Have you ever considered Rugby?

[August]

Hey NFL fans it's a long way until August. Something to think about! :up:



(NSFW- Football Language)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd5g86TezVg

[Von Due]

American football is for sissies, rugby is for burly sissies, aussie footy is for athletes and calcio storico is for certified lunatics.

/fighting words

[mapuc]

Oh those memories

Screen Sport in the 80'ies every Saturday evening Australian rugby.

No dear momma here.

Markus

[Commander Wallace]

I played some Rugby. I enjoyed it-for the most part. :)


American football is for sissies, rugby is for burly sissies, aussie footy is for athletes and calcio storico is for certified lunatics.

/fighting words


Yeah right. The Rugby players I knew were tough hombres. I guess American Hockey is for sissies too ? I spent a lot of time in the penalty box for doing sissy things. :03:


I always thought Hockey was for lunatics and animals. Luckily, be kind to animals week is coming up and as I told the girls then, if you want to be kind to animals, they should hug a hockey player. :D

[August]

Yeah right. The Rugby players I knew were tough hombres. I guess American Hockey is for sissies too ?


Well i'd guess they'd say that you do wear pads so... :)

[Commander Wallace]

Well i'd guess they'd say that you do wear pads so... :)




Ouch. That hurts. :haha:

[ET2SN]

Its the only game I know where you want to be drunk before you walk on the field. :rock:

[August]

Ouch. That hurts. :haha:


Lol, look at it this way. If NHL hockey or NFL football were ever played without pads and helmets there would be far more carnage and death than the most intense rugby game ever played! :03:


Our games are so tough you could die if you play them without armoring up.

[Commander Wallace]

Lol, look at it this way. If NHL hockey or NFL football were ever played without pads and helmets there would be far more carnage and death than the most intense rugby game ever played! :03:


Our games are so tough you could die if you play them without armoring up.

All jokes aside, I think the game has become a bit more brutal and dangerous since I played. A 17 year old kid in Germany was killed after being checked. These kids today are bigger, faster and more prone to not be disciplined in how they play. The games are so much faster too. This is after all, just a game. So, kids do die, even with protective gear.

I think we need to slow things down a bit. I played hard and could be nasty if the situation called for it but I prided myself on never taking a cheap shot-ever. That's not to say I didn't scrap or mix it up. :D Many of the kids I played with were the same way.

I wanted to play like Mark Messier, Paul Coffey, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux and many others I saw in televised reruns. It never happened and I didn't have their considerable talent but It made me want to play a clean game. I don't regret it.


Its the only game I know where you want to be drunk before you walk on the field. :rock:

I never thought about it but that may have helped. Shades of the movie Slapshot. :D

[Texas Red]

Immediately after the Super Bowl, I started missing football. That was the BEST playoff series ever!

Rugby would be something I'd be interested in learning more about tbh. I would be totally drooling over baseball right now but they pushed back opening day a week and that was annoying. I live only an hour from Chicago so I'm pretty hyped up for a Sox game this summer!

[em2nought]

If I get to do the "All Blacks" haka then heck yeah!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiKFYTFJ_kw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiKFYTFJ_kw)

I wanna see the Steelers do this! :up:

[Ostfriese]

Lol, look at it this way. If NHL hockey or NFL football were ever played without pads and helmets there would be far more carnage and death than the most intense rugby game ever played! :03:

Our games are so tough you could die if you play them without armoring up.


People DID die playing football back when they wore simple leather helmets.


I played some rugby back when I lived in Northern Ireland and usually enjoy watching it, but I prefer American Football - unfortunately I live in a country where most folks only know soccer.

[ET2SN]

Rugby would be something I'd be interested in learning more about tbh.

Its pretty easy to try out.
You (or your parents) need to have a good medical plan in place. :yep:
After that, all you need is a good pair of cleats and your tallest pair of black socks, the most minimal pair of shorts in your drawer, and a really thick Rugby shirt (the thickness minimizes the blood stains and keeps the mud out of your open wounds).
When they ask if you have a cup, say "No, why would I have a cup?" and you'll be welcomed to the team. :up:

Always remember the first rule of Rugby- DON'T GET CAUGHT. The rule book is fairly flexible when it comes to moves that would get you suspended in other sports. :up:
If this is all starting to sound like a gang fight, believe me, gang fights have more rules.

:arrgh!:

[Aktungbby]

Its pretty easy to try out.

Always remember the first rule of Rugby- DON'T GET CAUGHT. The rule book is fairly flexible when it comes to moves that would get you suspended in other sports. :up:
If this is all starting to sound like a gang fight, believe me, gang fights have more rules.

:arrgh!: Exactly It's still considered a classic! In fact, it is the only safety I've ever observed. PS: real men play rugby... ...slugfest for the SuperBowl berth!! but ever mindful that real gentlemen play Rugby. Having played 7 years at the hooker position incl captaining a 70's college team and international tours with the San Jose Seahawk Rugby club, which just held a 50 year reunion, I barely squeezed into my 48 year-old old heavily padded jersey to attend; I can state unequivacally that 'Merican football is 'Rugby fer pußies!:D. https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=815&pictureid=12439 The career-ending broken jaw was a blessing in disguise; I retired in my late 20's.... all the reunion 70+ year olds who played longer till their 40's were in walkers, wheelchairs or no longer above ground:timeout:

[ET2SN]

I knew there was a reason why I liked you (besides the boat). :Kaleun_Cheers:

[Jimbuna]

Played it at school but can't say I liked it, much preferred football/soccer.

[Aktungbby]

^ That was my HS & college Letterman fall sport sport at the goalie or inside position https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=815&pictureid=10825 < ('72) I'm the good lookin' one!...half
a century ago!!! :O:

[Commander Wallace]

Which one is you, Vinnie ?

[Eichhörnchen]

Played it at school but can't say I liked it, much preferred football/soccer.

So did I but when they introduced soccer we were given the option to study for another 'O'Level instead. I chose geology over soccer because after a few games, during which I scored an own-goal and got treated like I'd just murdered a baby, I decided it wasn't for me... it seemed to bring out the worst in people

[Aktungbby]

Sorry I don't recall:timeout: I need my Aricept!:O: but it was a great team; 11 of those guys were from Minneapolis conference schools incl one from my hometown; and so we'd already played each other for 3 years.Others were from Brazil, Mexico Thailand and Germany. The guy in the center(behind the ball) is a retired USAF Captain and Northwest airline pilot and we still exchange good ol' fashion Xmas Cards...going on half a century!:timeout: He actually sent that photo to my cell phone! Unlike rugby or wrestling, I wasn't a captain...but when you're in the nets goaltending...the buck (and ball)sure stops with U!:yep:

[MGR1]

First rule of playing rugby: as soon as you get a hold of the ball, get rid of it ASAP. Having to be peeled out of the ground during rugby at school reinforced that lesson immeasurably.

