Not sure I totally agree …

Actress Kate Beckinsale thinks American football is too feminine and gentle compared to rugby and soccer in England, except she says it in a less than polite way bashing it as “poofy” or british for gay.

I found this through a blogger search for rugby and these American guys (new sports bloggers?) took offense at Kate’s opinion, then posted three pictures of rugby that show how “gay” rugby is. What a classy and highly intelligent counterargument.

Bigoted morons all around, aren’t they? Kate and these boys.

Update: I found this photo from a Nike ad campaign. I like it because of the cleat marks on the guys’ back. Although the guys’ face does remind me a bit of an old HS boyfriend.

Tags: Women’s Rugby Women’s Sports Rugby Sports

USRFF’s Grant Funds 2006 High School Rugby Injury Study

From The Red Terror, the United States Rugby Football Foundation has provided a grant again for the 2006 Rugby Rio High School Injury Study.

“The information collected from the initial 2005 Rugby RIO Study will prove invaluable in years to come, especially as more and more high school teams are being established throughout the country,” said Brian Vizard, USRFF Executive Director. “The investment will be a good one if the study can prevent just one serious injury in the future.”

The USRFF will provide $14,000 for the 2006 study building on the success of the 2005 study (PDF). The report provides an interesting read if you have a few minutes.

Tags: Women’s Rugby Women’s Sports Rugby Sports

Don’t Forget! USA Rugby Wants Your Opinion

I talked about it earlier here, but remember USA Rugby wants your feedback on its new vision.

Take five minutes, fill out the form and make your voice heard before Friday, Jan. 20.

Tags: Women’s Rugby Women’s Sports Rugby Sports

IRB Vote on Men’s 2011 World Cup Questioned

Poor losers or true concern?

The International Rugby Board says it won’t revote on the recent decision to give New Zealand the host site of the upcoming 2011 men’s Rugby World Cup, despite a possible lawsuit from the Asian Rugby Union. Japan had been considered a frontrunner for the host country.

Tags: Women’s Rugby Women’s Sports Rugby Sports

Assault Case Not Helping Rugby’s Respect & Legitimacy

An update on the Rohnert Park Rugby Assault case. The two men charged with felony assault have waived their right to a preliminary hearing.

If you never heard about this, here’s one of the original articles from last May. Two coaches and a referee were beaten by a group of adults, followed by escalating fighting which spread down to the girls playing rugby that day.

Almost mob-mentality fighting at a youth game. What a pitiful example by supposed role models. I also wonder about the greater fallout for rugby in that area of California, like if some of those girls’ parents didn’t remove their child from playing or if either of the teams were banned, lost sponsors.

Tags: Women’s Rugby Women’s Sports Rugby Sports

All Right, All Right, All Right ….

Well, I finally got some sleep last night and my brain seems to be jammin’ on all cylinders. Good stuff.

Here’s a couple of ideas that have been swirling around for this rugby blog. It’s already pretty hard to find out what’s going on around the US. So, please remember if your team or union has something happening, please let me know. Promote your sport.

Once seasons get going again, and I believe the warmer states are soon, I’d like to start a weekly “Scores” post. I’ll make a post and anyone can leave a comment to tell everyone about their recent score, maybe a few game notes, etc. Wouldn’t it be cool every Monday to see a list of team scores & results from around the country? I’ hoping if we get it started, it’ll start building.

Later on, I might even start a pic of the week site for Flickr. You can e-mail me a great action shot, team photo, etc. and we’ll post it to the site. Create a Flickr badge on the site, etc. I may have to start with some of my own, but feel free to add your own.

Tags: Women’s Rugby Women’s Sports Rugby Sports