Rugby in the US

[TFoA]

After spending most of my free time playing Rugby World Cup 95 (seriously. It's a damn good game, and another example of how awesome EA Sports was during the 90s.)...I'm pretty sure that I have a good understanding of rugby and rugby tactics. I guess now I'd be able to watch a full game and actually understand what's going on, which is what I wanted in the first place.

[BJ Sands]

Thanks a ton. Now to, um, find it on TV.

Your best bet is YouTube. Or, if you want an even better understanding, go onto Amazon and by the computer game. That's what I did.

I didn't mean to go off on you, BJ, and I'm sorry if it seemed that I did. It just irks me that people don't want to give new sports a try.

I'm not sure where you are in "Deep South Texas", but if you're near Austin or Dallas, they each have footy teams there -- the Austin Crows and the Dallas Magpies.

I didn't think you went off on me, but thanks for the apology if you felt like you needed to make one. I understand that frustration.

I am not near Austin or Dallas. I'm in the Rio Grande Valley, which is on the Mexican border. We do have a rugby union club though.

[BB61]

After spending most of my free time playing Rugby World Cup 95 (seriously. It's a damn good game, and another example of how awesome EA Sports was during the 90s.)...I'm pretty sure that I have a good understanding of rugby and rugby tactics. I guess now I'd be able to watch a full game and actually understand what's going on, which is what I wanted in the first place.

Now you just have to get any of the last three EA Rugby incarnations for the PS2 and you'll be alllll set.

[Sguse1]

^ Im waiting on a PS3 Rugby game that is actually playable and realistic.

[Saintsfan]

^ Im waiting on a PS3 Rugby game that is actually playable and realistic.

I am waiting for any Rugby game that is playable and realistic! None of them yet have quite get the whole scrum/ruck/maul part of the game accurately yet.

[heernumurr]

Don't worry, with the new laws being forced upon the game, soon those old EA games will be very realistic.

[budbowl77]

I played Rugby in High School and College. I walked away from Football to play for my local Hibernian club team. Best decision I ever made. I only wish it would really take off here in the US.

[Saintsfan]

I played Rugby in High School and College. I walked away from Football to play for my local Hibernian club team. Best decision I ever made. I only wish it would really take off here in the US.

I think rugby is a far more playable game than (US) football. In Gridiron you have 1 role to play, in Rugby you could possibly end up doing any kind of role, setting up the play QB style or playing a running back kind of role, or defensive tackling. Just from the POV of what game I would prefer to play, it would always be rugby.

[BB61]

That's the beauty of Australian football. The only specialized position is ruckman, and even they have to learn the same skills that everyone else does.

[gueman]

I think USA Rugby kinda shot itself in the foot about 12 years ago. Now I don't remember all the details, but they made it harder for smaller towns to have teams. They did this by imposing some pretty stiff team insurance regulations IIRC. The cost of this drove the smaller teams the ones that may have had only one or two sides to merge with other clubs. Thus making it less of a local thing and more of a regional one. For example I played in the Baltimore area, each metro area county had a team, and Baltimore had 2 for a total of 10 teams covering from Hagerstown to Kent Island. And that does not even cover the collages, who also played against the club teams. But after the changes USA Rugby required, the two teams in Baltimore merged, and all but 3 others folded.

So this caused many of the causal players to stop playing because of the distance to practice and games. The PRU which was the union that my team was in covered just the Baltimore Washington Area, now it covers from Pittsburgh to Richmond. That is quite a distance for a club sport, instead of it being a Saturday afternoon of blood sweat and beers, it now can take up a weekend if you are playing 3 or 4 hours from home.

One of the other "rumor or reason" of USA Rugby's decision was that is hoped that it would have helped condense the player pool and thus help create better players under the theory of "playing against the best to become the best". But on the other end it kinda gave the finger to the recreational player that was just playing to stay in shape after collage or high school. And as a result a lot of guys just lost interest.

Well that is my 2 cents in the matter, and if anyone has a better memory on why USA Rugby did what it did I would love to hear it.

[-kj]

That's the beauty of Australian football. The only specialized position is ruckman, and even they have to learn the same skills that everyone else does.

Full forward FTW.

[BB61]

That's the beauty of Australian football. The only specialized position is ruckman, and even they have to learn the same skills that everyone else does.

Full forward FTW.

That too. But our Full Forwards sometimes end up being guys in the 6'1 - 6'3' area. Our ruckmen are the two 6'8 blokes.

[-kj]

I'm 6'5", slow, and fat. You can see why I was put at full forward.

[ivan26278]

rugby will never take off in USA compared to "foot"ball

[AndrewPF]

I just saw posters for a new girls rugby team at my school. And there is no boys rugby. So, maybe we have hope.

Girls rugby?

You sure you were at your school and not at Wellesley?

because they would have rugby.