Rugby - what's the point of it??

[Kathryn]

Stupid game. Obscure rules. Gratuitously violent. All those men with big chunky thighs hugging each other.

 

Ugh!!

 

My other half is a huge fan though and I have been a "rugby widow" since the World Cup started.

 

Tomorrow at least I'll get some peace - he's off to France to watch S Africa play Tsonga.

 

He supports the Springboks and Wales with equal fervour- I fear that when and if they play each other - which is a possibility apparently, the conflicting loyalties will cause his head to explode.

 

Anyone else in the same boat? Or do you actually like the game?

 

K x

Edited September 21, 2007 by Kathryn

[brooke]

yep im in the same boat unfortuatly still at least its not football. Im going out tonight so i dont have to watch

[Minxygal]

Tight bums and muscles??

 

Haven't a clue about the game but every now and again something makes it watchable

[Bagpuss]

Ooooh yes....DH loves all forms of sports I like watching England footie team playing, but that's about it.

[Bard]

I'm with Minxygal on this one, used to watch little brother play at Uni.

Of course I was there to support him...which one was he again?

 

Football

All that whining and wailing when they get tripped up, all the diva behaviour.

I'm more of a barbarian horde follower I think. If you're yelling in pain, at least you're conscious!

Edited September 21, 2007 by Bard

[smiley]

Can't stand the game - One word though - Thighs, (strong thighs) *sigh!*

 

I went out with a rugby player for a while - used to love to go and support him at the matches...... I was being a loving and supportive parner, honest.... Nice thighs and a lovely voice

 

*off to find a cold shower!*

 

[bid]

Thighs!!

 

Boho

[Kathryn]

Nah.. give me a nice lean honed tennis player any day.

 

Tennis, now there's a proper game. Just as much power and aggression, but as it's a non contact sport the players don't end up with their noses and teeth rearranged.

 

 

K x

[allie]

Sorry. Got to go against all of you on this one.

I love rugby - and no not just for the guys and their bodies. Its a fantastic game but being a South African

we grow up with watching it all the time.

Can't wait to watch the Springboks tomorrow.

Couple of glasses of wine, watching rugby - can't get a better saturday!!!!

[Mumble]

Tennis, now there's a proper game. Just as much power and aggression, but as it's a non contact sport the players don't end up with their noses and teeth rearranged.

You clearly haven't played tennis with me, Kathryn!!

[baddad]

Rugby...

 

You know, when that famous kid picked up the ball and ran with it i wish he'd run straight under a lorry (well Orson Cart in those days, I suppose). The Welsh/Australians/New Zealanders don't need an excuse to get loud and annoying in pubs - they're that way by nature. and all that testosterone combined with 'scrums' and post match baths speaks volumes, me thinks... De Nile is not just a river

 

ONLY JOKING!!!

 

Or am I????????????????????

 

L&P

 

BD

[pearl]

All those men with big chunky thighs

 

Thats the point of it as far as I'm concerned.

 

*goes for a cold shower*

[Bard]

Rugby...

all that testosterone combined with 'scrums' and post match baths speaks volumes, me thinks...:

 

You are so right BD.

Yummm

 

That's more of an expression, I suppose.

Pearl, let's not forget the shoulders.

I used to have a boyfriend who was 6' 3" and played rugby, amongst other sports.

When I downsized to OH, 5' 8", it surprised me the way he used to fall over when I flung myself joyfully at him. And how unappreciative he was of my spontaneity.

Edited September 21, 2007 by Bard

[bikergal]

Thighs !!!

 

Bard

[Frangipani]

Rugby...

 

You know, when that famous kid picked up the ball and ran with it i wish he'd run straight under a lorry (well Orson Cart in those days, I suppose). The Welsh/Australians/New Zealanders don't need an excuse to get loud and annoying in pubs - they're that way by nature. and all that testosterone combined with 'scrums' and post match baths speaks volumes, me thinks... De Nile is not just a river

 

ONLY JOKING!!!

 

Or am I????????????????????

