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| Russian Rugby | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Stas and Oleg | A Soviet Team in Washington DC | |||||||||||||||||||
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Stas and Oleg were a pair of soccer players, turned ruggers I met in college. They were not Russian, rather Kazaks, but they were culturally the same. These two athletes loved the game, and loved the parties, but more than anything, they loved the vodka. I remember when I first started drinking with them, the taught me the Russian Pickle Trick. I hated vodka....it made me sick every time I did a shot, so after each shot, I would "chase" it with a 1/2 can of beer. Sooner than later, they (a group of about 8 other Russians) would make fun of me. Then they taught me how it works. "John, you see, 90% of what you taste is what you smell. If you smell pickle, you will taste pickle." So they showed me the technique of smelling the pickle, doing the shot, smelling the pickle and eating the pickle. It works and I now love vodka more than any hard liquour. Before their first US game, I asked how they would do. Oleg responded by saying, "I will score 2 maybe 3 trys today." He scored 3. Stas was just as happy to score as Oleg, til we explained that he would have to get naked and zulu. He knocked on 5 times in the try zone. He later scored, but we had to promise him we would not make him zulu. |
During the early 1990s, a Russian rugby club travelled over to Washington, DC and attended the Washington Irish St Patrick's Day Tournament. According to an unnamed source at the Irish, the Russian's stiffed the Irish on tournament dues, but all was forgiven when they beat up on everyone's cross town nemesis, the Washington Rugby club. It seems they were seen wondering around the sidelines in long trench coats with bottles of vodka and coffee trying to stay warm. The Ruskies gave Washington a lashing that day, but what was funnier is, that right after the cold war finished, you found more people rooting for the Russians than an American DC team. As Yakov Smirnov Says..."America....What a country." | |||||||||||||||||||
| Russian Rugby Today | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Below are some examples of available rugby sites in Russia. Realizing they are for girls and youth rugby, I thought it would be interesting to list them on my site. The second linked site below belongs to a girls' team. I had to find a site with a bunch of 16-19 year old girls. Masha Verannakova is pictured center below. I had boycotted this site for awhile because of their protest on their "club's" page against the NATO air strikes. Communalshchik Rugby Club Finally, the picture on the right is of the Wolves Tight Five.....nice strapping props might have a future....if they can hook up with Masha.>Rostov-on-Don Rugby Club Other stories exist from Russland, such as the one found on Eagle Select Lock (or at least Burbs select lock)Wes Clark's site,courtesy of a Irish Prop playing some rugger in Russia. by Michael Bolan (see below) (Loosehead prop for the Moscow Dragons) Why do we say "the Rugby Season"? I mean, season is defined as a period characterized by a particular type of weather. And do we only play when it's sunny? In Russia, one 'season' captures extremes of weather never before seen in temperate zones. Our 'season' starts at the end of the summer: clear bright days and long balmy evenings, the leaves still green on the trees, everyone relaxed after a summer's leisure. Saturday afternoon resembles South African rugby heaven, the sun shining down on hard packed turf, a team resplendent in new strip, the thought of a few cold pints after the match proving often more attractive than the match itself ... And of course, there is the rugby. The open passing play, the supporting and the straight running at speed. (Props are excused from this duty, due to the potential shock to supporters.) There is a certain perverse joy at being alive, especially after a Moscow Friday night (our bars don't close). If you are easily depressed, you'd maybe better give up now, and go home. It's all downhill from here ... Because the rain sets in. Personally I'm no stranger to this, having grown up in Ireland, a country where there is more water in the air than the rivers. These are the perfect conditions for dramatic rugby, a thrill for all the spectators. This is the cause of the old European game of 8 or 9 man rugby, (depending on how much you trust the scrum half). Short passes, (dropped), ruck, maul, scrum, slog up the pitch, to have it kicked into your own 22. The confusion which arises when you try and work out whether you or the opposition is playing in brown. Wet weather rugby is a game where everybody runs at the same speed as the props - proving that props are the more consistent players. And, of course, this leads to that particularly Russian phenomenon of snow rugby. (The bulk of our 'season' is played on snow.) The Arctic conditions force the team to wear enough horse liniment for the Kentucky Derby, the Melbourne Cup and the Grand National put together, and the patented Moscow blend of socks, socks, plastic bags and then more socks! Do not mock! Apparel is a life-or-death decision in -24C (-12F)! We repeatedly lose wingers to frostnip, frostbite, snowsqualls, yetis, etc., but that's ok, because they never get the ball anyway. The only benefit is the ready availability of ice-packs, and the ease of chilling the vodka. There was a famous physio in Northern Ireland called Bobby MacGregor, who once remarked that the "Magic Sponge" was dipped in a 50-50 mixture of Holy Water and Poteen. Chilled vodka has pretty much the same effect! (and it's cheaper). When the weather turns, however, and the sun shines down on 6" of hard-packed snow, that's when the child in us all comes out. Knowing that if a ball goes to ground 20 feet away, it's a couple of quick steps and then a long slide, (often accompanied by the famous Celtic war-cry "Wheeeeeee"), before gathering the ball lovingly into your arms to the adulation of an inspired crowd. (I have even been penalised for enjoying myself too much on the pitch under such circumstances!) When the snow has gone, disappearing at an alarming rate, it's amazing what can be found underneath, a bit like when they dredge lakes or canals. There's always a shopping trolley! In our case, most noticeable was about 11,000 cigarette butts, but I'm sure that most rugby other players are healthier than us. A hellish time of track shoes and road-running, which is less than pleasant in Moscow. It does signal the beginning of the end of the 'season', though. Warsaw Tour! The Annual Warsaw 10's competition started a few years ago, in the same way that the Hong Kong Sevens started. And the weather for the last two years has left us sunburnt and jealous. So you see, 'season' doesn't really do justice to the diverse meteorological conditions in which we play, but then, what else can we say? Other than, playing on grass ... not really in the spirit of the game, we think. Let's hear it for the snow! To read more about Russia....check out the link sites below. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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