Mike.:up:

[mapuc]

First rule of playing rugby: as soon as you get a hold of the ball, get rid of it ASAP. Having to be peeled out of the ground during rugby at school reinforced that lesson immeasurably.

Mike.:up:

Remember to throw the ball back and not forward.

Markus

[MGR1]

Remember to throw the ball back and not forward.

Markus
Didn't matter to me! :O:

Mike.

[Rockstar]

Which one is you, Vinnie ?

I think he’s the one sitting left front row.

[Aktungbby]

I think he’s the one sitting left front row.
That good ol' Hamm's beer-swiller could really "Thai one on":Kaleun_Cheers: First rule of playing rugby: as soon as you get a hold of the ball, get rid of it ASAP. Having to be peeled out of the ground during rugby at school reinforced that lesson immeasurably. Indeed! Soccer goalkeeping with punts from the goal crease was cross-training for my punting the rugby ball well down field to bounce out of touch for the line-outs; The other cross-training was wrestling takedowns as Rugby tackles; utterly indispensable for a small hooker vs a 280 lb prop or second row behemouth!! The other trick for a speedy 140 pounder, me, was never to pick up the ball in a loose ruck-instantly fatal! but rather to foot it soccer-style even as others bent to reach for it...as I got close to the end-zone; Some dolt would excitedly check or bump me off the dribble; drawing a "playing the man without the ball'' penalty kick, or on a few occasions, the umpire would award a penalty try outright. If in a scrum near our own end zone I would break out of the scrum and retire into the endzone to await the ball carrier head-on trapping the ball between and falling on my back so that there was no downward pressure placement of the ball on the ground for try. The umpire would blow dead ball and we'd have a 5 yard scrum! I did this to one poor fellow three times within 5 minutes and on the 3rd such scrum finally cleared the ball waaaay downfield with a punt....He, scoreless the whole game, was not happy with me at the post game Hamm's kegger!:Kaleun_Cheers: One thing I could never do, regrettably, was drop-kick on the run for field goals...That was our player-coach ex-Irish Shamrock's job! https://i.ytimg.com/vi/x5dcI8I2lOU/maxresdefault.jpg https://www.usaclub7s.com/uploads/3/1/0/2/3102973/482687.png

[August]

In the Army sometimes for morning PT we used to play what they called "Combat Football", kind of like full contact soccer. Kinda reminds me of Rugby

[em2nought]

I don't really want to play or watch, I just want to do the haka. :har:

[Jimbuna]

Which one is you, Vinnie ?

Back row, furthest left, wearing the cap :)

[Commander Wallace]

Back row, furthest left, wearing the cap :)


I think he’s the one sitting left front row.


It can't be. That's a decent and reasonable looking chap wearing the cap. :haha:
He's wearing a tie as well. That chap looks a bit ancient too. I know we just celebrated a birthday here yesterday but give Vinnie some credit.



* Ducks and runs from the inevitable fallout * :D

[Jimbuna]

It can't be. That's a decent and reasonable looking chap wearing the cap. :haha:
He's wearing a tie as well. That chap looks a bit ancient too. I know we just celebrated a birthday here yesterday but give Vinnie some credit.



* Ducks and runs from the inevitable fallout * :D

:haha:

[Aktungbby]

INEVITABLE FALLOUT::Kaleun_Thumbs_Up: That old gent who wrote his PhD on the foxtrot!:up: was a second father to me. I was his go-to guy: front line or goalie as needed incl. liming the the field for games. https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=815&pictureid=12441<the 2 of us '71 Unfortunately, he died during the summer on a summer architecture trip to Italy twixt my junior and senior year; costing me the expected A-team goaltender position. The new coach, a braggart Norwegian national team import, was a jerk and brought in a basket-baller who proceeded to have a miserable season. So I simply practised soccer, which allowed the team to hold full-game practises; but played both fall and spring Rugby senior year on the weekends all over the midwest incl tournements; which pißed off the Norge coach who wasn't using me anyway:timeout: primarily 'cause I was having too much fun for the imported English professor, (actually from Rugby, England); who'd introduced the club-sport my freshman year-incl. my liming the pitch, and procuring the postgame Hamm's kegs!?? :Kaleun_Cheers:My soccer teammates understood I'd been deprived after 3 years as B team goalie/A team inside, never missing a practice in 4 years; and demanded the athletic dept award me a letter which it did...the petty politics I tells ya!:wah: 4 of them later joined me on the Spring season pitch, giving Rugby a tryout!:salute:

[Commander Wallace]

INEVITABLE FALLOUT::Kaleun_Thumbs_Up: That old gent who wrote his PhD on the foxtrot!:up: was a second father to me. I was his go-to guy: front line or goalie as needed incl. liming the the field for games. Unfortunately, he died during the summer on a architecture trip to Italy twixt my junior and senior year; costing me the expected A-team goaltender position. The new coach, a braggart Norwegian national team import, was a jerk and brought in a basket-baller who proceeded to have a miserable season. So I simply practised soccer, which allowed the team to hold full-game practises; but played both fall and spring Rugby senior year on the weekends all over the midwest incl tournements; which pißed off the Norge coach who wasn't using me anyway:timeout: primarily 'cause I was having too much fun for the imported English professor, (actually from Rugby, England); who'd introduced the club-sport my freshman year-incl. my liming the pitch, and procuring the postgame Hamm's kegs!?? :Kaleun_Cheers:My soccer teammates understood I'd been deprived after 3 years as B team goalie/A team inside, never missing a practice in 4 years; and demanded the athletic dept award me a letter which it did...the petty politics I tells ya!:wah: 4 of them later joined me on the Spring season pitch, giving Rugby a tryout!:salute:


I'm very sorry for your loss. Great coaches / teachers / mentors have impacts that lasts a lifetime. I have had a few that i have lost. It sounds like you have had great times and have great memories with your former team mates. :Kaleun_Thumbs_Up:
I have my souvenirs from my playing days in the form of many aches and pains, something you pointed out earlier. My knees and ankles are prone to changes in the weather and just ache. I see at least one knee replacement in my future.

By the way, You're a good sport. :Kaleun_Salute: I knew when I cast a bit of " shade " your way, that it would be taken in the fun loving way I meant it. I would expect nothing less of a sea faring, hockey loving, truck driving, former Rugby rogue. :haha: It's always great fun when you can " needle " another member here who has a great sense of humor. Of course, we have many other members here with a great sense of humor as well. It makes Subsim fun and helps to give Subsim the friendly and awesome reputation it currently enjoys.

I Hope you had a great birthday yesterday with your family and friends.

[Aktungbby]

By the way, You're a good sport. :Kaleun_Salute: I knew when I cast a bit of " shade " your way, that it would be taken in the fun loving way I meant it. I would expect nothing less of a sea faring, hockey loving, truck driving, former Rugby rogue. :haha: It's always great fun when you can " needle " another member here who has a great sense of humor. Of course, we have many other members here with a great sense of humor as well. It makes Subsim fun and helps to give Subsim the friendly and awesome reputation it currently enjoys.

