Much as we at rucked.com love our rugby, sometimes it can be, well, just a little bit rubbish…
What’s a bit rubbish about rugby – No.2 Squabbling
Bicker, bicker, bicker, that’s all people in rugby seem to do these days. Whether it’s club v country, player v club, country v player, club v club, country v country or – which combination haven’t I done yet? Ah that’s right – player v player, they all seem to be just squabbling constantly.
This summer was another prime example, just as the RFU and the English clubs appeared to have finally put their differences to one side, the Scottish Rugby Union and Edinburgh pick up the ‘can’t live with them, can’t live without them’ baton and run for their lives with it!
Not ones to get bogged down with fact and not particularly interested in the fine detail either, rucked.com believes it was something about funding with probably a hidden agenda about the colour of the new kit or something. Either way, it meant the papers were full once again with another rugby squabble with each party release a statement in response to the other with such alarming regularity that you barely had time to read one before another was in the mailbox.
Now, thankfully, it’s resolved, albeit with a resolution that’s sadly meant the Magners League won’t be graced by a genuine legend by the name of Stephen Larkham. But hey, at least they didn’t have to create a new club crest and scribble out the
word ‘Murrayfield’.
Not to be outdone, the past masters of squabbling, Wales had a brief bit of banter with the clubs about compensation during the World Cup. They love a bit of good-natured friction over in Wales. From the regionalisation of rugby to the Mike Ruddock affair to putting the Scottish and Irish unions’ noses out of joint thanks to their partnership with England in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, they just can’t seem to get enough of squabbling!
Aside from the occasional defence of their approach to the Magners League – which is quite rightfully answered with the fact their sides still continue to challenge consistently with or without their internationals – and the little disagreement over the Welsh sides’ affair with the English, the Irish don’t score too high on the Squabble-ometer (copyright rucked.com 2007)! Give them time though, I’m sure they can come up with a cracker soon.
But then why should we be surprised with rugby folk not getting on when it comes to the pen-pushing side of the business? After all, the whole transition from amateur to pro wasn’t exactly clean cut was it? What with the unions being forced into action for fear of a breakaway ‘rugby circus’ threatening to snap up all the decent players, it’s obvious that from the early days they’ve rarely agreed on everything in rugby union.
And, going back even further, didn’t rugby union and rugby league become separate entities due to a squabble over paying cash to players?
So really, why on earth are we even slightly amazed by it? Well, we shouldn’t be, but that doesn’t mean we don’t get bored of it filling pages and pages of our beloved sports’ pages on a daily basis. It gets to the point with some debates – particularly club v country – where mere supporters just get thoroughly fed up of the whole thing and are far too fatigued by the whole to give a toss who wins or loses. At times, it feels like you’ve got two parents arguing over the top of you and, while you clearly have the answer which can solve everything, they don’t seem to hear you!
At the end of the day all we want is to see our team get on the field each week, knock ten bails out of the opposition and run in some scintillating tries. Is that too much to ask? At times, these days, it seems it is…