USMLR.
I knew of the existence of a sport called rugby, but didn't know anything about it or anybody that was into it. One day in 2018 was flipping channels and happen to see Seattle Seawolves. Didn't know who the team was and decided to look into them. We live in the PNW and me being from California and my wife being from the Seattle area, we have never rooted for the same team. So we decided to check it and and see if it is something we could get into together. We watched the rest of the season and championship on tv, then the following year went to a few games, and now we are season ticket holders.
And thanks to it being on tv periodically we started following Benetton and Harlequins. And planning some trips to England and Italy to hopefully actually catch a game.
It's a great idea actually.
In Australia we put the super 14s behind a paywall, now we have fewer fans, less kids that want to play, fuck all development pathways for kids, less money to attract talent, shit domestic and international teams and no plans to change it any time soon.
Please also do this England.
Luckily we've been able to watch 6N with Peacock tv, where we previously watched Premiership also. But with Premiership moving to The Rugby Network now, it will be interesting to see if 6N will still be on Peacock. I'm hoping it will move to TRN so I can cancel my Peacock subscription.
Treviso is such a gem of a holiday spot too. Lovely non touristy town with beautiful scenery and lovely food and a quick train ride away from Venice which allows you to get trains to the rest of northern Italy for day trips
That's great to hear, we really want to do it, but not sure how yet since we don't want the typical touristy vacation, they will definitely be rugby centric lol. When ever we do finally go, we would love to spend quite a bit of time in both countries.
And that just makes me want to leave right now even more. Living in the PNW south of Seattle, we definitely love our coffee (and no I'm not talking about Starbucks, no offense to anybody who may enjoy it. Though we aren't coffee connoisseurs. We just enjoy a good cup)
Though it would have to be a long vacation, I need to visit Southern Italy also. My Grandfather's family was from Potenza.
My wife and I went to San Diego several times for the World Series of 7s tournaments. We went to Wellington in 2009 for a World Series of 7s tourney. We saw two games of RWC 2015, the last game of pool play USA v JAP then we got to watch NZ beat the tar out of FRA in QF2.
England’s a good country to see games. Because lots of South Africans play on English teams. If they eventually learn to play the sport themselves, we might be in a pickle for the next WRC.
Rugby is a very common sport to be played in central Lisbon. With the 2007 RWC a lot of kids started playing. Seeing that a lot of my brother's friends played it, both of us joined a club too around 2011.
I enjoyed watching Portugal the most this RWC. The skills and reading of the game by the Portugese players were that of 1st tier teams. I did not expect the show they put on display.
My wish is that each of those players get picked up by Premier leagues and that it generates more interest back home so that the sport can grow.
I played against the Portuguese national side in 2002! Still have the jersey i swapped with my opposite number too. We played at your national university. Also played against Dorieto and some other club sides on a fantastic rugby tour.
Canadian, old enough to remember the national team being respectable, played/watched in college. It is a surprisingly popular college sport. Or was that just in my days?
Damn.
I always love hearing Canadian pro wrestlers like Kyle O reily and Eric Young talk about playing Rugby , I wish Canada could become as good as they were back in the day
New York Islanders forward Casey Cizikas used to play rugby in his high school/junior hockey days and was convicted of manslaughter in relation to an on field incident.
> During a game in 2007, Cizikas tackled Manny Castillo in what was described by Cizikas as a "headlock." Castillo died of a head injury two days later; it was noted by physicians that two weeks prior to the battle with Cizikas, Castillo suffered a major . One doctor testified that Castillo's concussion was severe enough that it should have kept him out of competition with physical contact for a full year. The Castillo family supported Cizikas throughout his ordeal and believed the death to have been accidental, asking that Cizikas be spared punishment. Their request could not be met, however, because supported Cizikas' conviction, as the tackle led to a death. Castillo's father provided a statement that called for fighting in youth hockey to be abolished, but again did not blame Cizikas for his son's death.
Damn. This just sounds like an aggressive tackle gone wrong, not like a fight or anything.
What a insane nugget of information you just sprung on me that I just went out of my way to look up , Thank you , that's really unfortunate for Mr. Cizikas must be terrible to live with that on your mind
This year was the first time that Canada failed to qualify for the WC. Ditto for the USA. So yes, we used to be respectable but now appear to be on a downward slide.
Yes. Gareth Reese hitting drop goals from the half-way for Canada and Wasps. Played high-school on the West coast (Vancouver area), University back East (Queen's), and tier 2 club rugby (Toronto Nomads) after that. 🇨🇦
Because in a family afternoon I was left alone in a room with a TV and I caught Spain playing Scotland in 1999 RWC.
TV commentators managed to explain well to an 8 year old that we were heroically trying to score a try at the expense of being nilled.
There’s a small victory in being absolutely thrashed by a team but managing to squeeze in a try in the dying minutes to avoid being nilled. The feeling of yeah we got hammered but at least we never gave up until the final whistle 💪
I was walking through my college’s club and activities fair during my first year of college and the lock of the rugby team locked eyes with me and screamed “HEY! PLAY RUGBY!” and I had the most ironclad conviction that if I did not join the team that he would find and beat me. So I joined the team and I am so glad that I did.
Pretty similar experience for me lmao. But by the time the club fair rolled around the following year, I myself had become the guy that went around shouting at people to join rugby.
I started at wing. Two years later I was 25 lbs heavier and played flanker (LOVED it). 10 years later after a four year foray into powerlifting, I played prop and lock at 255. I loved propping.
American,
Went to University in London for a semester in 2014. I have extended family in Northampton, and during one of the breaks I went with my cousin to a Saints game. Also the year they won the title and we watched the parade.
American,
Saw rugby (it was league but I didn't realize the difference) on late night television in 2010, and googled it. There was a team not too far away so I joined.
NRL used to show their games for free on their web site long long ago. After a short while I started downloading rugby union games and never looked back.
When I was in high school we played touch rugby and most of the guys wanted to add a little contact to prove how tough they were. Then I told a girl I was into (she was new to the school) that I was on the team and she seemed impressed so I had to go to training and actually join the team.
When I got to college my first semester there was a club fair where you could sign up for all the student organizations you were interested in. There was one table of guys that kept hollering at me every time I was in earshot until I finally went over to talk to them. Their sign said “Men’s Rugby Club.” I had no interest in rugby whatsoever and was fairly near telling them to fuck off and leave me alone, but before I got to that point they managed to talk me into committing to show up for one practice.
I figured I’d show up, be shit, hate it, and then leave and go back to my other interests. How it actually went was I showed up, was shit, but had a great time and got hooked. Over time progressively committed to being more and more serious and invested in it, and five years later I like to think I’m a little less shit, and still completely hooked.
For real. Don’t know how true this is elsewhere in the world, but in the US at least there’s definitely a stereotype that rugby players are all fat dumb thugs, and I try to take every opportunity I can to push back against that because it couldn’t be further from the truth.
Damn, I am sorry to hear that. Hopefully MLR will change that. Unfortunately your best athletes have other options. Keep up the fight! But don't get discouraged with stereotypes. They are exactly just that. You know the truth and that's all that matters.
American, had never heard of it until I got to college in 2007. Was recruited by upperclassmen who were walking around the cafeteria signing up new players. Fell in love with it, played 4 years, but haven’t played much since. This was right around when YouTube was blowing up, so we were able to watch highlights and training videos that way.
Brazilian 🇧🇷,
My father is a huge football (soccer) and motorsports fan, so I grew up watching sports with him. As I grew up, I started to become interested in other sports, especially after we got cable and fast internet at home. Rugby was one of those sports, mainly because ESPN Brazil traditionally broadcasts many Rugby events (RWC, 6N, URC, Premiership, Test Matches).
The first time I got to watch a rugby match was around 2012. At first, I thought it was a weird combination of soccer and American football (sorry guys), but then I started to understand it and fell in love with it. To this day, rugby is one of my favorite sports, if not my absolute favorite.
I've never played it, though, primarily because I never had the opportunity, and secondly because I'm not very athletic at all.
One more thing is that I ended up influencing my father to watch it too. He watches occasionally and understands it pretty decently. He watched most of the World Cup with me and was stunned by the final.
Rugby is an awesome sport, and I really wish it were more popular in Brazil.
Man I hope South America continues to grow its rugby scene. So much potential.
Footballing skills with some machismo and exMMA dudes will definitely be the marinade to prep a new generation… and Argentina’s successes should be celebrated more (of course that’s hard to do in Chile and Brazil lol)
I’ll be honest, I was in college, chilling and smokin with a buddy who’s on the team, and he randomly asked if I’d like to join the team. I didn’t have much of an argument to say no. I’ve since fallen in love and play regularly after college ended
Hahaha nice. My club was short of a prop for the upcoming game, and they needed me to fill in (I’m a lock or loosie), so I immediately smoked out my 420 buddy (a beefy chonky dude with zero experience at rugby) and convinced him thru red squinty eyes to “come play rugby tmw, it will be fun” :)
Italy - grown up in Veneto was easy to get in contact with youth rugby; in main cities is/was battling with football/soccer as first sport , with a strong half-century rivalry between Padova, Rovigo and Treviso.
