"Rugger Buggers" Declare Yourselves! Please?

[flakyjakey]

Before language-sensitive members start diving for their keypads, "Rugger Buggers" is an affectionate term in the UK for people of the Rugby Union Fraternity/Sorority.
I note that the beginning of the much-lauded hunting season seems to coincide with the new Rugby season in the Northern hemisphere (notwithstanding the impotence of this ancient sport in Australia and NZ!).
Rugby Union is played by women as well as by men. No weapons are permitted, and unlike grid-iron football (which derived from rugby), no body armour or helmets are worn.
What has this to do with our forum? Well, I suspect that there may be a number (in addition to reborn and me) of ex-rugby players who are pipe smokers. There may even be current players who are pipers. And of crucial importance to all rugger buggers, the world over, the legendary Willie John McBride, of Ulster, Ireland and captain of a victorious British Lions Tour hated training, but loved his pipe!!
I know that Canada has an excellent national team and that the USA is definitely on the way up. So, if you are a rugby player, or ex-player, let us know.
I hope the number is greater than that of the "lady pipers", but who knows? Maybe we can exchange heavily-expurgated tales, and even censored rugby songs!! LOL

 

[jah76]

I never played, but my father transported me around both the Rugby fields and bars afterwards in my playpen. As I got older I remember playing with the other kids in the bar as our dad's and "rugger huggers" (which is what they called the ladies iirc) sang bawdy songs and ate beer glasses.
I learned quite a few songs which I used to softly sing (along with Army cadences) to my kid's when they were babies and wouldn't sleep at 2AM. I seem to remember people taping their ears too. Sorry. Your post just brought back some old memories.
My old man and I have taken in a few University of Notre Dame rugby games and he's a booster now for the local high school team. He misses it everyday.

 

[dread]

I played Prop and Lock in College and when I was in the Navy. Good times.

 

[pruss]

"Hello.
My name is Pat.
I'm an ex-rugby player."
I grew up, and live, in Canada. I married a South African woman; whose family all resides in New Zealand. At least my enjoyment of rugby means that I don't have to have cricket inflicted on me... matches last for how many days?
-- Pat

 

[flakyjakey]

Thanks for replying gents. Counting reborn, who has not yet owned up, that's four so far - perhaps we could aim for a seven-a-side team at least? I was a hooker (as many jokes, insults, as you like, please!!) and played for my school, Musselburgh in Scotland and London Irish, and still have the lumps on my ribs where they have been broken in scrums past (scrummages if you are posh, never 'scrimmages'!!). My daughter played at high school and my son was potentially a top player before he had to give up when he became an international swimmer (he even swam against Phelps once in the 'US Open' - dad was proud!)
What I miss most is the camaraderie, especially the apres-rugby antics. No matter how competitive and brutal the match we ALWAYS joined the opposing team in the clubhouse and bought them a couple of jugs of ale (tell me about any other confrontational sport were that happens); any animosity ceased as soon as the final whistle blew.
It was devoid of political correctness, but on the other hand the 'sexism', apparent 'homophobia' and 'coarse language' was all tongue-in-cheek and light-hearted. There was a lot of 'piss taking', but if you took the piss out of someone you had to be prepared for the 'reverse piss take' which was usually funnier than the original and an art form in and of itself. Any faux-sensitive 'noob' was exposed within minutes LOL IMO, we could do with a bit less 'faux-sensitive pc attitude' and more light-heartedness on this site.
@jah76, where are you from? I would love to have a few pints with your dad!! Eating beer glasses? Yes, I've seen it done, but never tried it myself. "Bawdy songs"? Absolutely - in the clubhouse and the bus on the way home. "Rugger Huggers"? LOL I've not heard that one. They would have needed very long arms to hug me and the other 'fat boys' of the front row!!
@dread, great to hear that. I must confess that from your pics onsite I thought you would not be out of place in the scrum! LOL As a hooker, my best friends were the props - they looked after me. When I played for London Irish my 'loose-head' prop was an ex-Ireland international - "how low do you want it?" he would ask me, and that was how it would be!!
@pat, that's great! What position did you play? Any stories from the Canook rugger buggers? Canada Has a pretty good team, always good to watch. I won't mention cricket again if you are one of the very rare sensitive types of rugger buggers, but since you ask - five days for a test match but there are also one-day matches, evening matches and '20 -20' matches which are drawing in crowds in their millions over on the sub-continent.
COME IN NUMBER NINE (the shirt number for a rugger scrum half) - the position reborn used to play. For the mildly interested, but uninitiated, the scrum half is the member of the 'backs' (aka 'girls') who sticks the ball into the scrum (aka 'fatties') where I on a good day would hook it back through our scrum for him to pick up and pass to the rest of the girls.
So, I'm going to give you one verse of the least bawdy rugby song I know. It concerns scrum halves of uncertain sexual proclivities. If reborn does not 'come out' (as an-ex rugby player, that is lol) within 24 hrs I will add another verse etc etc and then be BANNED!!
Here goes:
"If I were the marrying kind, and thank the Lord I'm not, Sir,
The kind of man that I would wed would be a..
Rugger scrum half! Oh...
He'd stick it in, I'd stick it in....We'd stick it in together!
We'd be alright, in the middle of the night,
Sticking it in together!
Puerile? Certainly. Not exactly hobbit songs in the 'Prancing Pony', but they used to be amusing, to us at least, after eight pints or so LOL

