Greetings from Southeast England

[Steve]

I went to a boys’ boarding school, divided into ‘houses’, and my Housemaster was a Rugby fanatic. I wasn’t a star of the Rugger field (as I said earlier, we called it Rugger), but I was good enough to be chosen for. House team and play occasionally for the school as well. There were advantages in terms of prestige to being in the Rugger team as well as being able to get away with things I wouldn’t have got away with otherwise (although I was generally well-behaved and hardworking). There were occasional hazards as well such as injuries that could result in being ‘off-eccer’ for a few days or even a week or two (‘off-eccer’ was school slang for ‘off games’ - eccer was short for exercise!). The problem with being in the Rugger team was that it was a ‘life sentence’; I raised the possibility of dropping it when I was 16 and was told in no uncertain terms that this could not be considered. I therefore went on playing during my A Level (final year). My main interests were academic but looking back I don’t regret the experience - there was quite a lot of fun and good team work as well as the mud and rain!

I never played on a team, but practiced a few times with a local club in Seattle when I was in High School back in the 1980's. A buddy of mine was in the club, and invited me out to "work out" with them. As I recall, it was like 3 hours of running, a lot of colliding, some time explaining what a ruck is and how to do it, and then they all retired to the clubhouse to have a few beers. I was wrestling at the time, so couldn't do both, but I've always liked the sport.

 

[Ticklishchap]

I never played on a team, but practiced a few times with a local club in Seattle when I was in High School back in the 1980's. A buddy of mine was in the club, and invited me out to "work out" with them. As I recall, it was like 3 hours of running, a lot of colliding, some time explaining what a ruck is and how to do it, and then they all retired to the clubhouse to have a few beers. I was wrestling at the time, so couldn't do both, but I've always liked the sport.

Ah yes, the ruck. It used to be called a ‘loose scrum’. Beer wasn’t part of the way of life at boarding school but we drank a few beers after games at college (being a masochist perhaps and a creature of habit I continued with it for a time there). In the 80s I recall from visits to the US that the drinking age was 21 in many states - maybe WA was more libertarian?(!) Re. your point about wrestling it’s true that Rugby (Rugger) squeezed out other sports because of time pressure.

 

[Ticklishchap]

Ah welcome to the forum James, great to have you here!

Fantastic you're keen on getting into martial arts, yeah do a little research and see what interests you, and check out what's in your local area. But yes feel free to ask any questions here

Thank you for such a warm welcome.

 

[Steve]

Ah yes, the ruck. It used to be called a ‘loose scrum’. Beer wasn’t part of the way of life at boarding school but we drank a few beers after games at college (being a masochist perhaps and a creature of habit I continued with it for a time there). In the 80s I recall from visits to the US that the drinking age was 21 in many states - maybe WA was more libertarian?(!) Re. your point about wrestling it’s true that Rugby (Rugger) squeezed out other sports because of time pressure.

At the time, it was 21 in most places, though in some (e.g., Idaho) it was 18. We definitely weren't old enough to legally drink beer, but where there's a will, there's a way.

We just watched the six nations rugby tournament a few months ago. The matches come on at crazy hours of the day here, but if you set the DVR, you can catch them recorded.

 

[Ticklishchap]

Hello! The fencing believe it or not will help, you likely learned a whole bag of things, from posture, footwork, timing, etc that you may see pop up during your training, just take any new classes as a fresh start and don't try to draw too many inferences between styles until you start to gain some experience. If you are just getting into martial arts and don't know where to start, your local MMA, BJJ or Boxing gym is a great place because the skills you learn in boxing, grappling or MMA style martial arts will serve you well no matter where you go or end up. Which style you settle on may have a lot to do with what is locally available so I suggest shopping around your town and seeing what's out there, likely one or more gyms will kind of call out to you as a better fit, considering the time and energy you will invest, theres no harm waiting for that one that "just feels right".

Thank you Sir. I’m sure you’re right about the fencing because of the emphasis on posture and careful action. It has a lot of martial art like qualities. That said, it is a long time since I fenced but I remember the rudiments of it.

 

[Ticklishchap]

At the time, it was 21 in most places, though in some (e.g., Idaho) it was 18. We definitely weren't old enough to legally drink beer, but where there's a will, there's a way.

We just watched the six nations rugby tournament a few months ago. The matches come on at crazy hours of the day here, but if you set the DVR, you can catch them recorded.

That’s interesting as I have tended to think of Idaho as a very socially conservative state; I could well be wrong about this. Two other things I know about it are that it was the birthplace of Ezra Pound and that it’s licence plates say (or used to say) ‘Good Potatoes’. ...