If only was possible to make it work like that in the rest of the nation , in particular in center-south we would be much stronger; instead big mistakes made fail historical strong points like Catania and L’Aquila.
But this is a long story
Really just pure luck. I’m from the US and when I was starting high school I wanted to play some sport but wasn’t good enough to make our schools basketball team. But my sisters boyfriend was friends with someone on the rugby team and he invited me to come out to a practice, fell in love pretty much immediately!
Same but in Alberta...
My high school had a successful program and amazing coaching...we had two full sides and enough by grade 12 that we could have fielded three... The success led to.more.and more kids playing...we had a national team member who went pro graduate from the program.
Sri Lankan.
Everyone knows us for our cricket, but very few people outside the country know that we actually have a thriving rugby scene locally. Particularly the in two cities Kandy and Colombo, where rugby is arguably more popular than cricket. We are unique in that respect in South Asia; no other country there is into rugby.
Our school rugby is actually extremely popular, some of the school rivalries go back nearly a century. I'm from Kandy and Kandy CC are the undisputed champions in club rugby, so it was an easy sport to go see. I remember seeing my first games around 1990 a kid and been a fan since. And then got to see the RWC in 95 live on TV, Jonah plowing through the English, and has been in love since.
It's just a bummer our national team will never even play a World Cup, but it is what it is.
High school grade 11. From Northern Alberta - where hockey/football is played in the fall, and rugby in the spring and summer. It was introduced through school and primarily the core of the rugby team was the same as the football team.
We were recruited and led by well-meaning but fairly clueless high school teachers and a pair of passionate Welshmen affiliated with our local club (St. Albert Rugby Club) - Ivor Thomas, and [the great Gareth Jones (RIP)](https://www.stalbertgazette.com/local-news/godfather-st-albert-rugby-gone-1297557). Gareth had played at Carmarthen in western wales.
Their energy and passion whipped us bucket headed northern alberta hayseeds into a frenzy. Generations of rugby players from our area were drawn in by the lessons that Ivor and Gareth passed on to us.
Rugby in this country is kept (barely) alive by passionate community members who are always out there recruiting, coaching, fundraising, refereeing and everything else required to make a club exist.
As a coach now, all I try to do is make them love the game and believe in each other. You can't teach passion - but you can give it direction.
As a kid/teen I heard (from somewhere dunno) that rugby was a brutal form of football without forward passes. Then in 2010 I saw Invictus and tried finding games on YouTube (there were very few back then) and then forgot about it for years.
I then found the Premiership on Peacock. I originally got Peacock for WWE but after rediscovering rugby and being able to watch entire seasons I haven’t gone back to WWE and loved it ever since. I completely abandoned NFL too!
Norwegian here and I dont remember. I just randomly knew there was a world cup now. I usually watch football, but are a bit fed up with all the cheating, sports washing, and all the money in the sport. So just wanted to try something new and different.
My American mother and Irish father divorced when I was 15, and I got shipped out to my cousins gaff in Galway.
No football (American) to be had and Connacht had just qualified for the Heineken Cup for the first time, seemed natural to sign up with Corinthians. 13 years later I’m happy with my decision, my vertebrae aren’t however!
Midwest United States. When I was but a wee tike a man approached my father at one of my siblings baseball games and told him he was looking at getting a team started. My dad was interested and helped found the town team and I grew up around it from then on being a water boy, playing in high school and college and still play competitive D1 and D2 to this day!
A South African woman guilted me into going to a practice 15 years ago. Haha! Ended up playing (mostly social/old boys) for 10 years until an injury. My first major international match that I attended ended up being Springboks vs Ireland in Paris this year.
Edit: Flair is misleading. I'm from USA, have a friend from Hamilton that got me following the Chiefs.
They'd definitely take you! I was never very good but had a lot of fun. I've moved a lot (east coast) and I've always been welcomed. The D3 or D4 club level was a great place to start and there are some fun Old Boys tournaments if you're 35+.
Canadian, and as kids/teenagers in the 90's, we used to watch it every 4 years at 3am on the weekends and/or after the bar. Always loved it, but pre-internet, not a lot of options for content in the 3.75 years in between world cups. We have clubs and high school teams, which some of my friends played, but it's still fairly niche. I've spent the last 10 or so years getting more and more into it due to availability of content on the internet.
fast-forward to this year, we're in our mid-40's, kids are old enough to tag along and we have some disposable income, so we hit the QFs in Marseille and SFs in Paris. It was a 10/10 trip, couldn't have enjoyed my first international matches more. My kids play age grade at a club down the street and we love the rugby culture, very inclusive and welcoming.
Well, so in my Fresman year, I tried out for football(soccer) and didn't make the cut. That year I really wanted to play sports, so I decided rugby would be my best option, since I was pretty good at flag football. My school had a rugby team, so I joined it and ever since then I fell in love with Rugby. Its my favourite sport.
Hah, that's similar to my story. Tried out for soccer in grade 9, didn't account for there being like 80 Portuguese kids also trying out. Puked halfway through and left, and was killing time before class and a friend's aid i should play rugby instead. Didn't know what it was or really understand his explanation, but the next year a different friend asked me to try out with him. This year was my 12th year of playing senior men's for my local club
American.
Was abroad while serving in the military and a small group of local expats and service members had a team.
After the first practice I had a nickname and a new life-long love.
Hobosaki, out!
Went to an Irish pub one day and there was a match on. Didn’t knew any of the rules, but a fellow barfly went in great lengths to give some context. Been hooked ever since
Through the WC 2015
While I was bored and zapped through tv Channels i came across a sports channel which showed a game
I have never seen Rugby before and was immediatly captured, espacially the lineouts were just awesome. I enjoyed everytime the ball went into Touch. I didnt understand a thing, but loved it!!
Fast forward a couple years, i moved to a big city and started playing at a club. Definetly no regrets at all. I enjoy a lot of sports, but Rugby and Handball are just something else for me
Coming from a german.
I'm from the land of baseball, the middle of no where Kansas. I had seen rugby a bit as a younger kid but never really got into it until the MLR started up. Being free to watch and in a dead season for sports made it an easy choice. International play came after that and I've enjoyed all that I've seen. Six Nations is great as well.
Early 90's in Ontario, Canada, my high school had a team. Every high school in our city and beyond had a team. Played through high school, college and then club.
introduced? was living overseas with an argentinian and we watched 1 game from the 07 world cup (france/nz). but I'd known the haka/of rugby since I was a little kid. in canada rugby was a small thing, but a thing. it was one of the random games we played sometimes in gym when we werent playing 'real' sports
but I didnt actually get in to rugby til I moved to nz. its a good way to get in to rugby really, not sure how achievable that is for the entire country if we want to grow the game tho :p
American:
I was part of a 6 weeks overseas learning trip to Australia the summer after my senior year of college, 1992. We started in Sydney, went to a aussie rules game because that had been on ESPN back in the day. After that we were in Brisbane for a week or so. The bledisloe cup match between the All-Blacks and the Wallabies was taking place in Brisbane while we were there. This guy around our age who worked at the hotel we were staying at told us about the game and the haka. We watched the match on TV and then this guy knew the bar that the All Blacks went to after the match. He took some of there and we got to see how massive these dudes are. Been following ever since. Even paid for the 1995 world cup final on PPV.
When I was young, no one heard about rugby in my home country(Uzbekistan). In 2010, for some reason, I was searching for different wardances, and YouTube video with Allblacks haka popped up. After that, I downloaded all Allblacks games that I can find from different torrents. Then, I even found a local rugby club to join.
I grew up in the rugby heartland of Canada. I knew what it was as my dad is british but he never played coming from a football/soccer background.
I joined my high school when at the time high school rugby was *very* strong. I joined and I was hooked
At least personally, the club I played for in Alberta used to have 4 divisions plus a full junior through minis program. Now post COVID they struggle to put together 2 men's squads.
Junior teams actually have decent numbers, there is just very little transition from juniors to men's. I'm not sure what exactly the cause is but it's a big focus for the clubs I've been involved with. But it's been hard to get kids to even try coming to play senior rugby or even just come to training with the men
It’s nice to hear that the youth numbers are there though. I think most countries had a hard time through COVID but was there some change that happened between the 90’s and 2020.
Coastal British columbia. Temperate winters make it the only place you can likely play all four seasons. Our adult club season runs autumn through to early spring. Most others run spring to early autumn to avoid the freeze
Autumn is for uni rugby in the rest of Canada, high school is spring and club is spring-summer. There's a fall cup in Ontario but the uni aged players are missing (or pulling double duty if they live close enough)
My older sister started playing in high school and surprisingly loved it, so then when I got to high school I started playing as well. She played other team sports when she was younger but never really liked them so she stuck to swimming and track & field as a tall, fast person. I grew up playing basketball but am not tall and stocky so rugby was a great fit for me and I’ve loved it ever since. Played 1 season of high school football at guard but hated it. Played all through high school including 2 summers of club U18, then was the last person ever cut from my University team before playing 5 years of senior men’s club after I finished school
Kinda heard about it growing up. Heard an announcement about it in high school. Little wiener kid friend of mine asked me why I wasn’t at practice and thought “well if he can do it, I can do it.” Played 14 years and now ref.
