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On 3/2/2022 at 11:28 PM, KillaKukumba said:

Really?

Whale Oil Beef Hooked I never knew that. Doesn't change my thoughts, it still sounds like a participation reward but it's an interesting factoid I'll file away for one of those trivia nights I never go too.

 

Yeah I'm amazing for looking this up right😁

15 hours ago, KillaKukumba said:

I met Rod one night in a club in Canberra, didn't know the guy personally, but we invited him over for a drink and he spent the entire night at our table just talking about anything and everything as if we'd been mates forever. The guy was a legend!

Cool story. Much cooler than my mate who sometimes has a few at the local pub with  Martin Johnson's dad. He told some good stories too about his rugby career. It's good to hear these positive stories thanks for sharing

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2 hours ago, blaaacdoommmmfan said:

Yeah I'm amazing for looking this up right😁

 

Yeah, why not, we all deserve to be amazing for something!
 

2 hours ago, blaaacdoommmmfan said:

Cool story. Much cooler than my mate who sometimes has a few at the local pub with  Martin Johnson's dad. He told some good stories too about his rugby career. It's good to hear these positive stories thanks for sharing

Not that good sports stars need the extra publicity but I think it's worth focusing on the ones who do good by their communities and the people in general. There is always stories of stars (of all kind) being shits, being arseholes, or even just ignoring fans, those who go the extra mile deserve the credit.

 

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On 3/5/2022 at 8:05 PM, KillaKukumba said:


 

Not that good sports stars need the extra publicity but I think it's worth focusing on the ones who do good by their communities and the people in general. There is always stories of stars (of all kind) being shits, being arseholes, or even just ignoring fans, those who go the extra mile deserve the credit.

 

Then there's the sports stars who are terrible sportsmen on the pitch, really Rude to fans but do amazing stuff in there community. Maybe I shouldn't mention them. 😉

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  • 2 weeks later...

Is using a gum shield like the done thing most rugby players use. One of my wife's friends plays rugby and they played against one player who was so scathing about gum shields they decided to teach them a lesson by knocking out alot of there teeth.bit harsh if you ask me. Surely just winning the game would have been all that they needed to do.  😉

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4 hours ago, blaaacdoommmmfan said:

Is using a gum shield like the done thing most rugby players use. One of my wife's friends plays rugby and they played against one player who was so scathing about gum shields they decided to teach them a lesson by knocking out alot of there teeth.bit harsh if you ask me. Surely just winning the game would have been all that they needed to do.  😉

That is just sheer bastardry. I always used a mouthguard/gumshield when I played and anyone with any sense would. The professionals use them. 

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19 hours ago, Thatguy said:

That is just sheer bastardry. I always used a mouthguard/gumshield when I played and anyone with any sense would. The professionals use them. 

I didn't wear a gum shield when I played and I lost the front of my tooth. Lucky considering it was just the front that just fell off.  

Your right the pros use gum shields. I'm guessing most amateurs use gum shields too. 

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Out of interest did anyone go to school or are friends with pro rugby players. There was two I know from school who played pro rugby. They rose through Northampton saints academy.  Ben Russel was youngest in England to turn pro at the time(at 23)his career cut short by injury. The other player will boughley played for Worcester.  Neither was regular for the club. But still they were both playing premier rugby.will got a medal for winning a European cup. It was the lesser of the two competition they had at time but still Cool even if he was mostly used as a sub.  I was bit surprised anyone from my school went that far. We were not that sporty a school. 

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I went to school with Ian Thompson. He played rugby league (of, course) - prop -1st grade for Manly-Warringah (Sea Eagles) and played for Australia but a broken leg ended his career. Every year in the grading trials for the school RU teams we would pack down on opposite sides of the scrum and he would get an arm free and hit me. Every year he ended up in the 1sts team, and me in the 2nds. We were friends but for him hitting me to put me off my game was just a part of the game that he got and I didn't and that's why he played 1sts and had a professional career and I didn't.

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On 3/26/2022 at 11:06 AM, Thatguy said:

I went to school with Ian Thompson. He played rugby league (of, course) - prop -1st grade for Manly-Warringah (Sea Eagles) and played for Australia but a broken leg ended his career. Every year in the grading trials for the school RU teams we would pack down on opposite sides of the scrum and he would get an arm free and hit me. Every year he ended up in the 1sts team, and me in the 2nds. We were friends but for him hitting me to put me off my game was just a part of the game that he got and I didn't and that's why he played 1sts and had a professional career and I didn't.

That guy that's cool you played against a good player like that. Aussie international for a bit too. Yeah that can be difference between the pros and the ones who don't make the grade. A friend of mine from my hometown used to play for London Scottish rugby team. I was playing in a friendly cricket match. He was umpire and he couldn't resist a bit of sledging of my bowling technique. Again it was about getting that edge but this was silly as he was umpire.🤨

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  • 1 month later...
On 3/26/2022 at 11:06 AM, Thatguy said:

I went to school with Ian Thompson. He played rugby league (of, course) - prop -1st grade for Manly-Warringah (Sea Eagles) and played for Australia but a broken leg ended his career. Every year in the grading trials for the school RU teams we would pack down on opposite sides of the scrum and he would get an arm free and hit me. Every year he ended up in the 1sts team, and me in the 2nds. We were friends but for him hitting me to put me off my game was just a part of the game that he got and I didn't and that's why he played 1sts and had a professional career and I didn't.