 

L&P

 

BD

 

 

Not all Aussie males are like that thank God, they are only a minority and give the rest a bad name. There are a higher proportion of classy well refined gents living in Aussie too. Those Aussie males that are loud in the pubs and go to the footy - we keep hoping time will phase them out. But won't hold my breath.

 

But I will add Aerial Ping Pong is definitely better than rugby. Go the Swans :lol:

 

The find the tennis and golfers much more appealing.

 

[Flora]

It's their ears that puts me off!! I never liked cauliflower

 

Now, add an r to the beginning of ears and now you're talking!! One thing about rugby players... they never have saggy bums and they can open beer bottles between their thighs.... I've actually seen it done!!

 

but really, if you've ever been to the party they have after a game, once they start hitting each other over the head with trays (it's a standard ritual apparently) you just know it aint gonna last.....

 

'swing low sweet chariots'

 

flozza

[pearl]

they never have saggy bums and they can open beer bottles between their thighs.... I've actually seen it done!!

 

*goes for another cold shower*

 

Can I be included in your social life please?

[annie]

Me too please Flozza

 

With all the cold showers going on since this thread started, I hope we don't end up having a water shortage

 

Annie

xx

[Kathryn]

Oo- er - what have I started...

 

Well I had a lovely afternoon watching the tennis - (Davis cup and Tim Henman's last match ever).

 

And luckily in France the Springboks won narrowly, 30 - 25 so DH will be in a good mood!

 

Frangi - the Aussie males you describe sound like the South African and Rhodesian males I grew up with. Which is why I married an Englishman.

 

K x

[Frangipani]

Frangi - the Aussie males you describe sound like the South African and Rhodesian males I grew up with. Which is why I married an Englishman.

 

K x

 

That's where I went wrong

[Flora]

for all tennis lovers here's my 'claim to fame'.

 

Last winter when I was working in the local bar/resturaunt, I was serving behind the bar one saturday night. 3 guys came in and stood at the bar and I was serving them pints of guiness like you do.

 

One of the waitresses came through from the eating area and asked for a glass of water. She glanced through the hatch towards these guys then started jumping up and down. she handed me paper and pen and said 'get his autograph for me please'... I said 'whose autograph? what are you talking about?'.

 

Turns out I'd only been oblivously serving Tim Henman pints for the past hour....without having a clue!!

 

Apparently he lives not far from here and his sister lives locally to us.

 

Must have been quite refreshing for him to walk in to a pub and not have the bar maid having a fit of the vapours while she pours his pint

 

Flora

[Canopus]

A public school game.

[Mumble]

Turns out I'd only been oblivously serving Tim Henman pints for the past hour....without having a clue!!

And it's for that reason that I'll never again waste my money on a trip to Madam Tussaurds!!!

[oxgirl]

for all tennis lovers here's my 'claim to fame'.

 

Last winter when I was working in the local bar/resturaunt, I was serving behind the bar one saturday night. 3 guys came in and stood at the bar and I was serving them pints of guiness like you do.

 

One of the waitresses came through from the eating area and asked for a glass of water. She glanced through the hatch towards these guys then started jumping up and down. she handed me paper and pen and said 'get his autograph for me please'... I said 'whose autograph? what are you talking about?'.

 

Turns out I'd only been oblivously serving Tim Henman pints for the past hour....without having a clue!!

 

Apparently he lives not far from here and his sister lives locally to us.

 

Must have been quite refreshing for him to walk in to a pub and not have the bar maid having a fit of the vapours while she pours his pint

 

Flora

 

 

He grew up around here, didn't he. His parents still live a couple of miles outside of my town.

 

~ Mel ~

[pearl]

A public school game.

 

Mr pearl used to play it, & he was a grammar school lad. The times I stood on the touchline as his 16 year old girlfriend, pretending to understand/be interested.....

[Kathryn]

for all tennis lovers here's my 'claim to fame'.

 

Last winter when I was working in the local bar/resturaunt, I was serving behind the bar one saturday night. 3 guys came in and stood at the bar and I was serving them pints of guiness like you do.