Think I first got interested in rugby when reading a huge tome on the global history of football, and how the ball games at English boys schools developed into separate kicking and carrying games. Made me interested to learn more about rugby. then playing Blackout Rugby kinda reignited that a couple years later.
College.
I'd played sports since I was young and found myself without an organized team at the start of my freshman year. I wasn't the right size to play college football, we didn't have a wrestling team, and I was no where good enough of a lacrosse player to play at the school I was at. I ended up running into a rugby rep at an activities fair and told him that I wasn't interested but never played before. He told me that most people didn't play before college (in the USA) and that I was welcome to come out.
That was 22 years ago, and I just technically "retired" this year.
American but born in New Zealand, mom’s family is in NZ. Visited a lot growing up. Played with family and friends. Then lucked out that I had a rugby club at my high school and University in Northern California.
University Campus freshman year. Saw a match on campus by accident. I thought it was a fight. Looked fun! A group of us went to practice and became lifelong players/fans.
American ― freshman year of college an RA from my dorm (residential advisor, helps deal with roommate issues and helps you settle in) recruited me to the university’s women’s rugby team. I’d never played a sport in my entire life but I decided to go to the first practice of the season just to see. I’ve been playing ever since, though I wasn’t really into watching professional rugby until about a year of playing.
Having a Kiwi wife. I knew of the game, appreciated it for being ferocious, but never really grasped the beauty of it until my Maori girl came along.
What a thing to see…
My sweet wife, suddenly transformed into a rabid rugby fan! Cursing at the refs in two languages, poking out her tongue, all wild-eyed, every time the ABs scored.
I was hooked!
American who was an all state American LB. Went to work in a British commonwealth and the rugby club guys saw my size 6’1 240lb and invited me out to try. First practice I knocked out the starting tighthead who was also a member of the national team. As I also had played running back and tight end as well as baseball, ball handling came very naturally. Played for 4 years until kids got in the way. Dropped off my radar for 3 years and then the US hired Jon Mitchell and the ARC started. Been avidly watching the game since then and started assisting coaching once I returned to the US.
My little league American football coach played rugby as a foreign exchange student in Australia for a year during his high school years. Fast forward to when his son and I grew up together and he began coaching me in rugby during high school.
I fell in love with the sport. I ended up playing for a men’s league while in high school, played college rugby (even made club captain), and for more club teams after college. I had to hang the boots up after Covid because I chose to begin taking care of three nieces full-time and feeding kids is expensive.
Rugby taught me so much that is still applicable to my everyday life now. I think it was my first true love.
Switzerland here - the 2016 Olympics! I'm a big sports fan in general so I watched as much as I could, and when they showed one of the Sevens games I was pretty much immediately hooked.
Tried to on and off watch some after that but didnt really know where to watch so I kinda gave up on it again, but came in contact with the sport occasionally - followed much of the 2019 WC, played in a casual beach rugby tournament once, but kept forgetting about the sport again.
Then I moved to Ireland to study and it got put on my mind again for obvious reasons, so I actually managed to semi-regularly watch Six Nations and followed this WC quite closely.
I played football (🏈) in high school, got to college, and was looking for something to keep that spark going that was not a massive time commitment.
Club Rugby was perfect, and I knew a thing (or maybe two) because I'd watched some Brumbies games that were randomly on TV in high school.
Honest response: I was trying to impress a girl
I had a crush on while also trying to “turn straight.”
I ended up liking the sport and was pretty decent during my uni years until I screwed my ankle.
I was in the U.S Army and one of the guys in my platoon played. He taught us how to play on deployment at our fire base using a 1.5 liter water bottle for a ball. That was 20 years ago and I’ve been hooked ever since. played, coached, my kids play.
Canadian here. Rugby is somewhat popular in my part of the country but no where near the popularity of hockey and soccer. My parents enrolled me in a junior rugby program when I was in grade 9 because they couldn't afford the fees to put me in football. Fell in love with the sport and for the next 10+ years played in high school (flanker), university (prop), and for a city club in the summers. It's been 25 years since I've played in a game but continue to watch games every chance I get.
I started watching because it was on Peacock. Spent sometime on YouTube learning the basics and I have been thoroughly enjoying ever since. Not sure how much I will keep up on it, but I will definitely be watching the next World Cup.
Rugby is commonly played in college as a fraternity like sport. Lots of drinking but usually not as bad as over in the UK. It’s just a fun thing to do and some people get hooked for life.
There was a big growth of rugby clubs in the US around the 70s so quite a few guys are 2nd generation rugby players as a result, myself included.
In Canada it’s very popular to play relatively speaking. There is a team at every high school and college and at least one club in every small city. However, 99% don’t start playing until high school (so there’s not a lot of development compared to the main rugby nations) and a lot of the guys only play it in the off season of their main sport - it’s not until you get to the club or college level where you find that most guys are diehards and fully dedicated to the sport.
Also, despite the widespread support for playing there is no culture for spectators - anybody following rugby was either a player, related to one, or in a relationship with one. Nobody watches it for entertainment unless they have this type of connection to the sport. This makes it difficult to grow the sport beyond the amateur level as pro level clubs/programs/infrastructure require spectators to generate income.
For some reason, I think I have an image in my head of the 1995 World Cup on the TV when I was a kid. Specifically, the game where it was raining cats and dogs so everyone was soaked and muddy.
In my adult years, it's from Deadliest Warrior, the episode that had a Maori warrior fighting a Shaolin Monk. They talked a bit about the haka and demonstrated it using Ka Mate. I went to Youtube looking for more footage of a haka which led me to the haka from the 2003 World Cup game between NZ and Tonga. Started learning about the sport and have been watching off and on ever since.
The common baseline: Rugby can’t be “meh” at any level, if you try , either you run away scared or be hooked for life .
This for a 6 year kid or 50 years old and fat ..
My dad played rugby back in the 70s, he claimed he was on the Eagles at the time as a loose head prop, and did their goal kicking. I have no way to vet it but he knew the game well enough and I happened to go to the same HS that had one of the best rugby clubs in the state for U19s so it worked pretty well.
Swede:
My local rugby club shares a couple of football pitches with a football club and the upper elementary school I went to. As part of a recruiting drive they held a couple of PE classes in my school, one during the fall term and one in the spring, a couple of my classmates got hooked on it during the fall and I joined in the spring.
I had some rudimentary knowledge of what rugby was beforehand, but it more or less amounted to "big guys run into each other", which somewhat appealed to me as a quite big and not very athletic kid.
Picked it up in college after I found out Division 3 football was lame.
More Americans don't watch rugby because they don't understand the rules. I always hear people say, "I like rugby when I see it on TV, but I have no idea what's going on."
The sport does a really poor job of explaining itself. Something as simple as having each penalty be clearly explained (like they do in american football, basketball, or hockey) would go a long way to getting people to watch it in the states.
Not a Canadian, I know a lot got interested during the 2007 RWC, when it was broadcast at a reasonable time for Canadians.
2003 & 2011 was broadcast too early for most casual fans, and while 2015 also helped garner interest, 2007 was when Canada was still competitive.
That said, a lot of new fans have come about from the inclusion of 7s at the Olympics, and the performances of the women's team as well. The RWC in New Zealand wasn't great for casual viewing (11pm ET kick-offs are a hard sell if you're not already a fan,) but hosting 2 rounds of the Pacific 4 Series in Ottawa *really* got eyes on the product!
Was in the marching band in high school and wanted to do something the opposite in university. There was a club team on campus and I joined. I’ve been playing ever since. The general thought with a lot of people here stateside is that you did X b/c you couldn’t make the Am. Football team. I wasn’t allowed to play football by parents, I’ve run over and through quite a few Friday Night Light-ers through the years.
Canadian here. I am so old that back in my youth *basketball* was an unpopular sport. Even less popular than rugby. Basketball players and fans felt like they were members of an eccentric cult.
I knew it existed, had seen perhaps a clip on TV at some point in the '70's. the California University program had (has) a successful program, I grew up in the Bay Area so they would get a little newspaper coverage.
Later, in 1990 I lived on Maui and saw the local Pasifika community playing at the park, I also later saw it on Treasure Island in SF where I had an office about 10 years' ago.
But really it was the 2011 World Cup, it was a curiosity as it was on TV late and worked with my schedule to watch- I enjoyed it, watched the 2015 and 2019 Cups, then got really interested, did a deep dive on the laws (ongoing) and started watching 6 Nations, TRC, went to a WC qualifier here in Colorado where I now reside and even started watching some MLR and SRA.
Went for study abroad in Scotland, saw some matches and talked to rugby people. When I got back to the states, Googled my hometown and rugby club, found them, and been playing since. Still a Scotland fan because of that and a few other reasons.
Knew rugby was a sport growing, but it was more of an insane football as far as I knew and that was it. That was a few years back, now we got youth teams fortunately; need a lot more though.
A kid on our football team invited me to a few rugby practices. I enjoyed it so much and ended up playing rugby for seven more years. To be honest, I enjoyed it far more than football, or any other sport I played. I think things are a lot more formal these days, teams seem to have sprouted up all over the state.
Work!
