BOYCE "

Gareth - Second row THUG and "High Tackle Merchant"

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: HuwG
Date: 14 Aug 03 - 08:21 PM

I am amazed (though I shouldn't be) at how many 'Catters played the sport once they left school. The Welsh contingent, obviously, and several of t' Yorkies. (Soccer ? A nancy name for a reet nancy game)

Mike the Knife, not too sure of our respective vintages (I'll admit to forty-cough, cough), but when I first played for a club (York Railway Institute), the "Come to Jesus" aversion therapy was referred to as a "Ninety-nine call". This originated with the British Lions. When they decided to make known their feelings to a persistent offender, the line-out call would be e.g. "Ninety-nine, seven". The actual path the ball took subsequently was unimportant; the opposing number seven player would receive a lot of studs and knuckles.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: mike the knife
Date: 15 Aug 03 - 05:40 PM

HuwG, I'm creeping up on you agewise. I only have a few months left of saying that "I'm in my late 30's". I've heard a few lineout calls here in the States that singled out abusers- one being "X-Ray" followed by the # of the offender. The "X-ray" portion being a bit prescient perhaps...
Gareth, I've spent a few Saturdays in the "Engine Room" myself- even though I'm not particularly tall. It's hard to try to explain the role of a Lock Forward to drunken american girls at parties.
Alanabit, you're not fooling anyone ;-) Silat is tough stuff...

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: Gareth
Date: 15 Aug 03 - 07:31 PM

Thanks Mike - One of the joys of playing lock forward in a constant pack was the psi powers. I.E. if the opposing scrum half was predictable, and playing according to the English schools coaching leaflet you could break/ be released from the pack, and be boosted into a tackle just as the Scrum half was half erect and twisting for the classic two arm pass to the Fly Half.

Hit the man in the small of the back, when they are in that position and it tends to discourage them for the rest of the game !!

Mind you that was in the days when I was younger and far, far fitter, and referees had a more realist view of what was "dangerous play"

Ah ! Happy days !

And while we are discussing "the Lions Tour", and Carwen James.

Get your retaliation in first ! a bit of advice which still serves me well in other contexts.

And No - I will not be watching Ireland v Wales tomorrow on the box. Well they did not come to see me when I was bad ! - The "White Horse Festival" is another matter. I would be obliged if the Rugby was not mentioned

unless a miracle occours !!!!!

Gareth

We paid our weekly shilling for that January Trip,
A long weekend in Scotland,
Without a bit of Kip ...... "

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 15 Aug 03 - 08:43 PM

One of the many good things about Gaelic Football and Hurling is that the clashes tend to be single combat in the open rather than ruggery-thuggery in a mob.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 15 Aug 03 - 09:23 PM

Rugby is bare knuckles and bare knees

Hurling muddies the field with commercial weapons of Celtic destruction.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Aug 03 - 07:34 AM

Thanks Hrothgar. McGrath.... your "Canada" link doesn't work (for me).

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Aug 03 - 07:37 AM

Oops... must reset. gnu

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 16 Aug 03 - 07:51 AM

This one should work better (it had an unwanted quote mark) - Rugby Canada

Moral is, always check links via preview before posting. I've done that this time.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: ard mhacha
Date: 16 Aug 03 - 01:35 PM

Gareth You didn`t miss much, too ordinary sides, Wales fielded their second xv, and Ireland stumbled there way to a 35 to 12 win, best of the Welsh Sweeney. Ard Mhacha.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: Gareth
Date: 16 Aug 03 - 02:21 PM

ard mhacha - do not intrude on peivate grief.

Hmm the lads missed the plane on the out, unfortuinately they caught the plane om the way back from OZ

Gareth (& Crane Driver ) at Grove on a borrowed 'Puter

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: Hrothgar
Date: 17 Aug 03 - 06:55 AM

Carwyn James (brilliantly perceptive coach) coached the 1971 Lions - probably the best Lions side ever. They lost two games, one to Queensland (hahahahahahahaha!!!) and one to New Zealand.

The 1974 Lions, notorious for the "99" call, were coached by Syd Millar. They won all their games, but I still don't think they were quite as good as 1971.

Just making sure that the two are not confused.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: 8_Pints
Date: 17 Aug 03 - 04:52 PM

Gaber,

I think the important thing is for you try it.

I always respected newcomers on their first re-appearance, as they would by then appreciate what its all about!

Seriously, though the thing to master is the 'advantage law'.

This states that where an infringement has occurred the referee will permit play to continue if the other side can still benefit from the run of play.

The knack is to carry on until you hear the whistle stop play ....

Bob vG

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: GUEST,,gargoyle
Date: 18 Aug 03 - 07:14 AM

Oscar Wilde's quote is Football is all very well a good game for rough girls, but not for delicate boys.

http://www.allgreatquotes.com/oscar_wilde_quotes4.shtml

Sincerely,

Gargoyle

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 18 Aug 03 - 07:52 AM

I note that site doesn't give any provenance for it. Nor do any of the quotation sites I've seen. I've me doubts. It does have authentic touch of Oscar's paradoxes, mind you - nicely turned but essentially meaningless.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: C-flat
Date: 18 Aug 03 - 09:17 AM

I went to a rugby playing school and was picked out to play hooker.
Before I had ever touched a rugby ball I had suffered my first broken nose from a kick in the face!
That kind of coloured my opinion of the game ever since but I have watched the occassional game from the safety of the sidelines.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: LadyJean
Date: 18 Aug 03 - 10:25 PM

They have a Rugby match every year at the Ligonier Highland Games. Men in kilts and men in shorts! Eye candy city! I reccomend it highly.

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Aug 03 - 12:37 AM

What is eye candy?

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: Wotcha
Date: 19 Aug 03 - 06:25 AM

I played several years in a UK Public School and later in US college and some military teams (an excuse to travel to Scotland and England). Gave the game up at the sprightly age of 39 when an Australian ship needed to practice on whomever was in Kuwait in the mid summer. Instead of a grass pitch, the local club poured water over the mud -- made for an mud fest. I always liked the Third Half ... singing and practical jokes. Since I was in it for the "Third Half" I have now taken up with the Hash House Harriers (the "Drinking Club with a Running Problem"). The Hash is low-impact and is a great means of finding folk music venues by the way -- Harrogate and Beverly spring to mind!

Cheers/Tschuess,

Brian

Subject: RE: BS: rugby
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 19 Aug 03 - 07:02 AM

Nobody has mentioned women's rugby, which appears to be flourishing in various countries - Here's a link. This appears to be every bit as vicious, but a bit less lethal because of the weight diffential.

Maybe they should recognise that rugby is a form of pugilism, and have the teams ranked by weight, as with boxing - bantam weight rugby and heavyweight and so forth.