WTF is Rugby?!

Id like to start off by saying hello and thank you to Dueling Couches for the opportunity to bring my beloved sport of Rugby to this already stellar blog. A bit about myself; I went to high school with BMack, DP, Rob, and who ever else on here I don't recognize. I played multiple sports in HS as most guys did either out of requirement (my dad beat me) or out of shear boredom. Going to a small state school called Mass. Maritime Academy I played football for a team that wouldn't beat my HS JV team on a good day. So I left in search of other worlds. One night while wrestling some schmuck over the last PBR (in the dorms of a dry campus) my deck officer busted in swearing he would hang us all up and we would be F'd in the a. He said he would forget it though if we came out for Rugby, and the rest is history.

The definition of Rugby, as stated by Wikipedia, is god awful, so here is my own; Rugby is an English style game where two teams toss a misshaped football laterally or backwards in order to move forward and eventually touch the ball down inside their opponents goal (try zone). Rugby started in 1823 during a football (soccer) game in England at the Rugby Academy. Well legend has it that William Webb Ellis (true) was pissed that all the Latinos were running circles around the English (not true) so he picked up the ball, stiff-armed some guy in the face then ran into the goalie and put the ball on the ground. He proclaimed anyone who wanted to play this new game, could come with him and leave the Latinos to fumble over their easily broken noses. Perhaps a bit racist towards Latinos but who's not a bit racist.

The next few posts I make will be explaining the different types of Rugby and what it means to Americans. I will then proceed to cover the big Rugby competitions around the world. The fact is Rugby is getting more and more air time (from nothing to one play in the Top 10 plays on ESPN) on various local channels. SPIKE TV is looking to get a large contract to air American Rugby, while COMCAST shows English Rugby League on channel 21 every Thursday at 7pm. Its an exciting time for the athletic drunks of the world, and I'm going to share it all with you, whether you like it or not!


Cheers,
AC