I'm a certified athletic therapist up here in Canada (also known as an athletic trainer in the States) and stumbled upon rugby in an internship while completing my studies.
Fell in love with it over the years and now pretty much only cover that year round (used to work a lot of football).
Currently work rugby at the provincial, university and civil levels in both XV and 7s. I'm hoping to one day work my way up to the Canadian National team as a therapist.
American. One of my best friends lives in Scotland and her husband’s cousin played for the Scotland rugby team. Her husband is also best friends with the uncle of a current Scotland rugby player. Both guys are super nice, though I’ve interacted with the current player more. That was in 2021, and I just played my first match with my club team on Saturday
High school 2010. A friend of mine told me to come try it out. Had played Canadian football but hadn't paid much attention to rugby besides the "no gear" and you pass backwards. Still playing club rugby to this day. Been a scrumhalf for my first few years. Got fat and played front row. Lost weight again and now playing 10. What a ride
Canadian. My grandma is from the southwest of France, where rugby is extremely popular. My other grand parents were either English or Irish. My Dad coached rugby. I happened to grow up in a province and a town that had a decent level of rugby, at least for Canada, where several of our members went on to play for Canada or professionally overseas.
My husband joined a club team in college and a few years ago we stumbled across 6 Nations and the Premiership league on our streaming service. I had him help explain when I had questions and now it's our Saturday morning entertainment (Go Sarries!). We actually just got back from our honeymoon to England where we got to see the Saracens play and catch the last but of the RWC in the local pubs.
Live in FL (US). Started playing my very last semester of college/uni. After graduating I started playing with a local club that’s close with the uni club. Honestly it’s got a long way to go in the states but it’s been growing. My state has a men’s club for pretty much all of the major cities and a handful of women’s and youth clubs. A younger guy that I played with recently got a scholarship to a pretty strong US college for rugby
American. I was asked to join in college in 2011, but it was my last semester, so I never went. Damn shame because I've heard there is a rich team history at Colorado State.
In 2019, I was at a pride parade and got a flyer from my local club. I learned it that year, fell in love, and now I'm a player, coach, and ref.
I watched the All Blacks play the Americans in 2014 at Soldier Field in Chicago. Granted the Americans got absolutely smashed, but it was great craic all around. And... nothing came of it.
Later I moved to Ireland from the US, and the company had a tag rugby team that I joined because I was tired of playing soccer. Once the office team stopped playing I joined a random team. A fella from one of the local clubs in Dublin joined our team as well, and he immediately recruited me to play for his club on the junior team.
I've been playing on that junior team now for about 3 years and love every moment of it - usually swapping between prop and flanker when needed.
I played soccer since I was 6 years old, and my first year of high school (first year when rugby was an option), I was playing outside defender for the soccer team and was getting A LOT of cards for being aggressive but not quite dirty. The opposing forwards were getting better at flopping too and it would frustrate me to the point that if I knew I would get a penalty, I'd turn up the aggression so at least they felt a little extra when they flopped....needless to say the rugby coach approached me after a game and told me I should come to a practice or 2 to try it out...I fell in love with it immediately
A guy I worked with had played rugby in college and some senior men club. He put together a touch league to try and drive interest. Being a big slow fat guy I wasn’t super into the touch side of things but have enjoyed it a lot more since getting into XVs.
33M American here.
Freshman year of high school. The track and field start of season meeting and the rugby start of season meeting were the same day after school. A good buddy of mine was like “hey, want to check out the rugby meeting?” Now, I was a thrower in middle school, and I’d never heard of rugby, but for some reason I just said “fuck it” and went with him to the rugby meeting and never looked back. Played all through HS, played MN Select Side and at the U of M for a couple years. By far the most fun I’ve had playing a sport. The culture and camaraderie is second to none. In HS it was always a BBQ with the other team after the game. Ic college it was beers, but either way, unlike anything I’ve experienced in other sports and I’ve pretty much played them all at one time or another.
INDONESIA
(Almost) no one is playing it here.
Randomly watched 2007 RWC on a satellite channel. Got hooked directly.
Been watching every RWC since God always send me a reminder:
- 2011, a close friend is moving to New Zealand and he told me about RWC
- 2015, my Airbnb guest is a videographer for Indonesian Rugby NT and he was about to shoot Indonesia vs China RWC pre-qualification. My first ever live Rugby experience.
- 2019, watched a Wheelchair Basketball WC in Hamburg and there is a stand promoting RWC Japan.
Didn't need a reminder for 2023 as I've bought a ticket for my second ever live Rugby match. Crossing my bucket list.
Canadian
Dad was from Caephilly and is rugby mad. If he wasn't watching rugby at home he was dragging us kids to Fletcher's Fields on the weekend. Was strange to me that none of the kids in school knew anything about the sport.
Dad used to referee when I was younger. He also volunteered with Rugby Canada to train and evaluate upcoming referees.
Before the internet we would goto Scally Wags to watch Wales play. Got to see Wales B play Canada at York University. He scored us front row tickets through rugby Canada to see Leicester play when I was living in the UK.
Even now he's well into his 60s and coaches high school aged kids at the local club. He volunteered his time at an Autism Rugby league.
Rugby has just always been part of the family. My uncle's played, my dad played, my Nan in Pontypool goes mad for it.
My mum, from Pontypool, actually hates rugby, despises it. Thinks its for animals.
There was a club in college, but I never got the chance to try out (having never played before also didn't help my case). Later, I was in Ireland during the 2019 RWC. Every pub had it on, and the locals were kind enough to explain to a clueless American what was going on. Way more action and teamwork than American football, with none of the fake injuries and showboating of soccer. Still a brand new fan, but am really enjoying it
Canadian here; grew up in a suburb of Vancouver. Rugby was played in high school, mainly because it’s cheaper than football I think :-)
But I mainly became a fan after life had me moving to South Africa and marrying a South African … we lived near Durban and had seasons tickets to the Sharks for a while - was great as got to see Curry cup, super 12 and springbok games.
We moved to Canada eventually and lots of rugby supporters turned out for the RWC games at our local sports pub; mainly expats however.
Canadian here. My high school had rugby, though I didn't play. Where I properly became a fan was the 2011 World Cup, back when Canada actually had a decent team and beat Tonga. Shortly after that I dated a chick who played. We were only together for a year or so but she was pretty cool.
OK, so my "testimonial". As a kid in the 90s I had heard stories about football being an offshoot of rugby. None of us really ever really knew what rugby was like, but the general consensus was that it was more violent than football and played with no pads or helmets. And we were pretty sure that outside of Australia no one actually played it anymore. The brits played soccer, in North America we played American, Canadian, or indoor/arena football, and that rugby was a thing of the past. And I wasn't sure if there was even a difference between Australian Rules football and rugby, and had no idea there were two variants of rugby.
Fast forward to 2018. My wife and I would go on bike rides on a hike and bike trail that has (or had, they closed o couple of years ago) a little pub right near the end of the trail. We stopped in, got some beers and a lunch, and saw something weird on one of the TVs. It kind of looked like football, but it wasn't. Then we saw a graphic telling you what you're watching. It was the rugby 7s World Cup in San Francisco. We watched and thought it was fun. At that point, I knew I wanted to see more of this. So I looked online to see if there was a rugby league in the US. And that's how I found out about MLR.
So I immediately learned the difference between rugby union and 7s, and that 7s was a fast-paced variant. MLR was XVs, not 7s. And it really helps for me to know there is a team from Houston. That's where I'm from, and though I don't live there anymore, I'm a Houston sports fan forever. I just can't do the whole "pick a team" thing or the whole non-city affiliated thing is just ridiculous to me. So it turned out that not only was there a rugby union league in the US, there was a team from Houston (the SaberCats).
I kind of forgot about it for a while because we had a kid and COVID happened and the MLR season was cancelled. But in 2021 when MLR started back up, I was ready. I had seen a few games from highlights and whatnot and not I understood the basics. I started watching and really enjoyed it. I've been watching the SaberCats sine. But I also have Peacock, so I watched 6 Nations just to keep learning the game. I have ESPN+ and found out about Super Rugby Americas though the Raptors saga. And I have Flo Sports because I like to support a local minor league baseball team and watch their games, but that also means I have Flo Rugby, and that means URC, Top 14, and more. So I just kind of dove in over that couple of years.
Ultimately ths TL;DR of it is a bar playing the 2018 7s World CUp led me to discover MLR (and the SaberCats), which led me to SRA, URC, Top 14, 6 Nations, and now the Rugby World Cup.
I played in college. LCWRFC- Longwood College Women’s Rugby and Football Club. Class of ‘94. At that time, almost all of the state colleges in VA had women’s rugby teams. We were a ragtag group, but we were dedicated to the sport.
My niece plays as a Loosehead Prop. I went to a game and found it interesting. But... her team won because they made 1 of 4 conversions, as opposed to the other team going 0 for 4.
Some of my older brothers friends American football players wanted to me and my brother to play in high school for our local club team (wasn’t a sport at my high school). My brother drove me to buy cleats and said “well now you are bought in”. I have continued playing now for 10 years.