 

One of the waitresses came through from the eating area and asked for a glass of water. She glanced through the hatch towards these guys then started jumping up and down. she handed me paper and pen and said 'get his autograph for me please'... I said 'whose autograph? what are you talking about?'.

 

Turns out I'd only been oblivously serving Tim Henman pints for the past hour....without having a clue!!

 

Apparently he lives not far from here and his sister lives locally to us.

 

Must have been quite refreshing for him to walk in to a pub and not have the bar maid having a fit of the vapours while she pours his pint

 

Flora

 

 

You might see a lot more of him now he's retired!

 

Canopus, rugby may be a public shool game here - in South Africa it's a religion.

 

K x

[Flora]

Canopus, I don't see how rugby is a public school game

 

I know literally loads of rugby players because my brother plays rugby. He teaches rugby to school kids and certainly none from public school!! Nobody I know who plays rugby went to public school. Maybe at one time, about 50 years ago, it was only played at public school but those days are long gone.

 

flora

[Canopus]

Canopus, I don't see how rugby is a public school game

 

Rugby is a cornerstone of everyday life and culture of many public schools and prestigious fee paying grammar schools. A local fee paying grammar school takes its rugby very seriously and makes it a compulsory part of the PE curriculum from Y7 to Y11. In contrast, rugby isn't very commonly encountered in PE lessons of state schools although many offer it as an extra activity. I think its more popular in state schools in Wales than in England.

[badonkadonk]

Flora, I totally agree.

 

Canopus, you are talking a load of pap and dressing your own opinion up as fact. It's a load of tosh to say that Rugby is only played at public schools, absolute nonsense. Years ago, maybe, but certainly not nowadays.

 

For instance, I am 24. When I was 7 we had Rugby lessons at our school because a new initiative was launched called Tap Rugby, a more kid friendly version of the game where you don't have to tackle someone and get a face full of mud. It opened the game up to girls as well. This led to our family getting very involved in Rugby and we haven't looked back since.

 

I can categorically state that in at least three counties Rugby is played at some Primary and High Schools. Obviously I can't say it's played at all because I don't know that for sure and my brother isn't Superman but I do know it's played at some. This is because my brother is a High School PE Teacher and a specialist Rugby coach who spends most weekends travelling up and down the country visiting these three counties coaching children who already play for the school teams. He coaches lots of different people but mainly coaches the county teams.

 

He also teaches Rugby as part of the National Curriculum to the kids at his school. His wife, also a PE teacher, also teaches Rugby at her school. My mum, a Primary school teacher also teaches Rugby at her school. None of these schools are fee paying, private schools. None of these schools are situated in priviledged areas (in fact my brother's high school is in an awful area) but they all still teach Rugby.

 

The school where I did my teaching practice, in a rough inner city area of Birmingham, also had Rugby teams. Both boys and girls! Imagine that! They also had a Football team, Hockey, Tennis, Cricket, Trampolining, Dance, Netball and Basketball team. Oh and a swimming team.

 

Looking around schools in Harrogate, York, Leeds and Bradford trying to find work up here I have found the majority of the High Schools have both a Rugby and Football team.

 

Schools have changed, especially since England won the World Cup last time.

 

Yes the game is played at private schools, yes a lot of these schools produce top level Rugby players because they can invest the money into the training and have the right contacts. But it doesn't just exist at this level. When I go to see Leicester play it isn't full of toffs in tweed jackets smoking pipes. It's full of normal people, standing together shouting at some blokes in short shorts!

 

When you look at the England team at the minute, yes, many of them went to public schools. But some of them didn't. Some of them even had the disadvantage of growing up in Wolverhampton and Dudley I was born in Wolverhampton. It ain't pretty

 

Anyway, sorry for saying you're talking rubbish and all but, well, you kinda are

 

Emily

xxx

[baddad]

Turns out I'd only been oblivously serving Tim Henman pints for the past hour....without having a clue!!

 

Flora

 

So you served to Tim Henman, eh? Bet he missed the return!

[TheNeil]

Can I just say that I played rugby at school 20 years ago...and it certainly wasn't a public one.

