This past Saturday my rugby team played a scrimmage against a team that should never have been allowed on a pitch.
Our match secretary had gotten an email from the opposing team asking if Holy Cross would play them since they are brand new and wanted some instruction in game play. Our team was excited to start the season with a casual scrimmage and we were eager to teach a new team how to play the sport. We had confidence that this game would be fun and instructional for our new players. We were sorely mistaken.
Rugby is known for its incredible sportsmanship. It is often the custom in adult leagues that teams will drink at a pub together after they play each other in a match. Rugby is the kind of sport where you leave any anger about the game on the field and gladly shake your opponents hand at the end. After our game last Saturday, however, we went home battered, deflated, and angry.
Technique is extremely important when learning how to play rugby. The technique that you learn is not just for winning games, but for playing a safe game. The only way that it is possible to play a full contact sport without pads is by learning how to tackle properly without hurting yourself or the opposing team. When tackling is not done properly, serious injuries occur such as concussions, torn ligaments, and broken bones.
We knew that the team we were about to play Saturday was inexperienced. We expected mistakes to be made. What we did not expect was blatant disregard for safety. It is unacceptable to play a game of rugby the way this team played it. In fact, what we played on Saturday was not rugby.
The technique of tackling is one that has to be practiced a lot in order to do it correctly. It involves grabbing another player's lower body and taking them to the ground (where the tackler will also end up). Sure, sometimes it doesn't feel great to fall onto the ground during a tackle, but it is the safest way to play a contact sport. The team we played against did not tackle; they body checked, they tripped, the hooked our necks, and they pushed. It is so much easier as a tackler to body check someone who is smaller than you to the ground. It is so much easier to hook you arm around someone's neck and throw them to the ground. But it is illegal, and it is dangerous because we do not wear any pads.
Another vital rule to this sport is that you cannot tackle or obstruct a player unless they have the ball in their hands. This team did not understand the concept at all. They were repeatedly given penalties and warned by the referee, yet they continued to break this rule. On one occasion I had already passed the ball and I was head-butted by a girl and fell down hard on my spine. I had to be taken out of the game to get checked for a concussion and didn't see any more playing time after that incident. Another player got slide tackled without having had the ball at all and her entire body was airborne before she hit the ground hard. Two of our players had to visit the hospital after this game and several more were taken out before the game was ended altogether.
This team also had no understanding of how a ruck worked, were off sides for 70% of the game, and had more knock ons than I cared to count. But they are a new team, so mistakes like that are completely forgivable. What is not okay is putting people at risk in the way they did on Saturday. I understand that a new team needs instruction in order to learn the game correctly. But there is no excuse for a player who is told repeatedly to stop doing something dangerous and continues to do so anyway. They compensated for their lack of skill with violence. They claimed that they wanted to learn how to play the game, yet ignored everything the referee corrected them on. A team that cannot be controlled by the referee or by their own coach should not be allowed to call themselves a rugby team.
We walked onto that field Saturday ready for a friendly and instructional game of rugby. Instead we got completely screwed over.