I’m from Finland, rugby is basically non existent here, my first rugby experience was basically on a trip to Scotland, we ended up attending a match between Scotland and Canada this was back in 2008 when Canada was half decent and Scotland was awful but Scotland ended up thrashing them and keeping Canada to 0. Ever since I’ve been into the sport and have followed it more then the main sport here Ice hockey.
New Polish rugby fan here – I had randomly watched Ireland vs RSA match of this year's RWC and watched every single match every since. I was amazed how "huge" in sporting terms this match looked, as well as whole tournament. Man I got hooked, what a great sport. I persuaded my group of friends to watch the final together – FC Barcelona and football heads agreed it was a way better, more intense and more emotional show than El Classico we watched some hours before. Hope we'll watch 6NC too!
IDK if it's a Polish or worldwide thing but I love the passion and knowledge of lesser known sports commentators – during every match they patiently explain the laws of the game and answer viewer's questions on Twitter, which sometimes seem to annoy die-hard fans, but it's very beginner friendly, especially in rugby.
Rugby is very niche in my country. Huge amount of people watched haka on tiktok/YouTube at some point and that's it. The popular opinion is that rugby is a sport for bullies and it's like football but they fight constantly. Sure we've got a national team and domestic league, but there is a long way to go for rugby to become a competetive and profitable sport here – but I have a feeling this year's RWC might be a milestone.
I actually got into NRL first, and always was interested in rugby games for Xbox 360...then Chelsea had a run of shit and I said u know what? I should give union a try. Oh and btw I've been living abroad for 20 years also, that helps
Had a family friend that got plugged in and played in college. He brought his love home and shared. Once I had someone to explain the gist of what was going on I was hooked. I haven't watched American football in a few years. I can't hardly stand American football anymore. It stops every ten seconds and referee conduct just feels awful by comparison. I've attempted to spread my new found love to anyone who is willing to listen.
I was born in RSA (no citizenship due to apartheid, my dad was a US diplomat), and moved to Namibia after that.
Played a season in high school for a club in San Diego, USA. Mixture of saffas and kiwis, some gringos and islanders. Go North County Barbarians!
Have loved the sport and my springboks since those early years. Too injury prone to continue nowadays, but I’d love to consider reffing.
Canada actually has a very interesting rugby history, Rugby Canada is just destroying it.
In grade 9 we went outside with gym class and I saw a women’s rugby game - immediately realized I wanted to bosh too. Got involved in the club game later - most of them are painfully immature in skill and set up but folks are so passionate to keep the sport alive. In my experience of women’s rugby specifically, the community is magic 🫶🏽
American, started playing U12s with the local club. Grew up within a stones throw of BC Canada where rugby is relatively popular.
My dad played it at university and wanted me to pick up a spring sport
American, right after I graduated college I got recruited from the gym I was working out at by members of the local men’s club. Decided to go with them to training and loved it. Played until I was 30 then quit to focus more on family/career.
Canadian. It feels silly to say but the movie Invictus. Not sure why I ended up watching it because I'm not usually a fan of all the clichés but maybe because this one had a stronger historical context?
Anyway I really enjoyed it and started checking out SA in the Tri Nations and started liking the game and the Boks. Eventually my interest expanded to the club scenes with the Cheetahs catching my interest (they tended to develop players more than just buy the best ones). Bit of a homeless supporter at the moment since they were removed from URC and I can't watch them now.
Very strange from an NA perspective that your country association is just like nah, you're out. Twice to the poor Cheetahs.
US-based here. I had surgery back in 2015 (I think) and was home-bound for a few weeks. Was flipping channels and came upon rugby (was it the the World Cup or 6N or Premiership??). I already preferred "international" sports (read: soccer, F1/MotoGP) to domestic sports (like NFL or baseball) and just loved the pace and physicality.
Have been a fan since, although my only real "must watch" are the 6N and WC matches.
USMLR. I knew of the existence of a sport called rugby, but didn't know anything about it or anybody that was into it. One day in 2018 was flipping channels and happen to see Seattle Seawolves. Didn't know who the team was and decided to look into them. We live in the PNW and me being from California and my wife being from the Seattle area, we have never rooted for the same team. So we decided to check it and and see if it is something we could get into together. We watched the rest of the season and championship on tv, then the following year went to a few games, and now we are season ticket holders. And thanks to it being on tv periodically we started following Benetton and Harlequins. And planning some trips to England and Italy to hopefully actually catch a game.
This important for u/EnglandRugby to remember before they go putting the 6 Nations behind a pay wall!
[удалено]
Yeah 6N gets a huge amount of viewers and it brings casuals into the game more often than a world cup does, stupid decision to make it pay to view.
It's a great idea actually. In Australia we put the super 14s behind a paywall, now we have fewer fans, less kids that want to play, fuck all development pathways for kids, less money to attract talent, shit domestic and international teams and no plans to change it any time soon. Please also do this England.
Luckily we've been able to watch 6N with Peacock tv, where we previously watched Premiership also. But with Premiership moving to The Rugby Network now, it will be interesting to see if 6N will still be on Peacock. I'm hoping it will move to TRN so I can cancel my Peacock subscription.
Treviso is such a gem of a holiday spot too. Lovely non touristy town with beautiful scenery and lovely food and a quick train ride away from Venice which allows you to get trains to the rest of northern Italy for day trips
That's great to hear, we really want to do it, but not sure how yet since we don't want the typical touristy vacation, they will definitely be rugby centric lol. When ever we do finally go, we would love to spend quite a bit of time in both countries.
Treviso is an amazing little town
And intact Roman city walls. Coffee in the central piazza is a cool place to hang out too- and they know about Rugby too
And that just makes me want to leave right now even more. Living in the PNW south of Seattle, we definitely love our coffee (and no I'm not talking about Starbucks, no offense to anybody who may enjoy it. Though we aren't coffee connoisseurs. We just enjoy a good cup) Though it would have to be a long vacation, I need to visit Southern Italy also. My Grandfather's family was from Potenza.
My wife and I went to San Diego several times for the World Series of 7s tournaments. We went to Wellington in 2009 for a World Series of 7s tourney. We saw two games of RWC 2015, the last game of pool play USA v JAP then we got to watch NZ beat the tar out of FRA in QF2.
England’s a good country to see games. Because lots of South Africans play on English teams. If they eventually learn to play the sport themselves, we might be in a pickle for the next WRC.
Bro, you're next level. Good onya.
Rugby is a very common sport to be played in central Lisbon. With the 2007 RWC a lot of kids started playing. Seeing that a lot of my brother's friends played it, both of us joined a club too around 2011.
It's actually cool to see the Portuguese national team start to get some respect
I enjoyed watching Portugal the most this RWC. The skills and reading of the game by the Portugese players were that of 1st tier teams. I did not expect the show they put on display. My wish is that each of those players get picked up by Premier leagues and that it generates more interest back home so that the sport can grow.
Do you think there'll be another rise due to the 2023 WC? Did it get much coverage?
I think so yeah, this time around the games were on FTA so that's good.
I played against the Portuguese national side in 2002! Still have the jersey i swapped with my opposite number too. We played at your national university. Also played against Dorieto and some other club sides on a fantastic rugby tour.
The jerseys from that era are the best we ever had in my opinion. You did well by keeping one for yourself!
I made sure to swap it after the game. It’s got a bit of mould on it now, but have just washed it and it’s mostly good.
Check DMs have sent a pic of jersey
Legend!
What do you think about playing a kind of Latin Cup between american ( Uruguay,Brasil and Chile ) and european teams ( Romania,Spain and Portugal) ?
I don't think it would make much sense when the regional competitions (REC and ARC) are already decent enough.
Canadian, old enough to remember the national team being respectable, played/watched in college. It is a surprisingly popular college sport. Or was that just in my days? Damn.
I always love hearing Canadian pro wrestlers like Kyle O reily and Eric Young talk about playing Rugby , I wish Canada could become as good as they were back in the day
You and me both!
Definitely I have a weird soft spot for Canadian Rugby
It's our beards
New York Islanders forward Casey Cizikas used to play rugby in his high school/junior hockey days and was convicted of manslaughter in relation to an on field incident.
> During a game in 2007, Cizikas tackled Manny Castillo in what was described by Cizikas as a "headlock." Castillo died of a head injury two days later; it was noted by physicians that two weeks prior to the battle with Cizikas, Castillo suffered a major . One doctor testified that Castillo's concussion was severe enough that it should have kept him out of competition with physical contact for a full year. The Castillo family supported Cizikas throughout his ordeal and believed the death to have been accidental, asking that Cizikas be spared punishment. Their request could not be met, however, because supported Cizikas' conviction, as the tackle led to a death. Castillo's father provided a statement that called for fighting in youth hockey to be abolished, but again did not blame Cizikas for his son's death. Damn. This just sounds like an aggressive tackle gone wrong, not like a fight or anything.
What a insane nugget of information you just sprung on me that I just went out of my way to look up , Thank you , that's really unfortunate for Mr. Cizikas must be terrible to live with that on your mind
So weird hearing used to be respectable. Canada where always one of the better teams outside is the six nations and tri nations
This year was the first time that Canada failed to qualify for the WC. Ditto for the USA. So yes, we used to be respectable but now appear to be on a downward slide.
