Rugby

I've been playing Rugby for the historic US Forces Rugby Club in Germany since July 2004 and I've loved every...well, most every...minute of the game. It's a contact sport very similar to American football. As you'll soon see, American football is actually a product of Rugby's evolution.

The Illesheim Black n' Blue Rugby Club has been around and active for almost 30 years and is held together by it's long time coach, David McNaughton. Many a different jersey have been worn on the battle field of rugby by the club's Soldiers, Airmen, DoD Civilians, spouses, and local civilians and our opponents. The club has participated in many US Forces Rugby tournaments in Europe, many International Rugby tournaments around the world, and is an active member of a Bavarian Rugby league.




Since the War on Terror began, the Team has been suffering from an unbelievable turn-over rate, as more than half the team can be deployed at any given time. This has caused our numbers to drop rather drastically in the past few years. I can remember showing up to practice back in 2004 to meet 40 other rugby players ready to run drills and plays. We're lucky to see 15 guys show up anymore.



What is Rugby????
Rugby is a team invasion game that is played in over 120 countries throughout
the world, with over 3 million registered players. With many more spectators, a
global TV audience of over 4 billion people watched the last Rugby World Cup in
France, 2007.

"The game was ‘invented’ in 1823, in England, when William Webb Ellis a young
student of Rugby School, from which the game took its name, “with fine disregard
for the rules of football (soccer) picked up the ball and ran with it”. American
Football later emerged from rugby in the 1880’s." -Play Rugby USA




"Alright. Imagine football. Now take away the pads. Now take away the forward passes. Now take away all those sissy breaks after tackles. Now add elements of lifting teammates into the air, kicking the ball, mauling for the ball, actually touching the ball down to score, and, oh yes, the scrum." -Rice Womens Rugby

You can YouTube rugby stuff all day long. But, even Dana will tell you...being there is truly a hell of an experience. It is a clear display of battle on the field...and beer off. The first rugby she experienced was at the Munich Octoberfest 7's. Typically, we play with 15 players on each side for two 40 minute halves. We also play 10's and 7's. 10's are typically 20 minute halves and 7's are 10-15 minute halves, depending on the tournament. 7's and 10's are mostly just tournament play and don't really have a place in the league systems.
Anyway, I wound up playing for the Rammstein Airbase (the Airforce Team out of Rammstein) team. We did quite well, considering who our competition and the level of intoxication that was rather fervently hovering over the team's heads. We played several international teams... teams from Scotland, London, Australia, Italy, and Fiji. There were a few other German teams that we used as warm-up.
Overall, we played well. The team was comprised of about 13 players, many of which had never played with each other before and so we all rellied on communication and skill.

Recently, the Illesheim Black n' Blue played against Memingen...and, unfortunately lost. Our opponents were very well trained and drilled, I'll give em' that. We made our mistakes, and we know exactly where....and know how to fix them.
It was a nearly violent scrimmage between our 2 teams, as we the Black n' Blue layed waste to their poor little bodies. We had no real choice. We only had a total of 16 players to their 22. We had 1 replacement for halftime...they had 7 (and we intended on making sure they using every...single... one of them).

BUT!!! The post game celebration took place at the Black n' Blue clubhouse, where we enjoyed cheese burgers and beers with our opponents and many a laugh over the match.