That guy think it was you who have mentioned that rugby union is a rich persons sport and league is for everyone else in Australia.  I googled why rugby is still working class sport in wales and read about the great rugby schism in great Britain when union split from league. It was all about money. Article was very interesting.  Tbh I always thought it strange that union was an amateur game until recently in England whilst top level football was professional.  And Wales kept on playing union in a big way as they liked beating  England who were weakened by the union and league split there. Beating England alot at rugby was something they liked alot. Lots of 🏆trophies I'm guessing for wales. 

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Yep. I knew the history. In Australia Rugby League started as the sport of the inner city working class in Sydney, and became the game of the rural working class too. One of the oldest clubs is the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Rabbitohs is not a very tough sounding name for a violent contact sport team, but it came from the call of the bloke selling rabbits to the inner city poor door to door.

Interestingly the club next door -  the Eastern Suburbs Roosters (The Chooks) - started as a working class club too, but the Eastern Suburbs gentrified and South Sydney did not and The Chooks are now funded by a billionaire and have little local support. The Rabbitohs are now funded by Russell Crowe and another rich guy whose name I forget, but that's another matter.

My team - the Parramatta Eels (Parramatta means place of eels in the local indigenous language) are a community club owned by its members. Parramatta is the heart of the western Suburbs -  Westies - working class battlers. It is an easy trope in books/films etc to let the reader know that the character is an Eels supporter - it is shorthand for Westie loser.

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9 hours ago, Thatguy said:

My team - the Parramatta Eels (Parramatta means place of eels in the local indigenous language) are a community club owned by its members. Parramatta is the heart of the western Suburbs -  Westies - working class battlers. It is an easy trope in books/films etc to let the reader know that the character is an Eels supporter - it is shorthand for Westie loser.

Sounds like an AFL supporter describing why they are unlucky enough to barrack for Collingwood!

aGSnH81L_jo_CiySNxDYOm8RyAufKeiDfk0rrC-H

 

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On 5/9/2022 at 12:08 PM, Thatguy said:

Yep. I knew the history. In Australia Rugby League started as the sport of the inner city working class in Sydney, and became the game of the rural working class too. One of the oldest clubs is the South Sydney Rabbitohs. Rabbitohs is not a very tough sounding name for a violent contact sport team, but it came from the call of the bloke selling rabbits to the inner city poor door to door.

Interestingly the club next door -  the Eastern Suburbs Roosters (The Chooks) - started as a working class club too, but the Eastern Suburbs gentrified and South Sydney did not and The Chooks are now funded by a billionaire and have little local support. The Rabbitohs are now funded by Russell Crowe and another rich guy whose name I forget, but that's another matter.

My team - the Parramatta Eels (Parramatta means place of eels in the local indigenous language) are a community club owned by its members. Parramatta is the heart of the western Suburbs -  Westies - working class battlers. It is an easy trope in books/films etc to let the reader know that the character is an Eels supporter - it is shorthand for Westie loser.

Thanks for the info. Rabbitohs are a team I've heard of years before the takeover by Mr crowe. It's an original name for sure and was perplexed by the name. Now I know.  

Is the issue of concussion a thing in Australia. In England there are more and more players who are having big issues after retirement like Steve Thompson who won 2003 world cup with England of course.😉now he can't even remember his kids names. In same interview he is quoted as saying I wish I'd never played to begin with. Could rugby rules be altered so the big hits don't happen nearly as much perhaps dishing out match bans for each unnecessarily big hit. Just an idea. Rugby could still retain what makes it great but with less long term cost to the players once there retired. 

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Our codes, both forms of pansy ball, are trying really fucking hard to ignore head injuries and their effect on later life. Sure there is case studies and there are doctors and researchers around the country looking at it but the less it's talked about the happier the codes powers that be are.

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1 hour ago, blaaacdoommmmfan said:

Is the issue of concussion a thing in Australia.

Yes, but...

52 minutes ago, KillaKukumba said:

Our codes, both forms of pansy ball, are trying really fucking hard to ignore head injuries and their effect on later life. Sure there is case studies and there are doctors and researchers around the country looking at it but the less it's talked about the happier the codes powers that be are.

RU is paying some degree of attention, RL has its head up its arse. I am guilty of loving the sport but the big hits are part and parcel of the spectacle and for some men will be disastrous to their longer term well being. RL needed to set up a fund for research, and for compensation years ago but they didn't.

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I agree that the hits are part and parcel with the game, but it does shit me that both codes really do ignore all injuries as much as they can. One might even suggest they ignore it because the less it's talked about the more they can avoid the discussion about who is actually liable for it.

The AFL in Victoria long ago established the idea that they were a law unto themselves, that they would investigate (when they felt like it) outside of anything the Victoria Police would investigate. They came up with stupid illicit drug rules that pampered they players that got caught and on more than one occasion they hampered police investigations into the sport. I don't think the NRL were quite as bad (although I could be wrong) but they certainly have tried their best to ignore what happens to players when they retire.

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