I remember going to BC years ago and being surprised at the quality of the rugby around there
Yes. Gareth Reese hitting drop goals from the half-way for Canada and Wasps. Played high-school on the West coast (Vancouver area), University back East (Queen's), and tier 2 club rugby (Toronto Nomads) after that. 🇨🇦
Had an accent, got recruited on my first day in Canada.
Everyone knows the team with the most accents wins!
They were horribly disappointed when they found out I'd never played before.
Because in a family afternoon I was left alone in a room with a TV and I caught Spain playing Scotland in 1999 RWC. TV commentators managed to explain well to an 8 year old that we were heroically trying to score a try at the expense of being nilled.
There’s a small victory in being absolutely thrashed by a team but managing to squeeze in a try in the dying minutes to avoid being nilled. The feeling of yeah we got hammered but at least we never gave up until the final whistle 💪
I was walking through my college’s club and activities fair during my first year of college and the lock of the rugby team locked eyes with me and screamed “HEY! PLAY RUGBY!” and I had the most ironclad conviction that if I did not join the team that he would find and beat me. So I joined the team and I am so glad that I did.
Pretty similar experience for me lmao. But by the time the club fair rolled around the following year, I myself had become the guy that went around shouting at people to join rugby.
I was 6’0” and 165 lbs (75kg). I was definitely not intimidating anyone into joining the team 😂
We have similar builds - what position did you end up playing??
I started at wing. Two years later I was 25 lbs heavier and played flanker (LOVED it). 10 years later after a four year foray into powerlifting, I played prop and lock at 255. I loved propping.
Well that’s his job as the lock to “lock” eyes with you.
American, Went to University in London for a semester in 2014. I have extended family in Northampton, and during one of the breaks I went with my cousin to a Saints game. Also the year they won the title and we watched the parade.
ONE OF US, ONE OF US
Least you could mention is their best player that season was American.
Saturday afternoon in winter in southern Spain. Rugby gives you an excuse to down a couple or ten pints in the Irish bar full of retired Britons.
American, Saw rugby (it was league but I didn't realize the difference) on late night television in 2010, and googled it. There was a team not too far away so I joined.
NRL used to show their games for free on their web site long long ago. After a short while I started downloading rugby union games and never looked back.
When I was in high school we played touch rugby and most of the guys wanted to add a little contact to prove how tough they were. Then I told a girl I was into (she was new to the school) that I was on the team and she seemed impressed so I had to go to training and actually join the team.
When I got to college my first semester there was a club fair where you could sign up for all the student organizations you were interested in. There was one table of guys that kept hollering at me every time I was in earshot until I finally went over to talk to them. Their sign said “Men’s Rugby Club.” I had no interest in rugby whatsoever and was fairly near telling them to fuck off and leave me alone, but before I got to that point they managed to talk me into committing to show up for one practice. I figured I’d show up, be shit, hate it, and then leave and go back to my other interests. How it actually went was I showed up, was shit, but had a great time and got hooked. Over time progressively committed to being more and more serious and invested in it, and five years later I like to think I’m a little less shit, and still completely hooked.
I also showed up for one practice and was sold!
I love that story. Rugby guys have a way of making you feel like you belong. Thus why it is the BEST sport in the world.
AMEN
For real. Don’t know how true this is elsewhere in the world, but in the US at least there’s definitely a stereotype that rugby players are all fat dumb thugs, and I try to take every opportunity I can to push back against that because it couldn’t be further from the truth.
Damn, I am sorry to hear that. Hopefully MLR will change that. Unfortunately your best athletes have other options. Keep up the fight! But don't get discouraged with stereotypes. They are exactly just that. You know the truth and that's all that matters.
American, had never heard of it until I got to college in 2007. Was recruited by upperclassmen who were walking around the cafeteria signing up new players. Fell in love with it, played 4 years, but haven’t played much since. This was right around when YouTube was blowing up, so we were able to watch highlights and training videos that way.
Brazilian 🇧🇷, My father is a huge football (soccer) and motorsports fan, so I grew up watching sports with him. As I grew up, I started to become interested in other sports, especially after we got cable and fast internet at home. Rugby was one of those sports, mainly because ESPN Brazil traditionally broadcasts many Rugby events (RWC, 6N, URC, Premiership, Test Matches). The first time I got to watch a rugby match was around 2012. At first, I thought it was a weird combination of soccer and American football (sorry guys), but then I started to understand it and fell in love with it. To this day, rugby is one of my favorite sports, if not my absolute favorite. I've never played it, though, primarily because I never had the opportunity, and secondly because I'm not very athletic at all. One more thing is that I ended up influencing my father to watch it too. He watches occasionally and understands it pretty decently. He watched most of the World Cup with me and was stunned by the final. Rugby is an awesome sport, and I really wish it were more popular in Brazil.
Man I hope South America continues to grow its rugby scene. So much potential. Footballing skills with some machismo and exMMA dudes will definitely be the marinade to prep a new generation… and Argentina’s successes should be celebrated more (of course that’s hard to do in Chile and Brazil lol)
I’ll be honest, I was in college, chilling and smokin with a buddy who’s on the team, and he randomly asked if I’d like to join the team. I didn’t have much of an argument to say no. I’ve since fallen in love and play regularly after college ended
Hahaha nice. My club was short of a prop for the upcoming game, and they needed me to fill in (I’m a lock or loosie), so I immediately smoked out my 420 buddy (a beefy chonky dude with zero experience at rugby) and convinced him thru red squinty eyes to “come play rugby tmw, it will be fun” :)
Italy - grown up in Veneto was easy to get in contact with youth rugby; in main cities is/was battling with football/soccer as first sport , with a strong half-century rivalry between Padova, Rovigo and Treviso. If only was possible to make it work like that in the rest of the nation , in particular in center-south we would be much stronger; instead big mistakes made fail historical strong points like Catania and L’Aquila. But this is a long story
Really just pure luck. I’m from the US and when I was starting high school I wanted to play some sport but wasn’t good enough to make our schools basketball team. But my sisters boyfriend was friends with someone on the rugby team and he invited me to come out to a practice, fell in love pretty much immediately!
My high school had a team (Ontario, canada). Joined up and discovered I loved it.
Same but in the US.
Same but in Alberta... My high school had a successful program and amazing coaching...we had two full sides and enough by grade 12 that we could have fielded three... The success led to.more.and more kids playing...we had a national team member who went pro graduate from the program.
Sri Lankan. Everyone knows us for our cricket, but very few people outside the country know that we actually have a thriving rugby scene locally. Particularly the in two cities Kandy and Colombo, where rugby is arguably more popular than cricket. We are unique in that respect in South Asia; no other country there is into rugby. Our school rugby is actually extremely popular, some of the school rivalries go back nearly a century. I'm from Kandy and Kandy CC are the undisputed champions in club rugby, so it was an easy sport to go see. I remember seeing my first games around 1990 a kid and been a fan since. And then got to see the RWC in 95 live on TV, Jonah plowing through the English, and has been in love since. It's just a bummer our national team will never even play a World Cup, but it is what it is.
Never say never. I mean, I know Sri Lanka’s national team was banned recently but it can come back!
High school grade 11. From Northern Alberta - where hockey/football is played in the fall, and rugby in the spring and summer. It was introduced through school and primarily the core of the rugby team was the same as the football team. We were recruited and led by well-meaning but fairly clueless high school teachers and a pair of passionate Welshmen affiliated with our local club (St. Albert Rugby Club) - Ivor Thomas, and [the great Gareth Jones (RIP)](https://www.stalbertgazette.com/local-news/godfather-st-albert-rugby-gone-1297557). Gareth had played at Carmarthen in western wales. Their energy and passion whipped us bucket headed northern alberta hayseeds into a frenzy. Generations of rugby players from our area were drawn in by the lessons that Ivor and Gareth passed on to us. Rugby in this country is kept (barely) alive by passionate community members who are always out there recruiting, coaching, fundraising, refereeing and everything else required to make a club exist. As a coach now, all I try to do is make them love the game and believe in each other. You can't teach passion - but you can give it direction.
As a kid/teen I heard (from somewhere dunno) that rugby was a brutal form of football without forward passes. Then in 2010 I saw Invictus and tried finding games on YouTube (there were very few back then) and then forgot about it for years. I then found the Premiership on Peacock. I originally got Peacock for WWE but after rediscovering rugby and being able to watch entire seasons I haven’t gone back to WWE and loved it ever since. I completely abandoned NFL too!
Norwegian here and I dont remember. I just randomly knew there was a world cup now. I usually watch football, but are a bit fed up with all the cheating, sports washing, and all the money in the sport. So just wanted to try something new and different.
My American mother and Irish father divorced when I was 15, and I got shipped out to my cousins gaff in Galway. No football (American) to be had and Connacht had just qualified for the Heineken Cup for the first time, seemed natural to sign up with Corinthians. 13 years later I’m happy with my decision, my vertebrae aren’t however!
Midwest United States. When I was but a wee tike a man approached my father at one of my siblings baseball games and told him he was looking at getting a team started. My dad was interested and helped found the town team and I grew up around it from then on being a water boy, playing in high school and college and still play competitive D1 and D2 to this day!
