I have to run down the hill to sign the boy up for another season of rugby this morning, and fittingly it’s raining and muddy as hell. Thomas will have two teams to play for this season, club and school, which should keep him fit. As I was skimming through the club email’s the other day, google thoughtfully provided a link to a news story out of the US, where rugby is apparently the fastest growing sport of the last few years.
No one is quite sure why, although the showing of the US Eagles (?) in the World Cup last year has supposedly led to an uptick of interest on college campuses. The story also speculated that a lot of kids whose college grid iron plans come to naught are shifting across to the ‘new’ code.
Used to be that rugby was once huge on campus in the US, but that was almost a century ago. I doubt it’ll ever be more than a curiosity there, but it’d be interesting to see some of those monsters from the NFL pack down against the ABs or the Wallabies.
I disagree. I think rugby is on the rise here in a lasting sense. It is a matter of economics. American style gridiron football costs a great deal of money to play because of all that expensive, high tech armour that is worn. None of that is necessary in rugby.
And it is more fun to play, being a bit less military and more egalitarian.
And it is fun to watch. So why shouldn’t it do well here? And if it does catch on here, heaven help all you munters. We grow them big and mean here.
What’s a munter? *scratches head**
I have no idea. It is what random passersby would yell at me when I was walking down the street in Melbourne, so I can only presume it is a term of endearment.
A munter is someone who munts. Munting is what you are doing when the TVs on but you’re not really watching it or comletely ignoring it. When you make a cup of tea then forget to drink it. When you’re walking down the street but you dont have a destination.
On Topic: Americans would be good at rugby. It offers the on field action they want alongside the off field traditions of camraderie and imbibing.
However the fitness levels required are very different to those of Grid Iron, I think Hockey players would be a better fit in terms of aerobic capacity and toughness. Most NFL players would not last a half in a top grade rugby match
JB, what possies has Thomas had so far? He’s a forward, or a back?
If he is a hair back then Thomas may also be a bunyip. I would advise you to stick him in the laundry cupboard.
Dear Mayhem’s Mum, that would make him the orange boy.
Yes. Yes it would.
Bunyip, half back and winger. He’s much better at the former.
…heaven help all you munters.
What’s a munter? *scratches head**
I have no idea
That is the funniest thing I’ve read all day.
Oh, and if the USA ever beat the AB’s I’m handing in my fan card.
Half back is a good possie. Wingers are greyhounds. Freaks.
hey!
I was a winger!
I resemble that remark!
:)
Don’t you mean, ‘I wesemble that wemark’?
i stand cowwected
Rugby is played on most large universities as an intramural sport with a few away games. The same is true of lacrosse, ultimate frisbee, and a some other odd sports.
Mick, tis that youse are too frecking fast. I was a tackling lock. I could nail a half back, or a 5/8. Wingers… I didn’t have a hope.
I’m not sure it will reach the popularity heights that you folks down under are used to, but Ive definitely seen a surge of popularity here. Tons of colleges/unis I know of have at least an informal club team.
Ah yes Jane, Rugby is such a small sport…
I mean when we have a “World Championship” we actually have OTHER countries show up.
Yep, my Thomas has been signed up too. I just hope I don’t get roped into coaching again….wrangling a team of seven year olds is akin to herding cats.
I have a great mate who is five foot f’k-all, weighs about 45 kilos soaking wet with her pockets full of sand and plays harder rugby than any men’s team I’ve ever seen. And I’ve watched a lot of international rugby. She gets an added frisson when packing a scrum she gets to stick her head between other women’s butts, something she’ll do at any opportunity. But to my point; there seems to be a fast growing women’s rubgy scene.
How’s that sit with your “The Grrrl can do anything The Boy can do” policy?
I encouraged The Bobette to climb trees, skin knees, ride horses hard and get as rough & tumble as she liked, but I forbade her from playing club rugby for fear of acquired brain injury and accumulated cartiliage damage. Not truly hypocracy as I don’t have a boy child I allow to play, but it still didn’t sit well with my equality principles.
It won’t crack the U.S. football market big time but we still welcome the involvement of the Eagles in tournaments. Gives Russia someone to compete with.
Meanwhile the Super Bowl is next week. The Super FKN Bowl!
Go Pats!
When I was in high school (cue “when ah were a lad”), there were a lot of high-profile cases where kids got variously severe back injuries from a collapsing scrum, up to and including quadriplegia. I managed to play one season, dislocating my shoulder in the second last game bringing down an enormous Aryan stereotype from Scots College. Mind you, this resulted, by a complicated series of events, in one of our backs scoring our only try of the season. Anyhow, it was hard to make a case against parental veto after that.