I Hope you had a great birthday yesterday with your family and friends. http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/images/bestof2018.pngFunniest Post of the Year
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/images/bestof2019_large.png Funniest Post of the Year - Honorable Mention http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/images/bos2020L.png Funniest Post of the Year
You're being too kind! :D Growing up in a boy's prep and college locker rooms' ruthless lockeroom "drop the soap" banter with later utterly rancid police barracks " Hey! this baton'll really fit him"...:o ribaldry was merely cross-training preparation for my :subsim: sojourn on this spinning overly warm pandemic'd mudball...:arrgh!: ably seconded by Wolferz, Jimbuna, Armistead, Fireftr18, et al; as evidenced by The Bilge.; the 5 word story game; birthday threads, whack games etc. Self-deprecating humor is essential as you've got to mock yerself before you can fairly dish it out to others! EXAMPLE: and you recently gave me a great 'straightline' in the French coat thread::shucks: Now, Aktung's head will be even bigger than it was before.
Thank God! Now my headsize will shrink back down...temporarily!!!https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EHpCiplXUAE3s1I.jpg :Kaleun_Salute: keep it up ya 'shady' bugger!:haha:

[nikimcbee]

Hold the phone.....breaking news!


He's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!
:Kaleun_Cheers:

[nikimcbee]

^ That was my HS & college Letterman fall sport sport at the goalie or inside position https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=815&pictureid=10825 < ('72) I'm the good lookin' one!...half
a century ago!!! :O:


St. Olaf?:Kaleun_Wink::Kaleun_Wink::Kaleun_Wink::Kaleu n_Salute:


And by "72", you mean 72 AD?

[Von Due]

Just a minor detour from the topic. My previous post, just in case anyond wondered, was in jest, in my own peculiar way. Not that I expect attention was paid but I just like to clear it up.

That being said. I still say calcio storico is where it's at... :p

[mapuc]

Hold the phone.....breaking news!


He's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!
:Kaleun_Cheers:

Here's something funny/sadly-Depending on how you see it

The football sold for $518,628 on Saturday through New Jersey auction company Lelands, with the high price driven in part by the belief that it was used for what would be the last touchdown pass ever thrown by one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history. Roughly 24 hours after the auction closed, Brady announced via Twitter that he would return to the NFL, marking a tough break for the winning bidder.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tom-brady-leland-auction-500000-nfl/



Markus

[August]

Here's something funny/sadly-Depending on how you see it



https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tom-brady-leland-auction-500000-nfl/



Markus


I called it. You don't walk away from something that you love, something that has been your entire life up to that point. Not saying that has never happened but like Brett Farve it's very difficult to give up something so central to ones identity. Especially while people are throwing you buckets of cash to come play for them.


There has been speculation that this was a ploy by Brady to get out of his Buccaneers contract and go play for a third team, maybe the 49ers, but the Buccs weren't willing to let him go like Robert Kraft did back in '20.

[Aktungbby]

American football is for sissies, rugby is for burly sissies, aussie footy is for athletes and calcio storico is for certified lunatics.

/fighting words

Just a minor detour from the topic. My previous post, just in case anyond wondered, was in jest, in my own peculiar way. Not that I expect attention was paid but I just like to clear it up.

That being said. I still say calcio storico is where it's at... :p I can state unequivacally that 'Merican football is 'Rugby fer pußies!. Now i know why yer on my friends list!:O:
https://image.spreadshirtmedia.com/image-server/v1/mp/compositions/T210A1MPA3176PT17X32Y31D12187087FS4199/views/1,width=550,height=550,appearanceId=1,backgroundCo lor=FFFFFF,noPt=true/funny-rugby-mens-t-shirt.jpghttps://s3.amazonaws.com/lowres.cartoonstock.com/sport-friend-friendship-new_friends-meeting_people-rugby_player-mlyn926_low.jpg<support yer local hooker BBY!:arrgh!:

[Texas Red]

Its pretty easy to try out.
You (or your parents) need to have a good medical plan in place. :yep:
After that, all you need is a good pair of cleats and your tallest pair of black socks, the most minimal pair of shorts in your drawer, and a really thick Rugby shirt (the thickness minimizes the blood stains and keeps the mud out of your open wounds).
When they ask if you have a cup, say "No, why would I have a cup?" and you'll be welcomed to the team. :up:

Always remember the first rule of Rugby- DON'T GET CAUGHT. The rule book is fairly flexible when it comes to moves that would get you suspended in other sports. :up:
If this is all starting to sound like a gang fight, believe me, gang fights have more rules.

:arrgh!:
:haha: My parents will be SO receptive to this new sport!

[Aktungbby]