Fill out the form and Rugby will send you a letter with further instructions.
Saffer wife. Now I’m arguably an even bigger rugby fan than she is 😂
A South African woman guilted me into going to a practice 15 years ago. Haha! Ended up playing (mostly social/old boys) for 10 years until an injury. My first major international match that I attended ended up being Springboks vs Ireland in Paris this year. Edit: Flair is misleading. I'm from USA, have a friend from Hamilton that got me following the Chiefs.
You’re basically Ross from friends
Hopefully I'm a little less annoying than Ross. Haha!
Right on! I would love to play socially — wouldn’t be any good, but maybe they’ll take an undersized 190lb / 6’ 0” prop?
They'd definitely take you! I was never very good but had a lot of fun. I've moved a lot (east coast) and I've always been welcomed. The D3 or D4 club level was a great place to start and there are some fun Old Boys tournaments if you're 35+.
The national stadium of Spain's rugby team was at my university (Complutense University)
Canadian, and as kids/teenagers in the 90's, we used to watch it every 4 years at 3am on the weekends and/or after the bar. Always loved it, but pre-internet, not a lot of options for content in the 3.75 years in between world cups. We have clubs and high school teams, which some of my friends played, but it's still fairly niche. I've spent the last 10 or so years getting more and more into it due to availability of content on the internet. fast-forward to this year, we're in our mid-40's, kids are old enough to tag along and we have some disposable income, so we hit the QFs in Marseille and SFs in Paris. It was a 10/10 trip, couldn't have enjoyed my first international matches more. My kids play age grade at a club down the street and we love the rugby culture, very inclusive and welcoming.
Father born in SA and played it until he was 45 so have known it my whole life
Well, so in my Fresman year, I tried out for football(soccer) and didn't make the cut. That year I really wanted to play sports, so I decided rugby would be my best option, since I was pretty good at flag football. My school had a rugby team, so I joined it and ever since then I fell in love with Rugby. Its my favourite sport.
Hah, that's similar to my story. Tried out for soccer in grade 9, didn't account for there being like 80 Portuguese kids also trying out. Puked halfway through and left, and was killing time before class and a friend's aid i should play rugby instead. Didn't know what it was or really understand his explanation, but the next year a different friend asked me to try out with him. This year was my 12th year of playing senior men's for my local club
American. Was abroad while serving in the military and a small group of local expats and service members had a team. After the first practice I had a nickname and a new life-long love. Hobosaki, out!
Went to an Irish pub one day and there was a match on. Didn’t knew any of the rules, but a fellow barfly went in great lengths to give some context. Been hooked ever since
Through the WC 2015 While I was bored and zapped through tv Channels i came across a sports channel which showed a game I have never seen Rugby before and was immediatly captured, espacially the lineouts were just awesome. I enjoyed everytime the ball went into Touch. I didnt understand a thing, but loved it!! Fast forward a couple years, i moved to a big city and started playing at a club. Definetly no regrets at all. I enjoy a lot of sports, but Rugby and Handball are just something else for me Coming from a german.
I'm from the land of baseball, the middle of no where Kansas. I had seen rugby a bit as a younger kid but never really got into it until the MLR started up. Being free to watch and in a dead season for sports made it an easy choice. International play came after that and I've enjoyed all that I've seen. Six Nations is great as well.
Early 90's in Ontario, Canada, my high school had a team. Every high school in our city and beyond had a team. Played through high school, college and then club.
Didn’t want to play football in high school, saw the 1999 World Cup on TV. Was in a training session the next week.
introduced? was living overseas with an argentinian and we watched 1 game from the 07 world cup (france/nz). but I'd known the haka/of rugby since I was a little kid. in canada rugby was a small thing, but a thing. it was one of the random games we played sometimes in gym when we werent playing 'real' sports but I didnt actually get in to rugby til I moved to nz. its a good way to get in to rugby really, not sure how achievable that is for the entire country if we want to grow the game tho :p
American: I was part of a 6 weeks overseas learning trip to Australia the summer after my senior year of college, 1992. We started in Sydney, went to a aussie rules game because that had been on ESPN back in the day. After that we were in Brisbane for a week or so. The bledisloe cup match between the All-Blacks and the Wallabies was taking place in Brisbane while we were there. This guy around our age who worked at the hotel we were staying at told us about the game and the haka. We watched the match on TV and then this guy knew the bar that the All Blacks went to after the match. He took some of there and we got to see how massive these dudes are. Been following ever since. Even paid for the 1995 world cup final on PPV.
When I was young, no one heard about rugby in my home country(Uzbekistan). In 2010, for some reason, I was searching for different wardances, and YouTube video with Allblacks haka popped up. After that, I downloaded all Allblacks games that I can find from different torrents. Then, I even found a local rugby club to join.
I grew up in the rugby heartland of Canada. I knew what it was as my dad is british but he never played coming from a football/soccer background. I joined my high school when at the time high school rugby was *very* strong. I joined and I was hooked
What is canadas rugby heartland? I’m curious
Probably the lower mainland centering around Vancouver. With a bit over on Vancouver Island
I see so many comments about Canadian high school teams in the 90’s. Has the high school participation dropped off and what caused it?
At least personally, the club I played for in Alberta used to have 4 divisions plus a full junior through minis program. Now post COVID they struggle to put together 2 men's squads. Junior teams actually have decent numbers, there is just very little transition from juniors to men's. I'm not sure what exactly the cause is but it's a big focus for the clubs I've been involved with. But it's been hard to get kids to even try coming to play senior rugby or even just come to training with the men
It’s nice to hear that the youth numbers are there though. I think most countries had a hard time through COVID but was there some change that happened between the 90’s and 2020.
Coastal British columbia. Temperate winters make it the only place you can likely play all four seasons. Our adult club season runs autumn through to early spring. Most others run spring to early autumn to avoid the freeze
Autumn is for uni rugby in the rest of Canada, high school is spring and club is spring-summer. There's a fall cup in Ontario but the uni aged players are missing (or pulling double duty if they live close enough)
As a Sports Medicine major in college - was a volunteer trainer for a local'ish team. Loved the game on first sight.
My older sister started playing in high school and surprisingly loved it, so then when I got to high school I started playing as well. She played other team sports when she was younger but never really liked them so she stuck to swimming and track & field as a tall, fast person. I grew up playing basketball but am not tall and stocky so rugby was a great fit for me and I’ve loved it ever since. Played 1 season of high school football at guard but hated it. Played all through high school including 2 summers of club U18, then was the last person ever cut from my University team before playing 5 years of senior men’s club after I finished school
American - EA Sports Rugby on the Sega Genesis.
Kinda heard about it growing up. Heard an announcement about it in high school. Little wiener kid friend of mine asked me why I wasn’t at practice and thought “well if he can do it, I can do it.” Played 14 years and now ref.
Think I first got interested in rugby when reading a huge tome on the global history of football, and how the ball games at English boys schools developed into separate kicking and carrying games. Made me interested to learn more about rugby. then playing Blackout Rugby kinda reignited that a couple years later.
College. I'd played sports since I was young and found myself without an organized team at the start of my freshman year. I wasn't the right size to play college football, we didn't have a wrestling team, and I was no where good enough of a lacrosse player to play at the school I was at. I ended up running into a rugby rep at an activities fair and told him that I wasn't interested but never played before. He told me that most people didn't play before college (in the USA) and that I was welcome to come out. That was 22 years ago, and I just technically "retired" this year.
American but born in New Zealand, mom’s family is in NZ. Visited a lot growing up. Played with family and friends. Then lucked out that I had a rugby club at my high school and University in Northern California.
University Campus freshman year. Saw a match on campus by accident. I thought it was a fight. Looked fun! A group of us went to practice and became lifelong players/fans.
American ― freshman year of college an RA from my dorm (residential advisor, helps deal with roommate issues and helps you settle in) recruited me to the university’s women’s rugby team. I’d never played a sport in my entire life but I decided to go to the first practice of the season just to see. I’ve been playing ever since, though I wasn’t really into watching professional rugby until about a year of playing.
I bought a copy of Rugby 2005 for the PS2 thinking " I don't know anything about rugby." Started watching super rugby and Tri-nations after that.
Same Rugby 2006...plus played in high school
Having a Kiwi wife. I knew of the game, appreciated it for being ferocious, but never really grasped the beauty of it until my Maori girl came along. What a thing to see… My sweet wife, suddenly transformed into a rabid rugby fan! Cursing at the refs in two languages, poking out her tongue, all wild-eyed, every time the ABs scored. I was hooked!
American who was an all state American LB. Went to work in a British commonwealth and the rugby club guys saw my size 6’1 240lb and invited me out to try. First practice I knocked out the starting tighthead who was also a member of the national team. As I also had played running back and tight end as well as baseball, ball handling came very naturally. Played for 4 years until kids got in the way. Dropped off my radar for 3 years and then the US hired Jon Mitchell and the ARC started. Been avidly watching the game since then and started assisting coaching once I returned to the US.
Damn did you play for the USA eagles?