Don’t see any reason it wouldn’t be popular in the USA. It’s got all the running and shouting you could want, and while I suppose the drama doesn’t provide quite the same stop-start opportunity for events to be clearly explained (with diagrams), I would be stunned if the “caller” style of commentary were unknown over there. It’s less “institutional” than Gridiron, in that anyone basically can get a club going with enough interest; no need for enormous setup costs. One would think that would appeal to hyerindividualism more, though I guess I can see that going both ways.
American pro and college football are king for half the year. American pro and college basketball are king for the other half of the year. They make money. A talented athlete in the US will choose an attention grabbing sport they can manage in high school and hope they’re not injured in university – or, until their third year of playing pro.
A piece of rugby trivia that most people don’t know. Rugby used to be played at the olympics. The last year it was done so was in 1924.
The trivia question is… who won gold?
The USA. Thus becoming the only team to win Rugby gold twice in Olympic competition.
Liar.
Rugby does indeed have a following on college campuses and amateur leagues here. Gridiron is entrenched solid, though.
Now, consider the rising data and awareness of concussions and other brain traumas that are caused by the impacts of heavily armored players. Such traumas don’t seem to be as prevalent among rugby and Australian Rules players. Might that cause rugby to become popular here? Dunno.
over here in sunny UK
munter means , basically , ugly
YD – you wouldn’t know the difference if they have brain injuries or not. The stock broker rugby types do their trading according to algorithms prepared by non footballers and only need to grunt when they’re sniffing lines of coke or watching sport on tv. The Aussie Rules types always behave as if they have brain trauma whether or not they be so afflicted. So its all a moot point really.
@YDog
You remind me of a conversation I had once with a bone Dr. He said that a patient could come to his surgery present an injury and he could deduce what sport he / she played. Rugby League players bust ACLs (Anterior Cruciate Ligament)
AFL players do terrible things to ankles and shoulders.
Snowboarders try to introduce the bones of the wrist to the elbow at high speed.
Rugby Union players tend to have the cartliage in nose, ears & knees snapped &/or mangled.
The latest research on ABI (Acquired Brain Injuries) is really concerning, While teen footballers usually don’t end up like Mohammed Ali, peace be upon him, many (approaching most) of them show damage. Life long damage. Yeah yeah Neural plasticity is great & fabbo, but changes is personality & behaviour previously written off as Teen – issues are being reconsidered through this context and it’s really really worrying.
To those tough nuts who say “I got knocked out heaps of times & it didn’t harm me none” we don’t have a control to compare you to. You may have been a nuclear physiclist, you may not have had those anger management issues, you may have been a better judge of risk & Not maxed out the mortage, you might not have married your 1st wife, whatever, if it wasn’t for those repeated blows to the head.
Source on the USA winning Rugby gold at the olypmics Monsieur Boylan?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_union_at_the_1924_Summer_Olympics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_union_at_the_Summer_Olympics
http://www.rugbyfootballhistory.com/olympics.htm#1924
Andyf – a munter is an ugly person? I heard that, too, but thought it was a furphy. Fair dinkum.
I have no idea what any of that means. And it is beginning to annoy me.
“I have no idea what any of that means. And it is beginning to annoy me.” As I thought Watson, a college Rugby player.
We DO have a sport here with less brain trauma, but more rugby-style injuries, including missing teeth. Actually your cousins to the north of us invented it.
Hockey.
Not Joe Hockey, mind you. That’s different.
Joe Hockey may be many things, but a sport aint one of them.
Hmmm, maybe you’re on to something JB. Now that I survived my high school alumni football game, there are several rugby squads around these parts…
Rugby in the states! It should kick off pretty well in that giant pacific city that is L.A the number of Samoans there will help that along. I can’t realy visualise any of the hispanic nationality types throwing away the Football for footy. Plenty of track and field or lacross lads that would transition well for the speed side of the game. Not so sure about some of those American NFL boys who are all 6’8″ and 300pounds of line backer, 20 mins of NFL is not really sport is it, just a couple of hippos going at it. Now them running backs who like to dance (inzone gayity) could have a shot as wingers? Interesting!
Tebow would be a good open side flanker. He already spends so much time on his knees I imagine he’d be pretty good at diving into rucks.
Haha, seriously though. Can you imagine having a Barry Sanders or Bo Jackson in your back line?
I remember Mad Drugs Macdougall from the Knights was supposed to have modelled his running style on NFL backs. The hit-and-spin more than the raising the knees into people’s chops.