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Thread: Worst Conditions You Have Played In

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    Veteran Contributor frontrow's Avatar
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    Thumbs up Worst Conditions You Have Played In

    As an ex player, who has played in several states, i`ve tasted some pretty ordinary conditions, of which someone thought "Hey, lets play Rugby".
    I remember playing Drummoyne in Sydney, their home ground (which is on the foreshore near Balmain), and it was the major semi final, were the rain was coming in sideways on a ferocious gale, and when we kicked into it for advantage, the ball went backwards almost crossing our own goal line. When we packed in for scrums, we all agreed to hold the ball in for a little bit longer than usual, just to keep warm (and make the backs freeze just a little bit more hehehe). We lost that game 3-0, in the last minute for a penalty almost seventy metres away from their goal.
    I rate this as probably the second worst, as i once played in snow/sleet, in the lovely village of Batlow, just up the road from Tumut and in the snowy mountains,were the ground was covered in about 5cm of snow, which eventually turned into a mush, and when you got tackled, well you`ve heard the saying, "freeze the balls off a brass monkey", well there were no monkeys around, but plenty of freezing going on.
    And to top it all off, the hot water ran out in the showers in about ten minutes, so most of us didn`t have one, so the Bus trip home really brought new meaning to the scent of victory....
    So, how about you other fellow players, time to take a walk down memory lane. Lets share our worst playing conditions with our fellow members

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    I think yours are going to be hard to top frontrow.
    For me it would be either:
    1) The quagmire they call the Guildford Grammar Rugby Pitch after it has rained (turf cricket wicket in the middle) and six inches of pure Guildford filth to trudge through, or
    2) During a rugby trip we did to Malaysia and Singapore where we were playing in festy humidity and altitude above Kuala Lumpur at a place called Kuala Kuta Bahu (sp?). Also had a sevens tournament in KL which was nearly as bad as we played on and off all day. Fond memories for onejohn22 as well I am sure!
    Fortunately the Scotch pitch is higher than the 1st XVIII oval as that was six inches under water a couple of times when I was at school.

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    Apprentice elemental's Avatar
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    I'm with ya Burgs... I'm an old Guildford boy and being forced to train on that damn mud patch/cricket pitch was pretty harsh. Almost as bad as playing on the other fields that they used to let the horses graze on... and then sh!t on. Never liked being on the bottom of a ruck on that pitch.

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    Player rick boyd's Avatar
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    1. Murchison in New Zealand. Not only Antarctic cold, but a bizarre fog hung over the ground at about the level of the top of the goal posts, into which every high kick disappeared and it was a mystery as to where the ball would reappear again.

    2. The Sydney Cricket ground No. 2, home of the Sydney-New Zealand RUFC in 1982. The ground was rock hard and the cricket pitch was on a raised platform several inches above the rest of the ground, and the consistency of polished concrete that drove the sprigs right through the soles of your boots. Scrums were moved ten feet to either side.

    3. COBRA's home ground in Kuala Lumpur in the COBRA tens. It was built on an old rubbish tip and surfaced in fine gravel. During the tournament the monsoon opened up and washed all sorts of "artifacts" to the surface. Not a place to slide in on the loose ball.

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    In the early days of Qld's Sunshine Coast Rugby comp, the Maroochydores home ground at Bli Bli was an ex equestrian paddock and had a fall of 4m from one corner to the other...during a deluge the swamp at the bottom corner would start to fill up....I was was caught at the bottom of a ruck there and for the only time of my life was in deep fear of drowning in the near foot of water in that corner...