RUGBY BETS IT CAN CONQUER AMERIKA WITH ITS WORLD CUPIn 1920 and 1924, the U.S. won Olympic gold medals in rugby—and then the sport largely receded from view there. Now rugby is about to complete its centurylong climb back to the American spotlight.
At a meeting in Dublin on Thursday, the World Rugby Council is expected to award the 2031 men’s Rugby World Cup and the 2033 women’s World Cup to the U.S.
The move is a gamble that a premier global sporting event can stage its biggest event in a place where its audience and participation are modest—and the national federation, Rugby USA, was in bankruptcy proceedings as recently as 2020.
Rugby types like to say their quadrennial showpiece ranks behind only soccer’s FIFA World Cup and the Summer Olympics in global sporting interest. An EY report on the 2019 tournament, held over 44 days in prepandemic Japan, claimed the event added 2.3 billion pounds to the host nation’s GDP and attracted 242,000 international fans who stayed an average 17 days. Rugby USA projects 3.1 million tickets could be sold for a 48-match men’s World Cup. Two dozen cities have pledged to host matches in either or both 2031 and 2033. President Biden wrote a letter of support to World Rugby in early April.
Rugby’s presence in the U.S. remains small, though. USA Rugby says there are now about 109,000 registered high school, college and adult players, but half that number drop out annually. The pro Major League Rugby (MLR) is in its fifth year and averages about 3,000 spectators per match for its 13 teams, which operate under a $500,000 annual salary cap.
USA Rugby officials forecast the events will cost $500-600 million to host, and World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin says the global governing body will seek private capital sources to help fund the sport’s growth in the U.S. during the next decade and hopefully beyond.
The awarding of the tournament to the U.S. is the culmination of an unlikely quest by the country’s rugby enthusiasts, who put time, effort and their own money into securing.
Darren Gardner, a native of Australia who is an employment relations partner for a San Francisco firm, has spent 22 years in the U.S. spreading the rugby union gospel, coaching junior teams and more recently as part-owner of MLR’s San Diego Legion. His fellow devotees include real estate financier Ryan Patterson, also a one-time junior rugby coach whose investments include a San Diego restaurant group.
Another enthusiast is fitness group F45 Holdings chief executive Adam Gilchrirst, an Austin, Tex-based Australian who sells his own beer and cocktail drinks on the sidelines at home games of his MLR teams, the LA Giltinis and Austin Gilgronis. (The team names combine Gilchrists’ surname with a Martini and a Negroni, respectively.)
The trio lead a group that has quietly bankrolled the four-year effort to win the World Cup bid, paying for feasibility studies and consultancy work.
“The U.S. rugby community is as passionate as any in the world and I believe that hosting RWC will transform the sport of rugby in the U.S.,” says Gardner.
Yet there is still a feeling of incredulity in local rugby circles that the showpiece of their sport is about to be awarded to the U.S.
“There’s an almost an ‘I can’t believe this is going to happen’ feeling still going on within the rugby community and there’s also an element of ‘I don’t know if they know what’s coming either’ — it’s going to be huge,” says Rugby USA chief executive Ross Young.
Gilpin says the sport could easily keep rotating its World Cup between established rugby nations like England; 2023 host France; New Zealand, home of the fearsome All Blacks; and South Africa. But that would not fulfill its mandate to grow the sport internationally.
“If we’re going to create the kind of growth — audience growth, revenue growth and ultimately hopefully participation growth — it is through these events in the U.S.,” says Gilpin.
The U.S. has since gained “preferred candidate” status for 2031 and 2033 (Australia has it for 2027 and 2029 for the women’s event) and has been in “targeted dialogue” with World Rugby.
“It means we are not talking to anyone else,” World Rugby’s Gilpin tells the Journal.
There is still considerable risk. USA Rugby entered into, and later exited, chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020. The nonprofit cited “existing financial challenges” that were accelerated by Covid, including a $40 million lawsuit brought by event promoter United World Sports over the loss of a contract to run the annual USA 7s tournament. The lawsuit was later settled for $200,000 and USA Rugby then exited chapter 11, with World Rugby pledging support. Under a new operating model, World Rugby will take on more of the financial burden, and hopefully the reward, of hosting all future World Cups.
Private-equity firms CVC Capital Partners and Silver Lake have invested in rugby, paying $509 million for a 14.3% stake in the annual men’s Six Nations tournament and a still to be determined share of the $2.34 billion New Zealand Rugby commercial venture respectively.
“There are lots of parties interested in investing in sport more broadly, and certainly lots of parties that are interested in investing in rugby. Can we work with some of those parties to drive some parts of that plan more effectively? The answer is probably yes.”
Growth plans include more matches for U.S. national teams in a regular calendar, a target of 450,000 players by 2031, a Pan-Pacific competition for the women’s team and NCAA recognition for women’s’ rugby.
Killebrew says expansion of MLR, which for now features veterans from around the world and young local players, is in the works and envisages the possibility of a 28-team competition by 2031. “We look for $25 million from potential owners, in expansion fees and working capital, and interest has certainly grown with the upcoming World Cup announcement.”
All that is left now for a better performance on the field. The women’s side is ranked sixth and will play in their World Cup in New Zealand in September.
Meanwhile, the men’s USA Eagles have struggled through their qualifying section for 2023, with many of its European-based players not released by their clubs, and face Chile in a two-match repechage in July to win through to France next year.
USA Rugby’s Young winces at the topic, but says the Eagles should get through. “Touch wood it’s a better time of year to be playing the games, given the European season will be over.” Weeeeel....here''s hopin':hmmm: https://www.wsj.com/articles/rugby-world-cup-usa-11652232813?mod=sports_major_pos7

[Commander Wallace]

Just a minor detour from the topic. My previous post, just in case anyond wondered, was in jest, in my own peculiar way. Not that I expect attention was paid but I just like to clear it up.

That being said. I still say calcio storico is where it's at... :p


It was all good and in a thread like this, we take things " with a grain of salt."

Like everyone else, I thought the Rugby stories were humorous and interesting which is what we need here and frequently get, in Subsim. :yep:


Don't sweat the small stuff. Everyone here gets " needled " from time to time. :)

[Eisenwurst]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSEzsMzhDd0

Used to play it in high school. Rugby League not Union. Got a lovely broken nose. Character building. :)

[Aktungbby]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ssV4AsTA_s (pssst) it helps to be able to run the 40(yards) in 4.6 seconds!:Kaleun_Los: It'll save yer scrawny 145 lb ass over 7 years! :k_confused:

[Ostfriese]

RUGBY BETS IT CAN CONQUER AMERIKA WITH ITS WORLD CUPWeeeeel....here''s hopin':hmmm: https://www.wsj.com/articles/rugby-world-cup-usa-11652232813?mod=sports_major_pos7


Succeed where soccer failed :up: (OK, it's a low bar, but still...)

[Eichhörnchen]

Which one is you, Vinnie ?

Back row far left

https://i.imgur.com/OwLJ9eH.jpg

This was my school rugger strip (well the top half anyway - black shorts, black & gold socks)

[Commander Wallace]

Back row far left

https://i.imgur.com/OwLJ9eH.jpg

This was my school rugger strip (well the top half anyway - black shorts, black & gold socks)


The only time my shirts / tops were that clean was when they were new. :D The sport is rough on shirts and everything else including knees and ankles. :yep:

[Eichhörnchen]

^ My poor mother - mine always got filthy (that's a brand new one in the photo). I don't know what happened to mine - it would probably still fit me. Moira would like it, too :D

[Aktungbby]

Back row far left

https://i.imgur.com/OwLJ9eH.jpg

This was my school rugger strip (well the top half anyway - black shorts, black & gold socks)

The only time my shirts / tops were that clean was when they were new. :D The sport is rough on shirts and everything else including knees and ankles. :yep:

:yeah:that's exactly identical to what I wore in college for four years and in the nets when goal tending! I learned to sew just keeping it repaired!:O: I just dredged it out of my 50+ year-old old sport kit-bag: mouth guard, wrestling (scrummie ear protection) headgear; all "good to go!" :k_confused: and the old jersy & socks look it!:timeout: I knew to save it for a thread like this!!:hmph::arrgh!::shucks:https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=815&pictureid=12909

[Jimbuna]

Rugby...a sport played mostly by men with funny shaped balls.

[Commander Wallace]

Rugby...a sport played mostly by men with funny shaped balls.
Before or after they are done playing ? :k_rofl:


:yeah:that's exactly identical to what I wore in college for four years and in the nets when goal tending! I learned to sew just keeping it repaired!:O: I just dredged it out of my 50+ year-old old sport kit-bag: mouth guard, wrestling (scrummie ear protection) headgear; all "good to go!" :k_confused: and the old jersy & socks look it!:timeout: I knew to save it for a thread like this!!:hmph::arrgh!::shucks:https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=815&pictureid=12909




I think I still have my gear. I washed it and packed it away with sports stuff. I can still fit into and wear my football letter-men jacket. :Kaleun_Thumbs_Up:


^ My poor mother - mine always got filthy (that's a brand new one in the photo). I don't know what happened to mine - it would probably still fit me. Moira would like it, too :D


We had to wash our own gear when we were young and playing Hockey and Football. Later, in High School, The school had a contract with a cleaning company, like most High Schools, to clean our uniforms.