 

[pruss]

Ha, I'm not sure we'll be able to field a sevens team Flaky. I don't think we have any backs yet, as I also played prop and lock.
I think I'll save the singin', until such a time as we can hoist a pint, pack a bowl, and sing a round together.
Happy Sunday, Flaky.
-- Pat

 

[flakyjakey]

@pruss, I am similarly resigned, but we do have a scrum half in reborn!

 

[pruss]

I don't know about you Flaky, but the backs I knew were always troublesome. Fast, and smallish, chatty fellows that always stirred the pot, and then hid behind us big guys when their mouth got us all into trouble. That ring true for you too?
-- Pat

 

[teufelhund]

As a former wing and sometimes full back I couldn't help but laugh at that last statement. Yes I was smallish but I was very fast and sometimes even faster with my mouth, but that's why it's a team sport; I never saw any of you guys being thrown to toss back a line out. :lol: Oh well probably the most fun I had playing any sports growing up. I played in high school and for a year on a team in the Marines until deployments really ramped up. There are some club teams hear in St. Louis, but I'm just not that fast any more even if I've still got a good boot. I'm trying to get my step daughter into it; she likes to watch and the women's teams really impress me and it's something I could teach her which is always nice. Take care and happy smoking.

 

[flakyjakey]

@teufelhund, fantastic! We almost have a sevens side - two props, a hooker (ie the three-man scrum) a scrum half (when he declares himself) and a nearly-lightning-fast winger. Just need a couple more 'girls' now !! LOL

 

[lincolnsbark]

Hey all, I played Second Row and Flanker for the College of the Holy Cross in New England and loved every second of it.

 

[flakyjakey]

@lincolnsbark, we are starting to look pretty bloody good in the scrum - we now have a flanker!! LOL

 

[rebornbriar]

Yes, I was a number 9 - scrum half. The most important position on the team
The scrum half is the link between the forwards (fatties who do all the grunting) and the backs (ladies that do all the scoring!). It is the opposite of soccer where the forwards normally do the scoring.
They are also usually the smallest player on the team both in terms of height and weight. It is true that they often rely on the protection of their fatties, from the fatties of the opposing team.
Unfortunately health issues when I was 16 took me from this wonderful sport. Most of my adult enjoyment of rugby has been from the sidelines, with a few good friends who played in the professional game. I can sympathise with tuef when he explains the lineout lift. Having experienced this from a friend who was an Ireland international and 2 times British and Irish Lion. Having returned from his final Lion's tour in Australia in 2001, we headed for a holiday to the Greek Island of Rhodes. He was 6'7" tall and 17 stone (one of the fatties) and played as a lock forward. Both he and another friend who was an international flanker decided to give me a lineout lift during an all night beach rave! When you are only 5'8" tall and weigh a measly 11.5 stone you certainly see the world from a different perspective :D

 

[flakyjakey]

@reborn, at least you've come out of the closet on this one, if not your pipe shoulder bag! We are now approaching a team!! Just need a couple more 'girls' (like you - no offence intended, none taken I'm sure !!) LOL

 

[auslander]

Australian, Queenslander and love my REDS. Played lock badly for a short time and was then given the position of 'left right out'. Have the Boks vs Wallabies game in Bloemfontein on constant 2 or 3 month cycle here at home. Although the Wallabies are playing like 16 year old girl guides at the moment I'm hoping Ewan can bring them back into class.

 

[auslander]

Maybe this guy smokes a pipe and would like to sign up for the backs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA5bwqVN5LM

 

[flakyjakey]

@auslander, you are IN. Some of my best mates are Aussies, even if they are League players! Hard men, very hard! Love the Wallabies - top team, not at their best at the moment. But it will come - it always does!! Won't mention the cricket, as promised!! LOL

 

[auslander]

Glad to be in the team, now I should mention that when I get tackled I have a tendency to curl into the foetal position and sob. So fore warned is fore armed, where do you want me? :lol:

 

[rebornbriar]

I used to prefer watching Jonah Lomu running through the defenders rather than around them
I don't think that guy would adapt very well to a full 15 man game.

 

[rebornbriar]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsXTa7UCGlk