Your Rugby Career

[Woody]

No.8, Blackheath of London huh? Supposedly the oldest club in the world. I played against Blackheath in Chch for the Christchurch Football Club in the late 80s for CFC 125th.

Burgs. WTF is with the top lip?

Being a kiwi I started palying at 5 and continued until I was 15 when I found out that pootang, pot and booze was much more fun for a unfit fat kid with feet for hands.
However, after my first stay in Oz where everybody said "wadda mean ya don't play rugby, you're a kiwi aren't you?", I had thinned out and got taller (6 foot, 95kgs) and started palying again.
Played for Sumner RFC Flanker (Razor Robertson, AB loosie)
Inglewood RFC No.8 (Dave Loveridge AB halfback)
Christchurch FC, flanker, (fabulous history, no women in the clubrooms on a Saturday night after 6pm, that was until 1985! Jock Hobbs, Robbie Deans and numerous other ABs.)
Halswell RL Club, 2nd Rower then Prop (various Kiwi players you rugger chaps wouldn't know)
West Melton RFC, No6, No8. (Country club with short history) I have played, still do, coached, managed, committeed and now Player Liaison Officer (cool name). Started the Golden Oldie team 12 years ago.

I have always loved this game, since I was 20 anyway. Have played with some great players, never reached the level I wanted (obviously not enough) and was a better leaguey than a rugby player.
Rugby is still the centre of the community I live in and it still dominates most male pub conversations.

Best rugby memory? Chch club final against High School Old Boys (Merts club) at AMI Stadium (Lancaster Park in those days) won 10-3, followed by mad Monday that lasted until Thursday.
Proudest Moment, coaching an Under 15 team through a season with one loss revenged in the final. I still wear the greenstone given to me by those boys everyday. Josh Tatupu was one of those kids.

Most admired Rugby person, Fred Allen, player, captain, coach, selector (all ABs), good honest rooster.

Players I've enjoyed the most; David Campese, Jerry Collins, George Smith, Jonah Lomu, Habana, Elsom, Larkham, Martin Johnson and particuarly Eales


Blah blah blah, sorry finished now.

---------- Post added at 19:55 ---------- Previous post was at 19:49 ----------

Just noticed can't spell played very well also missed the wonderful Michael Jones off my list. He transformed the role of a 7 then reinvented himself as a 6, truly gifted player who is/was a gentleman.

[shasta]

....as a matter of fact, back in my day the paddock was 400 yards long and full of bindi's, the ball was filled with sand instead of air and there was only one pair of boots for the whole team, then I had to walk the 27 miles home after the game, piggy backing my 3 little brothers ...

.......and you try and tell the young people of today that ..... they won't believe you.

[hertryk]

Never played the game ...

I was the "water person" for the Navy Team (although I was actually WRAF!!) as partner played No 5 for the Navy at the time...

Does this count

[Sheikh]

Not much of a rugby career, myself. My school back in the UK concentrated on soccer, at which I was a pants defender (though did earn the nickname ‘Chopper’ without ever getting booked). I also played American Football (capped as a junior) as defensive tackle which meant that when the school did play rugby I was a prop. Being about the only kid who had an idea about tackling or running meant the games were pretty one-sided. Then the games teacher brought along his friend from university who played for England women ‘A’. Had fun marking each other all game.

At Uni my hall team was made up of the best players from both Manchester and UMIST, but they didn’t have a second XV so I continued playing soccer and American Football. I managed to pick up a game here and there, mainly for the Chemical Engineering department and mainly as hooker.

Not played since uni, but when I was out in Oman recently I went along to Muscat RFC and trained a few times with them. But I realised that my eyesight is now so poor that I couldn’t reliably identify a rugby ball from the white stripe on the Muscat strip at 10 paces, so I’d have ended up ploughing into rucks when the ball’s long gone. Ref’s tend to penalise that sort of thing.

I now only watch, hurl abuse at refs and the opposition, and wonder why the rules aren’t quite as I remember them; although I doubt they ever were.

[Goldmember]

Played on the wing whilst studying at UOFS in Bloemfontein. I was a "hairy back prop tacking specialist" at one stage and an honary member of "Club 100" (for people who weighed over 100kgs, which I didn't; there was a scale outside the door).

I always wanted to play at scrumhalf (or halfback).

But that is all so long ago now!

[palitu]

hmm... started playing at 20 (2006!) for The curtin Goats, though for the 3rd XV as a lock. I was 6'2" and only about 70-75kgs, so i got fairly well smashed. was fun though. made it to the final (scored our only try, mind you) and got flogged, got Best & Fairest for 3rd XV. Broke a vertabrae in my first ever rugby match, then broke my pinky in the semi final.

the next year i played but ended up subluxing my shoulder coming down from a line-out. i played that year, though couldn't play the following season as my shoulder was screwed, had surgery las october to fix it and it is coming along nicely. If i pull my finger out and start working it out, i'll play again this year...

The worst thing is that i have now put on a bit of bulk, probably another 10kgs, so it would be nice to play again not being so small...

so there is my colourful, yet injury prone history of rugby. My old man was a saffa, so it is a bit weird that i didn't get into it earlier, but im an absolute fanatic now.

[Woody]

The Curtain Goats? What about Crushers or Cheifs or Comets or anything else?

Whatever, get into again, 80-85kgs 6'2" go for 6 and back up lock.

[palitu]

yeah goats, they are tough, stubborn, dont mind banging heads together and will eat anything...

[Stone Cold]

Played mostly Aussie Rules as a junior. Switched to Rugby at about age 25 for a couple of seasons and played for Mt Lawley Jesters in the social league. Played mostly wing until our fullback walked off the field mid way into the first half of a game then switched to fullback even though most of the rules were a mystery (team was happy because I could catch the ball and kick pretty well not for my err blistering pace). Switched to Rugby league and played a season in second grade as front rower who occasionally kicked and quite often caught the oppositions chip kick. Switched back to Aussie rules for a couple of seasons and was going to switch back to rugby with the coming of the Force but a series of shoulder dislocations put paid to that. Switched to touch rugby but still dislocated shoulder...in for a shoulder op soon and hopefully back into proper rugby next season (lowest grade possible).

[beige]

yeah goats, they are tough, stubborn, dont mind banging heads together and will eat anything...

They don't like trolls either

[eleypinkbit]

Had two brothers so spent most Saturdays watching rugby or cricket depending on the season. Followed Western Suburbs as that was the team they both played for. Most memorable moment that still sticks in my head is when a 10ish year old kid broke his leg so badly it was sticking out at a very strange angle, and his yells of pain.
Followed the Wallabies (and Super Rugby when I could), for the last 10-15 years.
Decided 4 or 5 years ago to play women's rugby, until I watched a local final at Rugby Park and realised there were no modified rules for women (and some of those girls were big!), so decided to play mixed touch instead as (supposedly) less contact = less chance for injury. One shoulder injury later, I'm still playing touch rugby several times a week, though less inclined to dive for those tries.

[brokendown gunfighter]

Never played the game ...

your forgot to add "fairly"

[fulvio sammut]

I forgot to add "well" as well.