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Back row far left

https://i.imgur.com/OwLJ9eH.jpg

This was my school rugger strip (well the top half anyway - black shorts, black & gold socks)

:yeah:that's exactly identical to what I wore in college for four years and in the nets when goal tending! I learned to sew just keeping it repaired!:O: I just dredged it out of my 50+ year-old old sport kit-bag: mouth guard, wrestling (scrummie ear protection) headgear; all "good to go!" :k_confused: and the old jersy & socks look it!:timeout: I knew to save it for a thread like this!!:hmph::arrgh!::shucks:https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/picture.php?albumid=815&pictureid=12909https://i.imgur.com/QwYV7oq.jpg:O::yep: all ruggers are a tad squirrilly no IMHO 'bout it!:yep:

[Eichhörnchen]

Mine's long gone - I also had the socks to match, plus black shorts

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punts from the soccer goal crease was cross-training for my punting the rugby ball...The other cross-training was wrestling takedowns as Rugby tackles; utterly indispensable for a small hooker vs a 280 lb prop or second row behemouth!! The upcoming game for the NFC:San Francisco 49ers vs Philadelphia Eagles (at Philly) promises to be interesting: https://www.wsj.com/articles/jordan-mailata-eagles-nfl-playoffs-nfc-championship-11674701653 The biggest player in this NFC Championship game is a 6-foot-8, 365-pound lineman who grew up playing the wrong sport. Long before he was dwarfing the NFL’s most menacing pass rushers, Jordan Mailata’s real dream was to play professional rugby league in his native Australia.
The only problem was that even rugby league thought he was too huge.
So on a long shot, Mailata flew to the U.S. ready to give up his rugby league future and learn a sport where he might never carry the ball again. Five years later and nearly 10,000 miles from home, he’s Philadelphia’s favorite Sydneysider, because the man from Down Under is the one keeping quarterback Jalen Hurts right side up.
“He’s not a rugby league boy anymore,” said Jamie Eid, Mailata’s youth coach in Australia. “He looks like an NFL player now.”...Once the Eagles took Mailata, though, his roster spot was far from guaranteed. That’s true of all seventh-round picks, but this one was a complete novice at football with no experience from college or even high school. But oddly enough, he didn’t consider this to be a disadvantage. In fact, he thought it helped him as he mastered the craft of blocking.

“It was just easier to pick up everything like a clean slate,” Mailata said before the start of the 2018 season. “I didn’t have any bad habits.”

Still, the learning curve was steep. The dense NFL playbooks may as well have been written in Cyrillic. When he played all four quarters of a preseason game that rookie year, he was flagged for two false start penalties. He then suffered season-ending injuries during his first and second years in the league before ever stepping on the field for a regular season game.

His progress since then has been remarkable. He took over for an injured starter in 2020, beat out a first-round pick for the full-time job in 2021 and is now widely considered among the best tackles in the league. The Eagles didn’t hesitate last year to lock him into a lavish contract—one that pays him more than 10 times the salary of the NRL’s biggest stars. That’s why his performance will go a long way toward determining whether or not the Eagles advance to their fourth Super Bowl this Sunday. https://images.wsj.net/im-709925?width=700&size=1.5005861664712778 Oddly, my former security guard partner, a huge Samoan, who had my back in some of the worst Federal sites in San Francisco ca: 2000, had a cousin, Jessie Sapulo, who played front-line for the 49ers: 15 NFL seasons, winning four Super Bowls with the 49ers and earning two trips to the Pro Bowl. He did this despite a torn aortic heart valve, a dangerous condition that left him short of breath at times. All Samoans have a knowledge of Rugby and football and are leaving their mark on both. http://images.thepostgame.com/assets/public/72069352_BP.jpg http://images.thepostgame.com/assets/public/81875052_BP.jpg<seen in practice at front line for the 49ers! When I say "Behemouth"...I'm probably thinking Samoan!:timeout: https://www.thepostgame.com/blog/men-action/201212/jesse-sapolu-san-francisco-49ers-heart-samoa-hawaii-nfl

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https://icdn.juvefc.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/red-card.jpgHere's how these get earned & jaws get broken!!??:timeout:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP5Y1gz2Hq0 https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71xkNjb1gcL._AC_SX679_.jpg< NO Try??!! :timeout:Yoda never played Rugby!:O:

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Of course I'd stay out of a beluga's ruck since my head would most certainly be lower than my hips!??https://c.ndtvimg.com/2019-11/kbiv2ch4_beluga-whale-plays-fetch-arctic-pole_625x300_08_November_19.jpg A ruck is formed when at least one player from each team are in contact, on their feet and over the ball which is on the ground. Players involved in all stages of the ruck must have their heads and shoulders no lower than their hips.:know:https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQGbTCDFYLfSdnG18a6CtcHdRsOxc6T9 Nu5bOx3ntxX&s

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...having a blast watching the 2023 World Cup on TV Scotland vs South Africa...South Africa SpringBoks R up 3-0 on the 'Bravehearts' at the moment...as a Kincaid married to a McClean, I'm for the 'auld sod' myself!:shucks:

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...Scotland just scored on a dead-center penalty kick: the score stands at 'Boks-6 -Thistle-3...a tedious back and forth even physical game with no breakaway steller play as yet...

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at 46:19 Boks R in for try: now up 11-3...EDIT: AND in again for follow-on try at 53:26 and after-kick; score: 18-3; as the stellar breakaway play commences. The Bravehearts'll have a tough comeback; but both sides are still playing stalwart gentlemanly Rugby in a packed-house Marseille stadium!

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The Boks outmuscle'd the speedier Scots; and are playing in 30⁰ C (86⁰F)humid -heat which tends to favor the Boks. Having 'out-stellar'd' the Thistle, the game is back to to&fro play with time called. Congrats to South Africa. One minor squabble notwithstanding, both sides played courteously and with respect. Both captains hugged afterwards and the umpire was excellent: I didn't envy him his job in front of the entire planet!

[Eisenwurst]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd9dp8DhJ0M

A good game from a few years ago. :)

[Eisenwurst]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KHuxCs87Lk

I like rugby 7s. I think every country in the world's probably got a team. It's a quick game and never boring.

