From: ajc900@anusf.anu.edu.au (Andrew J Cleary)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.rugby
Subject: Re: Women's Rugby teams in BC
Date: 17 Dec 1992 04:45:08 GMT
Organization: Australian National University
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: 150.203.5.2

In <1992Dec15.085211.405@otago.ac.nz> clive@otago.ac.nz (Clive Boock) writes:

>In article <1992Dec13.041241.7674@honte.uleth.ca>, std_mcgill@hg.uleth.ca writes:
>> 
>> 	As weel, does anyone have suggestions on how to increase membership
>> in a University Women's Rugby team?  It seems that rugby has a reputation
>> as a violent game with overly wild parties (grin), and many women that I've
>> spoken to want no part of this feral, animalistic behavior (their words,
>> not mine).  Any ideas on how to change thier minds?
>> 
>> Michelle

>   Well Michelle (this will stir things up), you could always take up a womens
>sport, or perhaps one which lends itself better to either genders skill levels.
> I , despite my tolerant attitude to most other things, believe that rugby is
>not a sport which should be played by women, just as I believe that netball and
>synchronised swimming should not be played by men. 

Well, Mr Boock, you are probably pretty safe in that probably 99% of people
reading these news groups are men. Most will even agree with you. And in fact,
no one has the right to argue with this last sentence. After all, you are
only expressing your *opinion*, and not trying to deny women the right to
do what they want to do.
   However, the introductory sentence does not flatter you. "Women's sport"?
I suppose as a white person I should not play basketball because it's a
black sport (the fact is, I *shouldn't* play basketball, but that's only
because I'm terrible at it)? Seriously, statements like "I personally don't
enjoy watching women's rugby" are much less neanderthal than your narrow
minded pigeonholing. It doesn't really do much for the impression others have
of rugby men for us to broadcast such blatant sexism.
   Having said the obligatory anti-sexism statement, I can now see the real
reason for you post:

>  I freely acknowledge that the skills and committment shown by the top level
>of womens rugby are excellent but I still think that there are certain sports,
>and rugby is amongst them, which do not lend themselves to crossing the gender
>barrier. 
>  Just as a matter of interest is American Football played by women in North
>America?

>Clive H. Boock, University of Otago, New Zealand.

Hah, there's the rub, isn't it? New Zealanders can boast with pride the
exploits of their men's All Black team, including the first World Cup
championship. New Zealand is a country that lives and breathes rugby. Thus,
imagine their immortal shame when asked to name the current *women's*
world rugby champions: the United States!!! It sticks in the back of the
throat, doesn't it? Do they even *play* rugby in the United States? How can
they be champions? Especially when their men's team bites the big one?!
My personal theory is that IF New Zealand had won, Clive's opinion of the
worthiness of the game would be different.
;-)    ;-)    ;-)    ;-)    ;-)    ;-)    ;-)    ;-)    ;-)    ;-)    ;-)    

Personally, Michelle, I encourage you to stick with it. Like men, the women
who get hooked on rugby find the combination of the actual sport and the
social atmosphere surrounding rugby to be an excellent combination. As for
getting more girls into it, the #1 priority is to get them to a practice or
two, and let rugby do the rest. One good way to do this is to have a big
"skills day", run by some good coaches and designed for beginners. I would
also suggest that you try to get your club on good financial ground. You can
probably get your University to fund this as a club. I know the women's team
at my Uni (Virginia) actually did much better in terms of funding than the
men's team.

Finally: in the past, there have actually been women's American football
leagues. Generally they were considered more of an oddity than anything else.
In my experience, *very few* schools, etc., had women's football teams 
(actually, I've *never* heard of one, but I'm assuming there are exceptions).
Considering the size of women's rugby in America, I'd be willing to bet
big bucks that there are actually more women's rugby players in America than
women's football players. Quite a contrast to the men's situation, and IMHO
a situation for the men to shoot for.

-- 
Andrew J. Cleary
Centre for Information Science Research
Australian National University
acleary@thrain.anu.edu.au