Jeff and were talking the other day about how The AD Hall (link in the sidebar) does a good job covering soccer, particularly the Premiership. I have been a soccer fan for a while and enjoy an easy to read and concise summary of what’s happening across the pond (I enjoy it so much that I can even put aside the fact that “the Chairman” doesn’t much care for my team Liverpool). Jeff also enjoys reading up on soccer happenings despite the fact that he has never been a real big fan of soccer.
This got me thinking, websites like The AD Hall and SP Sports are perfect venues for stuff about sports that exist on the margins but would be enjoyed by sports fans if they had greater exposure. Then I had the following epiphany:
SP Sports will be your home for RUGBY!
I actually played rugby in college for the Charleston men’s team (CofC didn’t have a rugby team at that point) and will play for Greenville in the spring. I really do enjoy the sport and during my various trips to South Africa I have been fortunate enough to watch rugby with locals in sports bars as well as attend several matches including an international bout between Italy and South Africa who had been recently crowned World Cup Champions (ie when I saw them SA was the #1 team in the world).
I know there are problems with this idea, primarily that most people don’t care about rugby and those that might have no idea about the rules, leagues, players, or teams. Therefore, there will be a fair amount of background information instead of just pure score updates. I actually think this will make things more interesting because rugby in South Africa is extremely political and therein very strange and interesting off the field, while the team itself is great and exciting on the field.
Obviously, as I mentioned South Africa, I am also going to be biased in our rugby coverage. I’ve never been to Australia or New Zealand but I’ve been to South African more times that I care to count. Thus, my rugby worldview is dominated by South Africa. Internationally, I’d obviously support the US over anyone else, but the US sucks so my favorite team is effectively South Africa (followed by Wales due to ancestral ties).
As exciting as international rugby is, it is played sparingly until Tri Nations or a World Cup is on the horizon. The real excitement is the Super 14.
There are three main levels to rugby. The highest level is obviously international (country v country), the lowest professional level is domestic (province v province [provinces are like states] or city v city). In the UK and Europe those domestic competitions are city v city, whereas in the Southern Hemisphere it is province v province (in these cases you can only use players that are drawn from your province, which I think is pretty cool since it establishes what part of the country has the best rugby players). The middle level is the international club level. It’s like the Champions League in soccer. In Europe club teams from the UK, France, and Italy play each other, while in the Southern Hemisphere teams from South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand play each other.
Since I know nothing about the European version, I’ll be covering the Southern Hemisphere version, which is called the Super 14 (because it has 14 teams).
In the Super 14 I am also biased. I generally pull for the South African teams, but in particular my favorite team by far (I’ve been to 4 of their games in person, watched countless of them in bars, and even own a flag) is the Stormers. The Stormers play in Cape Town and sadly typically underachieve but last year showed signs of improvement. In the same way that Mao covers Premiership soccer while pulling for Tottenham, I’ll be covering the Super 14 while unabashedly pulling for the Stormers.
Maybe this will be a waste of time, maybe rugby isn’t your thing, maybe the fact that it’s impossible to see a game on tv will hamper my efforts, but I promise that it will be funny and somewhat informative.
The Super 14 season starts February 14 and I’ll try to do some preliminary explaining between now and then, so hang tight and GO STORMERS!
In the meantime, if you want to look up some stuff here’s the Wikipedia links to:
I was in Edinburgh for the fall of 2003 which was the World Cup when Johnny Wilkinson led England to the title. Though Scotland did not fare as well as England, it was awesome to watch the matches and learn about the game. I still don’t really understand much about it, though I did write a story about a women’s rugby club in Northern Virginia two years ago, haha.
It’s so hard to know anything about rugby clubs because there is just no coverage at all in the States. Even in Scotland it was tough to pick up on because it just wasn’t as popular as soccer. They covered English soccer as much as Scottish soccer so rugby, while covered, was barely above cricket for third billing.
Yeah, when I was in England I was also a little struck by the lack of rugby mania. They are just so damn soccer crazy that all else falls out. And Sky Sports covers cricket more than rugby.
In South Africa it is the opposite, but for racial reasons. White people had and continue to dominate rugby and cricket so that gets the lion’s share of media attention. Soccer has always been a black sport so gets a lot of the new media attention. Wierd stuff, but like I said interesting.
Anyway, the Southern Hemisphere fucking loves rugby, so when you visit down there it is impossible not to get sucked in and hopefully some of that will translate to the stuff I write about it.
Trey, really looking forward to your take on the Stormers in the Super 14.
I am from New Zealand and yes you are correct we love rugby, more than anything else!
However the SUper 14 is a little hard to get into when it is still summer and we should be at the beach!
Looking forward to the 28th of February when they take on the Blues in Capetown!