Anyway this is a good game from 2018.....the better team won. :)

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...incl. at least one San Jose Seahawks "summer 7's" tournement I participated in back in 1976 on Stanford University campus. I recall I played guest hooker for the Penisula Ramblers against the Sacramento River Rats as they were short a man at that position. My own Seahawk teammates later teased me: "How come don't you play like that for us!??":shucks:

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Considering that I ran rugby 4-man'lineout' plays in intermural touch-football from the QB position with myself as the overlap fifth-man for the TD...50 years ago; the NFL is beginning to catch on: https://images.wsj.net/im-855236/?width=1278&size=1 The NFL play that torments the brightest defensive minds in football these days hardly resembles a football play at all.
Popularized by the Philadelphia Eagles and Jalen Hurts, it’s a twist on the traditional quarterback sneak. Only instead of the quarterback lunging forward solo, he gets some extra muscle from his teammates pushing him from behind to bulldoze through the line. The short-yardage ploy was so effective last season, as the Eagles successfully converted 92% of their sneaks en route to the Super Bowl, that the NFL considered banning it.
But the actual solution for it might not lie in the rulebook. As it happens, there’s another game with an oblong ball in which shoving a ball carrier through a fearsome tangle of enormous bodies isn’t a controversial new play.
It’s basically the entire sport. This ancient game is called rugby, and the best teams in the world are in France right now pummeling each other into the turf at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
To outsiders, rugby may look like a lawless riot that involves running, kicking and lots of flattening of people. But no sport is more advanced when it comes to the art of stopping a ball carrier in his tracks, and to those familiar with rugby’s rules, the short-yardage play that has confounded the NFL doesn’t look foreign at all. In fact, it’s so routine they even have a name for it: a maul.
The mechanics of a maul are essentially the same as the NFL tactic that has become known as the tush push. The player in possession of the ball is surrounded by teammates who bind their arms together and drive him forward as one tightly packed unit, while a swarm of opponents desperately tries to prevent them from gaining territory. The main difference in rugby is that the players are crazy enough to attempt this without pads.
Those with experience stopping a rugby maul suggest some unorthodox strategies that defenses could employ to negate the effectiveness of the Eagles’ sneak: Binding arms together before the snap. Moving laterally as a unit to plug holes in the line. And forgetting everything you know about traditional defensive line technique.
Scott Henderson is the head coach of the Eagles, but he leads a different flock of birds. He coaches the USA Rugby Eagles, the country’s national rugby team, and he says that defensive linemen who are used to working individually need to behave as one to counter the collective force aiming to push them backward. “Make it a stalemate,” Henderson says. “The way you might do that, in rugby anyway, is you bind [arms] and now it becomes four legs pushing together instead of two.”
Rugby has been played since 1823, when an English schoolboy decided to pick up a soccer ball and invent a new way to experience pain. In the two centuries since then, the sport has figured out that the key to defending a maul is to halt the ball carrier’s momentum. To do that, players interlock their arms, dig in their heels, and construct what is effectively a wall of gigantic humans.
Unlike football, where each defensive lineman is on his own trying to beat one of his offensive counterparts, rugby relies on pack behavior—scrums, rucks and mauls all see players bind themselves together and move as one collective unit. That technique is crucial to stopping a collective push by the offense, whether the ball has laces or not.
While there have been cries to make the rugby-style play illegal in the NFL, the rulebook actually gives defensive players an advantage that they’re not currently exploiting. Offensive players are prohibited from linking their arms to block. But there’s no specific rule stopping defensive players from doing so in order to create a wall of their own. The only reason NFL defenders haven’t done so is that this notion is completely antithetical to typical defensive line play. Pass rushers and run stoppers normally operate with the aim of winning individual matchups against an opposing blocker to get into the backfield. Against the tush push, though, there’s no time for that—as soon as the ball is snapped, the quarterback is thrusting forward. The goal is simple: don’t get pushed backwards.
“There are rules about the offensive line pre-binding, but there’s nothing to say the defense couldn’t,” says Dan Lyle, a former captain of the U.S. rugby team. “You could play a five-man defensive front, three linebackers, and you pre-bind and fill the gaps. One man goes low, one fills the hole. You’re thinking about the defense of this as a team.”:yeah:
Lyle, who was once offered a contract to play tight end for the Minnesota Vikings, has another unconventional suggestion for stopping the Eagles’ sneak. This one involves wrestling a giant amorphous blob. When Lyle played for the U.S. team under former coach Jack Clark, the squad practiced mauls by performing something known as the amoeba drill. It called for the defenders to link arms and move quickly from side to side, to learn how to move effectively as a unit in reaction to the different surges that the attacking team might make.

“You’ve got to try to manipulate the amoeba,” Lyle said. “You’re going to have to fight through two to three layers before you reach the center, or the ball carrier. But the No. 1 thing is you’ve got to try to disrupt it, stop it at the source and prevent it from shifting from one hole into another.”

To be sure, linking arms on the gridiron to try and push back a heavily armored, 300-pound offensive guard is as untested as it is risky. But whether the defensive linemen literally bind together or not, the principle behind it applies: they should ignore the usual spacing and cram together as closely as possible.

Clark, a member of the U.S. Rugby Hall of Fame, says one way to think of the problem defenses face in these situations is that the offense is jamming an immense amount of power into a narrow doorway. Unlike other plays, where a runner might bounce toward the outside, the quarterback is quickly diving forward backed by the might of teammates behind him.

“The only way you’re going to resist that is to mirror that in reverse,” Clark says.

That means matching muscle with muscle. He advises that the defensive linemen should line up much closer than they’re accustomed and concentrate their power in those doorways to exploit how this is the rare play where they know where the ball carrier is going.

These ideas might seem novel inside professional football, a sport where the idea of a linebacker trying to leap over the line to stop a quarterback sneak is considered cutting edge. But there’s one rugby insider who’s especially motivated to help NFL defenses figure this play out.

Mike Tolkin coached the U.S. team at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, and his suggestions include undercutting the offensive linemen, using their leverage to halt the offense’s momentum and deploying a linebacker to tackle the quarterback if he goes airborne. Even more than other rugby coaches, Tolkin may have spent a little extra time thinking about this conundrum. Essentially, I consider Amerikan football, both NFL and Collegate level, to be an extremely dangerous game; with fatalities for profit at the expense of player's brains due to helmet on helmet mayhem & violence and heatstroke resulting in CTE damage and dementia...all to sell beer. I forbade all my nephews to play it...The one with a college scholarship to play All American Lacross still got a concussion! Rugby is the safer game. https://images.wsj.net/im-856218?width=700&size=1.5005861664712778 https://nccsir.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/5614/2022/05/Annual-Football-2021-Fatalities-FINAL-public-1.pdf

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...watching the world championship match for all the marbles 'twixt South Africa Springboks and New Zealand AllBlacks. As of 20:38 the score is 3-6 with good work by SA's kicker on two field-goals giving the lead. The play is static, clean & polite with sides evenly matched.

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New Zealand now playing a man short due to an upgrade yellow card to red following review; high degree of danger penalty 'with no mitigation'. NZ's captain is out of the game. At 36:12 the score is 6-12 with SA leading.

