Speaking out on a disturbing trend in rugby

Rugby is a sport played by people of different sizes. Depending on where your position is on the field, rugby can have a varying impact on your physical appearance. If you play in the forwards, the ears are a good indication of where you play. The state of your jersey at the end of the game often is an indication of the level of contribution you have made during the game.

There is a new breed of player who wishes to confuse the public in the assessment of their contribution. Before you were able to see such players confined to the forwards. It didn't matter so much then. It matched their gnarled image in terms of physicality and appearance. There was nothing deliberate about it, other than letting nature take its course. No attempt to craft it into something slicker and more appealing to the female supporters. Indeed, because of this deliberate indifference, maybe there were some who felt drawn to these types of players. Their base animal instincts kicked in and there was a strange allure much like the last Tsarina of Russia felt towards a certain priest with mythical powers. From a rugby perspective, you could appreciate or at least acknowledge an advantage to doing this. In the forwards, intimidation is a big part of the game and what better way to send out a message of intent and intimidation than to do what these players have done. I have no problem with this and actually think there are quite a few players who have benefited from doing so.

However, I feel I must speak out on a plague that is currently afflicting a disturbing amount of players in the backs. Players who have no right to do what they are doing. Players who are fooling no one but themselves. You might argue that there are a few whose image may be enhanced by doing what they're doing. Yet often when we try to move away from an image or stereotype, we tend to swing too far in the other extreme. I watched the Reds vs Crusaders match last night and felt that things had gone too far. The time has come to speak out. Let's pretend no longer that this sham can continue. The IRB should step in and stamp out this vile practice that is creeping into our beloved game. Rather than try to look all the same, we should celebrate that every player has a specific role on the field and that the 15 players are not all the same and possess the same characteristics.

There are players who are not there for their brawn or their aggression. Others possess guile and trickery. Yet trickery with their hands and their feet. There is a growing section who are trying to convince us of something they are not. Well it's time they knew they are not fooling anyone except themselves. It's high time they realised that our patience for such charlatanry is well and truly spent. We demand no more. They need not return to our perception of what they should look like. But they have to realise that they cannot be something they are not. You cannot make a striking duck out of a swan nor can you make a bear out of a wily fox. It's time these players faced up to the facts and return to their previous form and forget about their delusions of being something they quite evidently can and never will be.

Do you know of what I speak?

No idea

Does it involve combinators?

The answer is staring at you in the face...

Rugby becoming like rugby league...every player is the same..??

You're thinking along the lines of the physical Geordie but I'm talking about a very specific physical aspect. Not all the players have these physical attributes but before they used to belong to a much narrower group.

Scrum caps for players with a number higher than 5 on their backs. I hear ya.

Now you're thinking along the right lines Notch even though you're wrong...

Scrum caps make sense - that or beards

Part of you makes sense lostinwales. The top half or the bottom half I couldn't tell you.

Flashy boots?

That is an ugly trend Griff but not the one of which I speak. Scrum caps is a bit harsh but seeing as I never wore one I can sympathise with that sentiment.

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:Part of you makes sense lostinwales. The top half or the bottom half I couldn't tell you.

It seems I often have that problem

You speak the truth though. You just don't know it.

Hair cuts?!

And best leave Mrs LostinWales out of this...  

If you were a GPS app Griff I'd be saying we were arriving at the destination. It's just that you're not aware of what is the final destination.

Forwards with long, coiffed hair? E.g. Richard Hibbard!

Leave the forwards out of it. They are behind in terms of evolution but that doesn't mean they can't be brutally effective in what they do on the rugby field. My beef is with the backs who should know better. We can all laugh at those with hair product, tattoos or shaven bodies. Certainly those with orange hue. But these players I speak out against have gone too far.

The truth has already been spoken but I want conviction in your voice when you tell me the answer. There can be no doubting or middle ground when it comes to this abhorrence.

Aaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgghhhhhhhhhhhh.FFS, just tell me what you are on about mun. 

Yes that's the level of conviction I want from you LD when you add your voice to mine in speaking out against this vile practice.  

Is it backs trying to make themselves look all tough and menacing with a caveman style beard, especially bad when you're a 5'8" 11 stone scrum half???

Here's all the proof you need. http://www.3news.co.nz/Buoyant-mood-at-Crusaders-HQ/tabid/317/articleID/305905/Default.aspx?ref=vid_2012-11-22

But the main culprit was on the opposing team and I suspect he had one of his worst games because he was simply trying to be something he is clearly not.

And what would your opinion be on people like that Griff?

Don' tell us!

I've just arrived and I have to be given time to guess right!!! It'smy right!

There is time for all of us to unite on this Secret. But we must be quick in mobilising against them before their numbers grow too strong. Do not delay. They are growing right before our eyes...

So what's the guts, is it growing a beard?

You must speak not only from the guts but also from the heart to know the true answer ebop.

Ha, cheeky fokker, it's beards ain't it? Can't be shaving eyebrows, only one player does that bless him.

I can't tell you what it is. The answer lies within even though it does not.

He said no to beards three or four times.................... did he?

He's talking so riddly that I really can't be certain of anything.

Casual handses in suit pocketses?

Teeth

The worst offender is in these video highlights:

Turn the sound down if you dislike the sound of commentators reaching climax.

tattoos on legs?

I am assuming you are talking about scoring tries?

Your assumption BB is making a donkey out of you and me...

I thought it was an A$$?  

I still get the feeling it has to do with actions on field rather than appearance.

Depending on your interpretation and personal beliefs or the laws where you live, having sex with an ass can lead to a variety of consequences.

I think someone didn't get enough attention as a child

I'll tell my wife you said that, she calls me an ass all the time.  

Is it football style celebrations when or after scoring trys?

Crotty does have the ugliest beefiest beard on a backline player I have ever seen.

I shall leave this thread open to interpretation and speculation. Off to the gym and when I come back I'll open another thread to get across my particular standpoint.

In the meantime know that it cannot be a lie if you believe it to be the truth.

Confucious says man who leaves others hanging will soon be hung out to dry.

Well it wasn't confucious, it was me.

Confucius is dead. He was hung out to dry centuries ago.

 

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:Confucius is dead. He was hung out to dry centuries ago.

I think you're confusing him with BOD

All backs should have bushy sideburns.

Confucius made the mistake of confusing himself with BOD.  Thus he was quickly hung out to dry by a well placed lightening bolt from D4.

There is only one true BOD.

PS -  Is this thing still going on without an answer?

Backs trying to stop rampaging forwards on their own????