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    Veteran Contributor frontrow's Avatar
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    I knew you`d have a good tale to tell gerry, lots of grounds i`ve played on have their only little perculiarities, like blakehurst in sydney, we had the changerooms and bar set in the highest corner, and the ground literally ran up almost to the bar (slight exaggeration), so our kickers would usually kick to this corner and the ball would generally hold up for the winger on the fly.
    The biggest bitch about this hill was training sessions, doing shuttle runs up and down it, with the barman drinking stubbies at the top and us huffing and puffing and cursing him for not training. We would see the odd player "pull a hammy" and have to stop training, usually at the top of the hill, and five minutes later be having a theraputic ale as we trained on, then the cursing would begin anew

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    Player Contributor Flat-top's Avatar
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    When I was a boy my parents would make me work for 29 hours a day 9 days a week in the run down woollen mills, on the one afternoon i was allowed off each year i would walk barefoot for 14 miles across broken glass to the local rugby clubhouse, collecting raspberries from the hedgerow on the way so that I could sell to the local gentry in order to make eough money to pay my players subs. At the ground i would borrow a shirt, shorts and some odd sized boots from the lost property office before joining my teammates in the local derby game. The healthcare was so poor in those days that we could rarely muster more than 11 players and so I often had to play openside prop, hooker and scrum-half all at the same time. God how the dry weather made the pitches so hard and we prayed for a downpour, and dreamt of the day when our paddock would have so much rainfall that we thought we would drown, we heard rumours that other countries had heavy wind that would put a bit of pressure on the high ball, but of course we were too poor to afford the wind. A local lord once promised to let his horse sh*t on the paddock so that it would soften the ground but of course that was another promise that never materialised...we thought it was bad but always knew we were really the lucky ones, we at least never had to play in the atrocious weather conditions those Southern Hemisphere boys did...god that must have been hard on them, those were the halcion days and it brings a tear to my glass eye when i think back.

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    Veteran Contributor frontrow's Avatar
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    Damn that local lord, empty promises are always a let down. So, coming from the UK must mean you`ve played in some pretty crappy weather, enlighten us Flat Top

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    Legend Contributor brokendown gunfighter's Avatar
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    Martin Lucky Park in Wellington,game transferred from Athletic Park.Ground was a bog hole.Horizontal rain & sleet, howling southerly blowing off Cook Strait.Cold showers.No wonder I moved to perth!.Previous to that A school 1st XV game during a snow storm in Masterton.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Flat-top
    When I was a boy my parents would make me work for 29 hours a day 9 days a week in the run down woollen mills, on the one afternoon i was allowed off each year i would walk barefoot for 14 miles across broken glass to the local rugby clubhouse, collecting raspberries from the hedgerow on the way .................................................. ........................... A local lord once promised to let his horse sh*t on the paddock so that it would soften the ground but of course that was another promise that never materialised...we thought it was bad but always knew we were really the lucky ones, we at least never had to play in the atrocious weather conditions those Southern Hemisphere boys did...god that must have been hard on them, those were the halcion days and it brings a tear to my glass eye when i think back.
    you lucky lucky bastards............

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    Player Contributor Flat-top's Avatar
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    Did I mention that we always had to play uphill, wear a patch over our good eye and the ref was called Kaplan, Jesus he was bad.

    It's little wonder as a nation us Irish always feel like the underdogs next to you hardened SH nutjobs

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    (formerly known as Coach) Your Humble Servant Darren's Avatar
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    I'm sure one team I used to play against in under 14's had a leaky septic tank under the middle of their field, a 20 yard circle of black mud, 6 inches thick that stank like poo. also always seemed to be the only part of the field a scrum was ever called. In retrospect, I reckon the refs were just ****ing with us.... bastards!

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    Legend Contributor brokendown gunfighter's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Flat-top
    Did I mention that we always had to play uphill, wear a patch over our good eye and the ref was called Kaplan, Jesus he was bad.

    It's little wonder as a nation us Irish always feel like the underdogs next to you hardened SH nutjobs
    I thought the patch was a potato patch

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  14. #14
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    For playing schoolies, definately Guildford Grammar, the smell would stay on your clothers for weeks. I also remember the KL games, Burger Boy! Also a few snow / frost covered grounds in UK & NZ

    For reffing, it would have to be at the Bangkok 7s a few years ago. I blew the whistle for the kick off and the heavens literally opened. We have 10 minutes of the heaviest rain you could have imaginged and the ground went to mush.

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    Flat-top, what is a nutjob

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