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...getting rough at 55:14 as the NZ try is recalled for a knockon; the score remains 6-12; SA leading...EDIT: at 58:17, NZ in for try; 11-12 SA leads by a point. AND SA hangs on eating up the clock to hold off NZ to take it by a point with both teams playing a man short for rough play.

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The last 5 minutes were tough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft6tWCgKB68

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https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/810zYsmWpFL._SY466_.jpg Before 9/11, the rugby team at West Point learned to bond on a sports field. This is what happened when those 15 young men became leaders in war.
Filled with drama, tragedy, and personal transformations, this is the story of a unique brotherhood. It is a story of American rugby and a story of the U. S. Army created through intimate portraits of men shaped by West Point’s motto: “Duty, Honor, Country.”
Some of the players deployed to Afganistan and Iraq, some to Europe. Some became infantry, others became fliers. Some saw action, some did not. One gave his life on a street in Baghdad when his convoy was hit with an IED. Two died away from the battlefield but no less tragically.
Journalist Martin Pengelly, a former rugby player himself, was given extraordinary access to tell this story, a story of a brutal sport and even more brutal warfare. https://images.wsj.net/im-884354?width=600&height=600 https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/brotherhood-review-the-team-that-made-them-5627f6bc“Brotherhood” looks at the experience of the war through the eyes of the school’s small cadre of rugby players. The author, Martin Pengelly, is a British expatriate who works in the Guardian newspaper’s Washington bureau; he once played amateur rugby in England, including in a 2002 game against the Army rugby team that he would come to write about 20 years later. “It was a night out of the ordinary,” the author recalls of that matchup, “a hard game against hard men being groomed to fight hard wars.”
These men were exceptionally well-prepared for any conflict on the battlefield, Mr. Pengelly tells us, thanks to their experiences on the rugby pitch. Rugby is a lot like American football—moving a ball downfield, crashing violently into each other—but without the padding or helmets. “Faster than football and harder than soccer,” is how Kurt Vonnegut described it. “The ‘brothers’ of West Point’s 2002 rugby team came from diverse backgrounds and grew into a team bound together by common purpose, mutual trust, and affection,” Gen. H.R. McMaster, West Point class of ’84 and a former rugby player himself, writes in the book’s introduction. “They cared not from whence their teammates came nor for any identity categories into which they might fit. They earned respect from one another based on their character and athletic prowess.”
Mr. Pengelly’s back-and-forth narrative—one page you’re in Iraq, the next you’re in high school with the future cadets—weaves together multiple in-depth biographies to form a highly readable account of who these men were, where they came from, how they played the game and how they fought the longest war in U.S. military history. “Their stories shed light on something that few Americans understand: an ethos grounded in honor, courage and loyalty that binds warriors to one another,” Gen. McMaster writes. They “internalized this ethos at West Point, exhibited it on the rugby pitch, and carried it with them onto battlefields abroad.”
All of the West Point cadets were among the most capable individuals their high schools had to offer, but the ones who gravitated toward rugby were just a little different. “In America, since the college game sprung up in the sixties and seventies,” Mr. Pengelly writes, “rugby has been a sport of the outsider, the eccentric, the nonconformist. The hardest of hard drinkers. A home for waifs and strays but also for type-As.” :Kaleun_Salute::yep: Bottom Line: I've never doubted that my 7 years of college and club Rugby contributed to success in my later varied career; primarily in issues of leadership, critical decision making and a certain 'standard of excellence' that precludes being in second-place...:arrgh!:

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What I watched on TV yesterday::Kaleun_Applaud:https://images.wsj.net/im-985575/?width=1278&size=1SAINT-DENIS, France—Ilona Maher arrived here as perhaps the unlikeliest social media sensation of any American athlete competing at the Olympics.
Despite playing a sport whose popularity in the U.S. could generously be described as “burgeoning,” she brought with her to France a combined following on TikTok and Instagram of nearly 2 million people.
She will return home as something different: a national phenomenon. The U.S. won its first ever medal in women’s rugby Tuesday, claiming bronze with a stunning, buzzer-beating 14-12 victory over Australia. Maher was a major reason why.

“It was important for me to show I am funny, but I’m also the real deal and I’m also a very good rugby player,” the 27-year-old Maher said. “You can be feminine on the field. You can feel beautiful. You can go stiff-arm and tackle people.”
Against Australia, someone other than Maher emerged as the hero. With time expiring, Alex Sedrick sprinted nearly the entire length of the field to score the tying try. She then kicked the conversion attempt through the uprights, sparking a raucous American celebration and leaving the Australians in shock.
But the lasting image of the tournament was the sight of Maher trucking opponents with bone-rattling hits that left viewers captivated. Her disregard for would-be tacklers has drawn comparisons to bruising NFL running backs Derrick Henry and Marshawn Lynch. It might be more accurate to say that she treats defenders the way Godzilla treats buildings.
Maher scored three tries in the six matches in Paris. Before this, the U.S. hadn’t advanced past the quarterfinals since rugby sevens joined the Olympic program in 2016.
“It’s an exciting game,” the 27-year-old Maher said. “It’s a little bit different, but it’s when people realize how hard it is and how much fun they get excited by it.”
As it turns out, this isn’t Maher’s first breakout Olympic moment. During the Tokyo Games, she made a name as an online personality, documenting her experience from inside the wacky ecosystem of the athletes’ village. Since then she has committed herself to promoting women in sports, the game of rugby in America and, perhaps the cause most important to her, body image. n one recent video that has been “liked” on TikTok nearly 800,000 times, she responded to a critical commenter by proudly revealing that she stands 5-foot-10, weighs 200 pounds and has a BMI classified as “overweight.” She signed off by saying, “I’m going to the Olympics—and you’re not.”
Her digital presence has helped her land deals with brands like L’Oreal, Secret and New Era. During these Olympics, with her profile soaring, she became the most-followed rugby player on the planet on Instagram with 1.5 million. She has gained about half a million new followers since Team USA’s first match on Sunday.
“It’s really important to have a profile and a profile for our sport,” Maher said. “We are female rugby players—we’re not getting million-dollar contracts.”
The weird thing is that until the past few days, many of her most devoted fans had never actually seen her play rugby in any meaningful way. Millions more had never even heard of her before she delivered her first stiff-arm on Sunday. Rugby receives little mainstream attention in the U.S. and isn’t an official NCAA championship sport.
For a long time, it wasn’t a sport on Maher’s radar, either. She played field hockey, basketball and soccer while growing up in Burlington, Vt., only trying rugby on the recommendation of her father at the age of 17. She quickly discovered that she was a natural and went on to put together a stellar rugby career at Quinnipiac. Becky Carlson, Maher’s coach in college, says she always knew her former player would one day come to dominate women’s rugby. The question was whether the rest of America would notice.
we've noticed!:Kaleun_Applaud:
It’s why she has been so heartened by the reaction to Maher’s rugby prowess in recent days, believing it’s a crucial development not just for her sport, but all of women’s sports. She’s being lauded, Carlson said, “for being the powerful, dominating athlete that she is.”
“It’s highly indicative of how we’re seeing a change in what we value in our female athletes,” Carlson said.
Maher’s showing has even started to generate some celebrity legend. Retired NFL standout Jason Kelce attended the Americans’ match on Sunday and met with Maher afterward. In a clip Maher posted online, Kelce declared that he’s “officially a fan.”
He backed up his words. Not long before the match against Australia, Maher posted a photo on Instagram of Kelce holding a rugby ball and wearing a shirt covered in American flags and images of Maher’s face. :Kaleun_Salute: Half a century ago, with the Seahawks for 3 years, we practiced against the ladies team all Valkyrie class brutes that hit and tackled as good as the ( numerous ex-semi-pro & college football players) men's team!! https://www.sanjoserugby.com/images/2023Womens15s.jpeg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPKBVq8z09c

