The Rugby Outsider

A Muppet Movie reference in a rugby blog? Yes a Muppet Movie reference in a rugby blog. Sung by Dave Goelz as Gonzo The Great from the 1979 movie.   Follow along, you'll see where it's going. As a sport, Rugby has a welcoming culture.  Players, coaches, administrators, owners, family, friends and fans are the lifeblood of rugby.  New to the sport?  No problem!  Welcome, join us and  learn about the original oval-shaped football game.  There are definite similarities--a good many differences too--but if you have watched American football, you do have the basics to understand rugby. Offload, conversions, penalty goals, tries--these are a few terms that if you say Option play, extra-point, field goal and touchdown, a football fan will instantly know what that means.  It's a start, and football fans definitely have the basics even though it is a completely different game. This looks familiar, vaguely familiar Almost unreal yet, it's too ...

I have no real knowledge of rugby and the organization that runs the sport here in the United States, USA Rugby. I read here from gainline.us and here from Universal Sports' "The Scrum" Blog by Buzz McClain about some dissatisfaction with USA Rugby President and CEO Nigel Melville and Board Chairman Kevin Roberts . I'll let you read and come to your own conclusions, but here my own uninformed talking points: I don't care if USA XV's coach Coach Eddie O'Sullivan, Melville and Roberts aren't American. That never has been a sufficient criteria for a coach or an administrator of any sport in the United States. Having well qualified individuals such as these can only help, not hurt American Rugby. I think we need their knowledge and expertise having coached or administered the game of rugby at the highest levels in the rugby-playing world. If the articles are true as written, specifically that the Congress that elects the USA Rugby CEO and the Board and...

Just one look is all it took. I had never watched a Rugby Sevens game until today's NBC Broadcast of the HSBC Las Vegas Sevens Tournament . The Sevens game will likely be the preferred method of bringing Rugby to the American masses, and I'll tell you why: Sevens is played wide-open as opposed to the many pitched defensive battles that characterize the XV Union code. With the emphasis on speed and passing without prolonged stoppages for rucks and mauls, Sevens is much easier to follow on TV for novices like myself. With Rugby Sevens coming to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, and the USA the "defending" Olympic Champion from back in 1924, Sevens will be on TV in 2016. Two seven minute halves mean that several games can be condensed into hour or two hour blocs of broadcast time. It's an hour into NBC's coverage as I write, and this will be the third game I will have watched. Players are lean and quick--almost like a team of XV backs, and positions 1-8 are...

Hello, Rugby readers, With 2011 being a World Cup year , it's time to start publishing again. The original post of this blog, with my assertion that Americans can take to Rugby like we did with soccer back in the 1970's. November, Planet Rugby published this article in which IRB Chief Mike Miller says that the question is "when and not if" the United States will one day host a Rugby World Cup. The article goes on to talk about Rugby Sevens being added to the Olympic games in Rio de Janiero in 2016 as a crucial stepping stone to re-establishing the game in the US. Additionally, should the US qualify in men's sevens, they would go to the Olympics as the defending champion (even though it was 1924 and the XV version). More to come.

Rugby is not even a blip on the radar screen as a sport in the USA. That's not to say that people here aren't trying to introduce the sport to the masses--and have been playing it for quite some time. We have a domestic rugby league, the Rugby Super League , and College Rugby , and the sport is played in probably thousands of small parks across the nation, including this one less than a mile from my house (as the crow flies.) Where does that leave us? Well, seemingly with a long way to go towards respectability for us fans of the sport. I have to admit that I have never played or watched a rugby game in person. I have seen a few books, read a few articles, and generally keep up with the game through the Internet and, as I have found out, through iPhone apps . OK, I am too cheap to buy the "official" USA app--I have a bunch of freebies. But you can, if you wish in the information age, keep up with the sport in general terms in a way that was never possible 20 ...