 

I only wish that it was the exclusive domain of the public school as it would have saved me having to stand around in a muddy field in the middle of winter wearing a pair of small, thin, wet and muddy shorts being shouted at for not releasing the ball/not holding the ball/falling over/not falling over/being punched/popping someone's eye out/not being able to kick the ball etc. etc. etc.*

 

My dad played rugby professionally and he certainly didn't go to public school (some days I wondered if he went to school period given the gibberish he came out with)(makes me look quite sane at times)...but he was an Aspie so yaboo-sucks anyone who reckons we can't do things that require a modicum of co-ordination (says a man who sometimes worries about falling over when lying down).

 

Now cricket on the other hand is a load of old tosh, and don't get me stated on golf...

 

*Delete where applicable

Edited September 25, 2007 by TheNeil

[Canopus]

Nowhere did I say that rugby is only played in public schools and never played in state schools!!!

 

I had to endure a few rugby games every now and then in PE lessons at state schools. Thankfully such miserable events were infrequent. My secondary school also had a rugby team that a small number of macho men participated in and would play in competitions with other schools. It was a strong team and regularly won, but rugby was not part of the school's culture unlike football.

 

My brother attended a fee paying grammar school and played rugby every week for 2 terms of the year. The third term was devoted to cricket. Rugby was one of the cornerstones of life and culture at that school. Any kids that didn't like the game or played it badly were looked down on, and unfortunately my brother fitted into that category. The school held a low opinion of football to the point where it did not feature in PE lessons at all although there was a very active football club.

[TheNeil]

Ahem...

 

A public school game.

 

Which implies, a game played exclusively within public schools. If it was a game played non-exclusively then surely just 'a school game'

[bid]

I think this thread was started as a 'funny'...do we really need to start getting picky with each other??

 

Boho

[Flora]

I think this thread was started as a 'funny'...do we really need to start getting picky with each other??

 

Boho

 

 

That's right boho

 

alright folks, off side, game set and match.... etc

 

flozza

[baddad]

What was it Oscar Wilde said about Rugby?

The unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible, wasn't it...

 

Sorry?

That was Fox??

No - It was definitely Wilde

 

Years ago i was in a pub talking to a pretty young thing who was the girlfriend of one of the local rugger gorillas...

one of those silly pub conversations, and she said

"Oh I'm on the team now"

So I said "Oh what position do you play?"

She said "Prop forward"

So I leant in till my nose touched hers and said "What position do you play?"...

 

Oh how we laughed...

 

L&P

 

BD

[hev]

dont like rugby at all or cricket or golf,find them hideously boring,would much rather have to go through and reread all baddads old posts so that tells you how boring i find them

[Bard]

Rugby is a cornerstone of everyday life and culture of many public schools and prestigious fee paying grammar schools. A local fee paying grammar school takes its rugby very seriously and makes it a compulsory part of the PE curriculum from Y7 to Y11. In contrast, rugby isn't very commonly encountered in PE lessons of state schools although many offer it as an extra activity. I think its more popular in state schools in Wales than in England.

 

As a very non-sporty person, I can sympathise with all those who hated school organised team games.

The sports I enjoyed were sailing, fencing and archery.

I'm not looking to restart a barney, but all the local comps and colleges round here have rugby on the timetable, til 16. There are several Saturday clubs, including tag rugby for infants and lower juniors.

Many people play it from schools with very varied catchments.

My boy has found that it's a sport he really enjoys. It involves mud, he finds a rugby ball easier to control, and his high pain threshold means that he enjoys the contact, and the effect he has on the opposition. The fact that he plays by the rules ensures that he doesn't get sent off for fouling

Several years ago he discovered a sport where tripping someone up and sitting on them was allowed.

Pure joy! It is called judo.

[Mumble]

Several years ago he discovered a sport where tripping someone up and sitting on them was allowed.

Pure joy! It is called judo.

I might enjoy that. Can I choose who and where I trip them up and where they're likely to land?

[Siadwell]

Rugby- A game played by gentlemen with odd shaped balls...