[em2nought]

Why did I think she played for New Zealand? Ah, I've got her confused with Portia Woodman

https://tvnz-1-news-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/portia-woodman-wickliffe-CGOOIMK2RJC7TJV6YWPW6G7AQ4.jpg?auth=c665f6a7162550 a4ba5dba5a55b2cd6c57b665382fca7009419b76aa3747b5e3&quality=70&width=767&height=431&focal=2007%2C1235

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https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=2885693&postcount=64 https://images.wsj.net/im-87182703?width=700&size=1.5005861664712778 When the Philadelphia Eagles wound up one yard away from the end zone in the first quarter of the Super Bowl earlier this month, there was no question about what was coming next.
It was time for the Tush Push.
The Eagles’ near unstoppable sneak play, which involves a group of players lining up behind quarterback Jalen Hurts and propelling him forward, came through once again. Hurts barreled into the end zone for the first touchdown in what would turn into a shocking rout of the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs.
It’s been three years since Philadelphia began regularly using the tactic as the NFL’s ultimate short-yardage weapon, and in that time the play has proven as polarizing as it has been effective.
For the rest of the NFL, which had tried and failed to stop it on the field, there was only one thing left to do: Push to get the play outlawed from the game.
This is the time of year when the league mulls tweaks to its rulebook, usually to make football safer or the action more compelling. Many of these proposals go nowhere—and even those that do can take years of fine-tuning before they’re actually approved and implemented.
But the ban on this widely-copied sneak, first proposed by the Green Bay Packers this week, looks suspiciously like an attempt to get a play eliminated from the rulebook purely because it’s too effective behind the guise of health and safety.
“We’re not very successful against it, I know that,” Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said. “I think there will be a lot of discussions about it.”
It’s as though rival teams had tried to disallow the West Coast offense when they couldn’t stop Bill Walsh’s 49ers or tried to get rid of the Packers sweep play that helped Green Bay dominate pro football in the 1960s.

Anyone who has watched football over the past two decades has seen how rule changes designed to make the game safer can affect the action on the field. Bone-rattling hits that used to be celebrated are now penalized, and even sneezing within a few yards of a quarterback these days seems to draw a flag for roughing the passer.
But when it comes to the Tush Push, there’s no evidence that the play poses an outsize risk.
The Green Bay Packers have proposed a ban on the Tush Push.https://images.wsj.net/im-92879049?width=700&size=1.5005861664712778

Jeff Miller, the NFL executive vice president who oversees health and safety, says the league hasn’t been able to determine whether the relatively new play is more dangerous than others because it hasn’t been run often enough to produce significant data.
Still, those within the game maintain that it leads to more guys getting hurt, since the Tush Push often resembles something more commonly seen on a rugby pitch than an NFL field.
“I just feel like the health and safety of our players has to be at the top of our game,” said Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott. “The techniques that are used with that play, to me, have been potentially contrary to the health and safety of the players.”
There’s no debate, however, that the Eagles are in a league of their own when it comes to sneak plays. Since the start of 2022, the Eagles have converted 98 quarterback sneaks of two yards or less into first downs or touchdowns. That’s more than five times the average of the rest of the league, according to Stats.
The only team that attempted even half as many as Philadelphia was McDermott’s Bills, who have become one of its main copycats. They also might know better than anyone else why the play can be so maddening.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen was stopped on a fourth-down attempt in the AFC Championship.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen was stopped on a fourth-down attempt in the AFC Championship. Photo: Reed Hoffmann/Associated Press
Because the play produces a big blob of guys, it can be difficult for officials to determine exactly when and where a player is ultimately down. Which is exactly the problem Buffalo ran into during the AFC Championship against the Chiefs.
In the fourth quarter of that game, quarterback Josh Allen lined up for a push play. The officials ruled that Allen was stopped short of the first-down line, giving Kansas City the ball, even though Bills fans swear he made it.
The call helped the Chiefs advance to the Super Bowl—where they couldn’t stop the one play they were certain the Eagles would run.
Anyone who has watched football over the past two decades has seen how rule changes designed to make the game safer can affect the action on the field. Bone-rattling hits that used to be celebrated are now penalized, and even sneezing within a few yards of a quarterback these days seems to draw a flag for roughing the passer.

But when it comes to the Tush Push, there’s no evidence that the play poses an outsize risk.
Jeff Miller, the NFL executive vice president who oversees health and safety, says the league hasn’t been able to determine whether the relatively new play is more dangerous than others because it hasn’t been run often enough to produce significant data.
Still, those within the game maintain that it leads to more guys getting hurt, since the Tush Push often resembles something more commonly seen on a rugby pitch than an NFL field.:yeah:
“I just feel like the health and safety of our players has to be at the top of our game,” said Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott. “The techniques that are used with that play, to me, have been potentially contrary to the health and safety of the players.”
There’s no debate, however, that the Eagles are in a league of their own when it comes to sneak plays. Since the start of 2022, the Eagles have converted 98 quarterback sneaks of two yards or less into first downs or touchdowns. That’s more than five times the average of the rest of the league, according to Stats.
The only team that attempted even half as many as Philadelphia was McDermott’s Bills, who have become one of its main copycats. They also might know better than anyone else why the play can be so maddening.
Because the play produces a big blob of guys, it can be difficult for officials to determine exactly when and where a player is ultimately down. Which is exactly the problem Buffalo ran into during the AFC Championship against the Chiefs.
In the fourth quarter of that game, quarterback Josh Allen lined up for a push play. The officials ruled that Allen was stopped short of the first-down line, giving Kansas City the ball, even though Bills fans swear he made it.
The call helped the Chiefs advance to the Super Bowl—where they couldn’t stop the one play they were certain the Eagles would run.
<BOTTOM LINE: Football is for pussies; real men play Rugby! :arrgh!::yep:

[Commander Wallace]

https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=2885693&postcount=64 https://images.wsj.net/im-87182703?width=700&size=1.5005861664712778 <BOTTOM LINE: Football is for pussies; real men play Rugby! :arrgh!::yep:


Rugby and Hockey. :yep: