Why do you love rugby?

I'm pretty bored and slightly drunk as I'm about to go out with the team, and was just thinking 'what do I love about rugby?".
What are the main things about the game which do it for you?

A few of mine
-The fact that regardless of how badly you play, people'll not be a Bar Steward about it
-The whole team spirit thing
-Getting to run into people all day long without feeling bad.
-The ache you feel morning after a match but you don't have to go to work/lectures

It brings my inner neanderthal out to play

I don't play anymore because I have become soft in my old age. I was a back, an outhalf to be precise and I loved showing off. Thats how I got hooked. I loved the skill side to rugby. Loved the idea of having a lot of control over the team and having the responsibility of taking kicks. I was a complete pansy when it came to tackling which meant I never made the top teams in my school or club.

I love the spirit of the game. As a kid we would always gather after our matches and have a "mineral" and some soup. Mineral is what we call a soft drink in Ireland. No matter what club I played for since I was 8 there was always some sort of gathering after the game and the craic was brilliant especially when there was an Ireland match on.

I like the way there is a great deal of honesty and respect amongst players and even fans such as respecting the kicker and the fact that there is never any crowd trouble etc. I would never be worried about bringing my kids to a rugby match.

Its the coupling of intelligence, team work and controlled brutality

I love the feeling of a big match.

When someone's running directly at you, and you think 'I'm not going to take a step back', and you smash them.

That wonderful feeling the morning after when you feel like you've been dragged around by a tractor all day.

The big hit.

How cool you look when there's blood on your shirt.

Getting under the opposition's skin, and annoying them with your play (I play 7)

Absolutely love it.

The fact you can kick seven shades of almighty shoite out of the other team and then shake hands at the end of the game and have a beer

gcBlues wrote:The fact you can kick seven shades of almighty shoite out of the other team and then shake hands at the end of the game and have a beer

well......with the ones not already in an ambulance heading for the nearest hospital....

lostinwales wrote:Its the coupling of intelligence, team work and controlled brutality

sounds like sex with the wife after 10 yrs

cos the wife hates it

've never played myself so from a spectator's point of view:

I understand the rules.
I feel safer at matches whether I'm on my own or with others.
The rivalry between spectators is more friendly and not aggressive.
I find the games exciting - especially the big tournaments.
It's an inclusive sport.
Some of players are easy on the eye...

The team spirit, the fact it caters for a multitude of talents and people, the guts it involves, the varied styles possible within it, the hits, all of it

I love the smell of deepheat in the morning!!!

thebluesmancometh wrote:I love the smell of deepheat in the morning!!!

Smells like.....VICTORY!

(That's one of my fave films...)

Cari just thought I'd let you know I bumped into tommy Bowe earlier today and he is pretty good looking in real life.

GunsGerms wrote:Cari just thought I'd let you know I bumped into tommy Bowe earlier today and he is pretty good looking in real life.

I know. He was when I cwtched him in Dublin airport last year Friendly, likeable person too which makes him even lovelier.

I was with my girlfriend and she was mesmerised by him.

GunsGerms wrote:I was with my girlfriend and she was mesmerised by him.

Thankfully, I was on my own. Lovely guy though, really. Must be sickening for any bloke - great player, lovely guy and good looking!

My missus cannot stand the sight of Bowe, maybe because she's from Dublin, or maybe it's because he looks like her brother.

Silly mare was obsessed by Andy Powell though... humiliating!!!

thebluesmancometh wrote:My missus cannot stand the sight of Bowe, maybe because she's from Dublin, or maybe it's because he looks like her brother.

Silly mare was obsessed by Andy Powell though... humiliating!!!

Can I meet you brother-in-law BMC?

Andy Powell....? Nope, can't see the attraction myself. Mind you, Powell looks a bit like my own brother after he's been abroad on holiday.

One big difference between him and Bowe...

About 8 inches (height you dirty minded buggers)

Ah...he's a bit short for me then cause I'm tall.

I actually followed Bowe into the jacks and used the urinal beside him. Is that wierd?

I bumped into him a few seasons ago when the O's were in limerick, gotta say he's a bit smaller than I thought he would be, but then I thought the same thing of North when I first met him.

I am a tad tall.

North looks huge on tv.

GunsGerms wrote:I actually followed Bowe into the jacks and used the urinal beside him. Is that wierd?

No, that'd be perfectly normal to me! Were you...er...tempted to look down...?

GunsGerms wrote:North looks huge on tv.

North's abnormally mahoosive. I think his body makes his head look like it's shrunk now.

North was a bit dissapointing, he's only about 6'4 and not particularly wide. he looks like your average back rower without the bulk.

Although it really is what he can do with that size thats amazing.

He zipped up too quick.

I read Leo Cullens biography. It tells of how the first time Leo ever tried to tackle north he steamrolled Cullen and stood on his testicles and split one open. Cullen had to get them sewn back together on the side of the pitch.

Ha Guns! He was sensible...knew you'd be looking

BMC - his head is still too small for his bulk.

I didn't get a chance to see his head, you'll have to ask guns...

Championes championes oh whey oh whey oh whey. We are Leeds rhinos we win when we want we win when we want we win when we want we are Leeds rhinos we win when we want. Real rugby champions

Good to see a rugby union feeder club like Leeds rhinos doing well.

lostinwales wrote:Its the coupling of intelligence, team work and controlled brutality

I partly agree with that, it's the intelligence and team work part I have difficulty with

Why We Played The Game
When the battle scars have fade
And the truth becomes a lie
And the weekend smell of liniment
Could almost make you cry.

When the last rucks well behind you
And the man that ran now walks
It doesn't matter who you are
The mirror sometimes talks

Have a good hard look old son!
The melons not that great
The snoz that takes a sharp turn sideways
Used to be dead straight

You're an advert for arthritis
You're a thoroughbred gone lame
Then you ask yourself the question
Why the hell you played the game?

Was there logic in the head knocks?
In the corks and in the cuts?
Did common sense get pushed aside?
By manliness and guts?

Do you sometimes sit and wonder
Why your time would often pass
In a tangled mess of bodies
With your head up someones arse?

With a thumb hooked up your nostril
Scratching gently on your brain
And an overgrown Neanderthal
Rejoicing in your pain!

Mate - you must recall the jersey
That was shredded into rags
Then the soothing sting of Dettol
On a back engraved with tags!

It's almost worth admitting
Though with some degree of shame
That your wife was right in asking
Why the hell you played the game?

Why you'd always rock home legless
Like a cow on roller skates
After drinking at the clubhouse
With your low down drunken mates

Then you'd wake up - check your wallet
Not a solitary coin
Drink Berocca by the bucket
Throw an ice pack on your groin

Copping Sunday morning sermons
About boozers being losers
While you limped like Quazimodo
With a half a thousand bruises!

Yes - an urge to hug the porcelain
And curse sambuccas name
Would always pose the question
Why the hell you played the game!

And yet with every wound re-opened
As you grimly reminisce it
Comes the most compelling feeling yet
God, you bloody miss it!

From the first time that you laced a boot
And tightened every stud
That virus known as rugby
Has been living in your blood

When you dreamt it when you played it
All the rest took second fiddle
Now you're standing on the sideline
But your hearts still in the middle

And no matter where you travel
You can take it as expected
There will always be a breed of people
Hopelessly infected

If there's a teammate, then you'll find him
Like a gravitating force
With a common understanding
And a beer or three, of course

And as you stand there telling lies
Like it was yesterday old friend
You'll know that if you had the chance
You'd do it all again

You see - that's the thing with rugby
It will always be the same
And that, I guarantee
Is why the hell you played the game!!