The Six Nations would have been on at strange hours for the West Coast, but I know that there is growing interest in Rugby (Rugger) in the US and it is played a fair amount in Canada.

 

[Tez3]

My two year old granddaughter goes to rugby tots in Suffolk. Watch out in a few years time.

 

[Ticklishchap]

My two year old granddaughter goes to rugby tots in Suffolk. Watch out in a few years time.

Very good luck to her. ... I have to be honest I have never watched the women’s game. I’m sure there’s a lot of talent I’m missing. Suffolk is a beautiful county; I used to go there sometimes for my work and I have friends there.

 

[Steve]

That’s interesting as I have tended to think of Idaho as a very socially conservative state; I could well be wrong about this. Two other things I know about it are that it was the birthplace of Ezra Pound and that it’s licence plates say (or used to say) ‘Good Potatoes’. ...

The Six Nations would have been on at strange hours for the West Coast, but I know that there is growing interest in Rugby (Rugger) in the US and it is played a fair amount in Canada.

Interestingly, if you go far enough to the right, you end up in a place where there is a lot of similarity with the extreme far left, too.

Regarding the license plate, I think it still says, "World Famous Potatoes", but I may be mistaken.

 

[Ticklishchap]

Interestingly, if you go far enough to the right, you end up in a place where there is a lot of similarity with the extreme far left, too.

Regarding the license plate, I think it still says, "World Famous Potatoes", but I may be mistaken.

You’re right about the licence plate, I’m sure. Merely ‘good’ doesn’t sound enough somehow. At the risk of straying into politics/current affairs, we are finding that the hard left and hard right overlap in our current populist government: we have extreme nationalism and social authoritarianism at one level, and at another a strong emphasis on using the state to alter the economic balance and a cult of the ‘white working class’. There is an ‘anti-woke’ obsession (damaging ‘historic’ statues now carries stiffer penalties than certain forms of physical assault) but also aspects of political correctness, eg. a strong (white) feminist agenda. It’s worth remembering that Fascism didn’t define itself as a ‘right-wing’ movement but drew heavily from the left and often claimed to be ‘beyond left and right’.

Of course America has had a number of populist movements of its own. ...

 

[Steve]

You’re right about the licence plate, I’m sure. Merely ‘good’ doesn’t sound enough somehow. At the risk of straying into politics/current affairs, we are finding that the hard left and hard right overlap in our current populist government: we have extreme nationalism and social authoritarianism at one level, and at another a strong emphasis on using the state to alter the economic balance and a cult of the ‘white working class’. There is an ‘anti-woke’ obsession (damaging ‘historic’ statues now carries stiffer penalties than certain forms of physical assault) but also aspects of political correctness, eg. a strong (white) feminist agenda. It’s worth remembering that Fascism didn’t define itself as a ‘right-wing’ movement but drew heavily from the left and often claimed to be ‘beyond left and right’.

Of course America has had a number of populist movements of its own. ...

Yeah, should probably pull back from this stuff now. Getting into politics is a sure way to get a thread locked up.

 

[Ticklishchap]

Yeah, should probably pull back from this stuff now. Getting into politics is a sure way to get a thread locked up.

It’s become very toxic in both our countries. I seem to remember as a teenager reading something by William S. Burroughs called ‘Politics Here is Death’! Let’s stick to those World Famous Potatoes. ... and Rugger ... and Monty Python!

 

[Buka]

Is that the voice of experience?

As an observer, yes, as a player, no.

Fought in South Africa back in the day. There was an American Rugy team playing down there, our team ran into them at the buses headed to the airport to fly home.

We told them "We lost", (disqualified) they told us " we won!"

Wasn't hardly a mark on us. Half of them had black eyes, busted noses, scrapes and cuts all over. But they were all smiles and great guys.

 

[Ticklishchap]

As an observer, yes, as a player, no.

Fought in South Africa back in the day. There was an American Rugy team playing down there, our team ran into them at the buses headed to the airport to fly home.

We told them "We lost", (disqualified) they told us " we won!"

Wasn't hardly a mark on us. Half of them had black eyes, busted noses, scrapes and cuts all over. But they were all smiles and great guys.

Just about every South African man I have ever met has been a Rugby player at some stage in his career! It’s remarkable that the American team won.
Out of interest, why were you ‘disqualified’, if I may ask?

 

[Tez3]

Very good luck to her. ... I have to be honest I have never watched the women’s game. I’m sure there’s a lot of talent I’m missing. Suffolk is a beautiful county; I used to go there sometimes for my work and I have friends there.

My daughter is in Newmarket, her husband works for Godolphin, we see him on the television a lot