Rugby Union

Oggy

Oggy

Rear Admiral
Yo guys & gals,
hoping you might be able to help a friend of mine at university studying sports science.

One of the subjects she is writting a report about is the penetration of rugby union to grass roots level, and like the muggins I am I said would help (as it was rugby related)
She is trying to get a view of rugby's penetration in other countries.

So if all you lovely kind people could post here with your country of residence, and your experience of the game we'd be very grateful, but theres no pressure.
 
Well, I played Rugby in college (here in the US), and it was quite widespread. I was a prop (no second-row for me, thank you very much!).

I am by nature an "American football" (or as we call it here in the states, "real football" :D ) player, but the college I went to didn't have it as an option, so Rugby was the next best thing. Lots of fun, aggression, controlled violence, etc.

Your friend might be interested to know this: I recall reading an article back in those days that compared Rugby to US football, and the interesting thing is, even though the two sports' levels of physical contact are about the same, and there's no pads in rugby, rugby players actually suffered fewer major injuries than in football....
 
Or have this freaking big Starbase as God.
Even more you can´t squish a flower or the grass.
 
Rubgy is very big here in New Zealand. It's our national sport, and one of the few sports where we can claim we're among the best in the world, even if the All Blacks aren't as invincibile as they were a few years ago. It's played very widely at the national, university, club and school levels.

Best, Raptor
 
Originally posted by Bandit LOAF
As Star Trek teaches us, to achieve a utopian society everyone must love only water polo.
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What about Parisis Squares!
 
Originally posted by TC
What about Parisis Squares!
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Hehe, the first two seasons of TNG are great -- there's like half a dozen fake futuristic sports invented and then never, ever used again.
 
Heh, the early Star Trek episodes were your favourite, were they? Tasha Yar happened to be my favourite character. In fact the greatest Star Trek moment of all time has her in it...sort of. You ever seen Trekkies? There was a part where Denise Crosby (who played Yar) was on a radio show, and they have a caller phoning in to talk about Skin of Evil, where Yar dies. The day that episode went to air, this caller's father died. Watching that episode, he said, helped him to come to terms with his father's death. Crosby had nothing but the utmost sympathy and understanding for him. That, as well as James Doohan helping a woman who was contemplating suicide, are to me the truely great Star Trek moments. That's one of the reasons why, incidently, I like Spirit a lot as well.
 
Being a member of the country that the World Cup belongs to, I suppose I have to write something too...

At the moment, rugby is in the top 5 sports in Australia (I think). I think swimming comes out on top.

Rugby has to compete with Rugby League and the Australian Football League, to give an idea of what 'footies' Australia has.

It is mainly all the older schools dating from either pre-1900 or early 1900's that play Rugby Union, while newer schools seem to play Rugby League.

Club rugby isn't very big in Australia, unlike New Zealand which has the National Provincial Competition or England where players get paid stacks, like $AUD1.5m for a 2 year contract.

The more popular level of rugby is the Super 12 and International matches (especially those played against New Zealand). Even so with those 2 levels, only the Internationals are played on free-to-air in real time (which means I have to get up around 1am to watch games against European nations) while the Super 12 is exclusive to Foxtel (pay TV) viewers.

Rugby has been part of Australia since around 1900 and there are plenty of books out there. The only one I have read which will have background information on the history of rugby in Australia is called 'The Golden Wallabies' by Spiro Zavos. I highly recommend it to your friend.

Hope this kind of helps. It's a bit hard when you need to go to bed very soon, but couldn't pass up an opportunity to write about rugby. I'm sure that I'm not wasting my time reading all those rugby articles...I even wrote an assignment based on it! :)

One more thing - the grass roots of rugby has changed ever since 1995-96 when rugby turned professional for the first time. A theory to why New Zealand was so good before was that they were all beefy to begin with due to all the sheering etc, but with the advent of professionalism, everybody is beefy due to weights.

Why do I know all this?
 
I live in the US. I think Rugby is like soccer or foosball or one of those things South Americans do.
 
Heh, the early Star Trek episodes were your favourite, were they?
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Heh, no, TNG was vastly improved by the invention of collars.

Tasha Yar happened to be my favourite character. In fact the greatest Star Trek moment of all time has her in it...sort of. You ever seen Trekkies? There was a part where Denise Crosby (who played Yar) was on a radio show, and they have a caller phoning in to talk about Skin of Evil, where Yar dies. The day that episode went to air, this caller's father died. Watching that episode, he said, helped him to come to terms with his father's death. Crosby had nothing but the utmost sympathy and understanding for him. That, as well as James Doohan helping a woman who was contemplating suicide, are to me the truely great Star Trek moments. That's one of the reasons why, incidently, I like Spirit a lot as well.
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Way to watch Trekkies (G)
 
Originally posted by Bandit LOAF
Heh, no, TNG was vastly improved by the invention of collars.
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Yeah, that's what I was referring to. I'd seen a few of the old ones, and to throw some fuel on the fire, Picard's the better Captain.
 
Originally posted by ChrisReid
I live in the US. I think Rugby is like soccer or foosball or one of those things South Americans do.
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Was "foosball" a typo on your part?...

In any event, rugby is like the aforementioned "real football" we play here in the States:
--Ball is shaped a bit rounder, but basically same shape as a football.
--Ball is primarily advanced down the field by carrying it, and you stop the other team by tackling the ball carrier. However, there's lots of latitude for lateraling the ball to your teammates if you see you're just about to get tackled, and then they advance it down the field, etc.
--The main form of scoring (called a "try") is by touching it down (while in one's grip) in the "end zone/past the "goal line".
--The "scrum" formation is similar to football's "line of scrimmage", only instead of offensive/defensive lines, the ball is tossed in from the side and then belongs to whichever team can take possession by way of the "hooker" kicking it back to his teammates.
--Whoever wins, the teams get together afterwards and have a post-game party where beer flows, and hilarity and debauchery ensue.

---On an interesting side note, there are (unlike football) college women's teams in rugby also. We once played a match where there was a women's rugby game right after ours, and both men's and women's teams partied together afterwards. I got a girl player's phone number at the party, and wrote her back & forth a few times, but never did get together for a date (her college was quite a bit distant from mine). Pity, that...
 
Originally posted by Preacher
--Whoever wins, the teams get together afterwards and have a post-game party where beer flows, and hilarity and debauchery ensue.
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As opposed to American football, where the losers whine about their best, while the winners go home and **** the prom queen. :) Props to anyone who can place that quote.

A couple of other differances:
-You can't protect the ball carrier from being tackled by running interference
-you can't throw the ball forward.

Best, Raptor
 
Originally posted by Raptor
...even if the All Blacks aren't as invincibile as they were a few years ago.
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Heh, heh... ;)

Originally posted by StarLight
At the moment, rugby is in the top 5 sports in Australia (I think). I think swimming comes out on top.
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Really? I guess that's if you're thinking in terms of performance, not popularity.

Originally posted by ChrisReid
I live in the US. I think Rugby is like soccer or foosball or one of those things South Americans do.
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Silly. :p Rugby is closer to your American Football than soccer (as Preacher goes into great detail about).

Originally posted by Preacher
Was "foosball" a typo on your part?...
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I thought foosball was that table soccer game...

And even though Australians refer to football as soccer (following the Americans like in so many other fields), soccer really should be the only 'real' football. :)
 
Originally posted by Wedge009
And even though Australians refer to football as soccer (following the Americans like in so many other fields), soccer really should be the only 'real' football.
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We're America, and that makes us right.

(Yes, that was sarcastic, you silly llamas.)
 
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