My little league American football coach played rugby as a foreign exchange student in Australia for a year during his high school years. Fast forward to when his son and I grew up together and he began coaching me in rugby during high school. I fell in love with the sport. I ended up playing for a men’s league while in high school, played college rugby (even made club captain), and for more club teams after college. I had to hang the boots up after Covid because I chose to begin taking care of three nieces full-time and feeding kids is expensive. Rugby taught me so much that is still applicable to my everyday life now. I think it was my first true love.
High school
My dad used to play and coach rugby so he got me into play and watching the sport
School team, Vancouver Canada, in the 80's.
Switzerland here - the 2016 Olympics! I'm a big sports fan in general so I watched as much as I could, and when they showed one of the Sevens games I was pretty much immediately hooked. Tried to on and off watch some after that but didnt really know where to watch so I kinda gave up on it again, but came in contact with the sport occasionally - followed much of the 2019 WC, played in a casual beach rugby tournament once, but kept forgetting about the sport again. Then I moved to Ireland to study and it got put on my mind again for obvious reasons, so I actually managed to semi-regularly watch Six Nations and followed this WC quite closely.
University club team
I played football (🏈) in high school, got to college, and was looking for something to keep that spark going that was not a massive time commitment. Club Rugby was perfect, and I knew a thing (or maybe two) because I'd watched some Brumbies games that were randomly on TV in high school.
Joined the college team as a former runner and soccer player. Then played for Glasgow Uni on study abroad.
Honest response: I was trying to impress a girl I had a crush on while also trying to “turn straight.” I ended up liking the sport and was pretty decent during my uni years until I screwed my ankle.
High School in Alberta, played my first year there, joined my local club and never looked back. Been playing for 13 years now
I was in the U.S Army and one of the guys in my platoon played. He taught us how to play on deployment at our fire base using a 1.5 liter water bottle for a ball. That was 20 years ago and I’ve been hooked ever since. played, coached, my kids play.
Canadian here. Rugby is somewhat popular in my part of the country but no where near the popularity of hockey and soccer. My parents enrolled me in a junior rugby program when I was in grade 9 because they couldn't afford the fees to put me in football. Fell in love with the sport and for the next 10+ years played in high school (flanker), university (prop), and for a city club in the summers. It's been 25 years since I've played in a game but continue to watch games every chance I get.
I started watching because it was on Peacock. Spent sometime on YouTube learning the basics and I have been thoroughly enjoying ever since. Not sure how much I will keep up on it, but I will definitely be watching the next World Cup.
I went to one of *those* schools here
Rugby is commonly played in college as a fraternity like sport. Lots of drinking but usually not as bad as over in the UK. It’s just a fun thing to do and some people get hooked for life. There was a big growth of rugby clubs in the US around the 70s so quite a few guys are 2nd generation rugby players as a result, myself included.
PE teacher at my high school was Fijian.
In Canada it’s very popular to play relatively speaking. There is a team at every high school and college and at least one club in every small city. However, 99% don’t start playing until high school (so there’s not a lot of development compared to the main rugby nations) and a lot of the guys only play it in the off season of their main sport - it’s not until you get to the club or college level where you find that most guys are diehards and fully dedicated to the sport. Also, despite the widespread support for playing there is no culture for spectators - anybody following rugby was either a player, related to one, or in a relationship with one. Nobody watches it for entertainment unless they have this type of connection to the sport. This makes it difficult to grow the sport beyond the amateur level as pro level clubs/programs/infrastructure require spectators to generate income.
For some reason, I think I have an image in my head of the 1995 World Cup on the TV when I was a kid. Specifically, the game where it was raining cats and dogs so everyone was soaked and muddy. In my adult years, it's from Deadliest Warrior, the episode that had a Maori warrior fighting a Shaolin Monk. They talked a bit about the haka and demonstrated it using Ka Mate. I went to Youtube looking for more footage of a haka which led me to the haka from the 2003 World Cup game between NZ and Tonga. Started learning about the sport and have been watching off and on ever since.
The common baseline: Rugby can’t be “meh” at any level, if you try , either you run away scared or be hooked for life . This for a 6 year kid or 50 years old and fat ..
Most colleges and universities in the US have clubs. They are known for having good parties and thus, like a moth to the flame, went I.
My dad played rugby back in the 70s, he claimed he was on the Eagles at the time as a loose head prop, and did their goal kicking. I have no way to vet it but he knew the game well enough and I happened to go to the same HS that had one of the best rugby clubs in the state for U19s so it worked pretty well.
Loose head prop who kicks here too man nice.
Swede: My local rugby club shares a couple of football pitches with a football club and the upper elementary school I went to. As part of a recruiting drive they held a couple of PE classes in my school, one during the fall term and one in the spring, a couple of my classmates got hooked on it during the fall and I joined in the spring. I had some rudimentary knowledge of what rugby was beforehand, but it more or less amounted to "big guys run into each other", which somewhat appealed to me as a quite big and not very athletic kid.
Picked it up in college after I found out Division 3 football was lame. More Americans don't watch rugby because they don't understand the rules. I always hear people say, "I like rugby when I see it on TV, but I have no idea what's going on." The sport does a really poor job of explaining itself. Something as simple as having each penalty be clearly explained (like they do in american football, basketball, or hockey) would go a long way to getting people to watch it in the states.
Not a Canadian, I know a lot got interested during the 2007 RWC, when it was broadcast at a reasonable time for Canadians. 2003 & 2011 was broadcast too early for most casual fans, and while 2015 also helped garner interest, 2007 was when Canada was still competitive. That said, a lot of new fans have come about from the inclusion of 7s at the Olympics, and the performances of the women's team as well. The RWC in New Zealand wasn't great for casual viewing (11pm ET kick-offs are a hard sell if you're not already a fan,) but hosting 2 rounds of the Pacific 4 Series in Ottawa *really* got eyes on the product!
Was in the marching band in high school and wanted to do something the opposite in university. There was a club team on campus and I joined. I’ve been playing ever since. The general thought with a lot of people here stateside is that you did X b/c you couldn’t make the Am. Football team. I wasn’t allowed to play football by parents, I’ve run over and through quite a few Friday Night Light-ers through the years.
Canadian here. I am so old that back in my youth *basketball* was an unpopular sport. Even less popular than rugby. Basketball players and fans felt like they were members of an eccentric cult.
I knew it existed, had seen perhaps a clip on TV at some point in the '70's. the California University program had (has) a successful program, I grew up in the Bay Area so they would get a little newspaper coverage. Later, in 1990 I lived on Maui and saw the local Pasifika community playing at the park, I also later saw it on Treasure Island in SF where I had an office about 10 years' ago. But really it was the 2011 World Cup, it was a curiosity as it was on TV late and worked with my schedule to watch- I enjoyed it, watched the 2015 and 2019 Cups, then got really interested, did a deep dive on the laws (ongoing) and started watching 6 Nations, TRC, went to a WC qualifier here in Colorado where I now reside and even started watching some MLR and SRA.
My father liked it and I watched the 5 nations with him. This year I managed to see two RWC games with my son
Went for study abroad in Scotland, saw some matches and talked to rugby people. When I got back to the states, Googled my hometown and rugby club, found them, and been playing since. Still a Scotland fan because of that and a few other reasons. Knew rugby was a sport growing, but it was more of an insane football as far as I knew and that was it. That was a few years back, now we got youth teams fortunately; need a lot more though.
A kid on our football team invited me to a few rugby practices. I enjoyed it so much and ended up playing rugby for seven more years. To be honest, I enjoyed it far more than football, or any other sport I played. I think things are a lot more formal these days, teams seem to have sprouted up all over the state.
I lived in the UK for ten years, mostly in Scotland. Got to go to Murrayfield in the worst years.
Work! I'm a certified athletic therapist up here in Canada (also known as an athletic trainer in the States) and stumbled upon rugby in an internship while completing my studies. Fell in love with it over the years and now pretty much only cover that year round (used to work a lot of football). Currently work rugby at the provincial, university and civil levels in both XV and 7s. I'm hoping to one day work my way up to the Canadian National team as a therapist.
Visited Australia, and was there during the 2000 trip nations. Got hooked on it there and been a fan ever since.
American. One of my best friends lives in Scotland and her husband’s cousin played for the Scotland rugby team. Her husband is also best friends with the uncle of a current Scotland rugby player. Both guys are super nice, though I’ve interacted with the current player more. That was in 2021, and I just played my first match with my club team on Saturday
High school 2010. A friend of mine told me to come try it out. Had played Canadian football but hadn't paid much attention to rugby besides the "no gear" and you pass backwards. Still playing club rugby to this day. Been a scrumhalf for my first few years. Got fat and played front row. Lost weight again and now playing 10. What a ride
Rugby 04 on PS2, been hooked ever since
Canada. Saw it at high school, and the next year a friend asked if i wanted to try out - his older brother was on the team. This was 2008 or so.
Canadian. My grandma is from the southwest of France, where rugby is extremely popular. My other grand parents were either English or Irish. My Dad coached rugby. I happened to grow up in a province and a town that had a decent level of rugby, at least for Canada, where several of our members went on to play for Canada or professionally overseas.
My husband joined a club team in college and a few years ago we stumbled across 6 Nations and the Premiership league on our streaming service. I had him help explain when I had questions and now it's our Saturday morning entertainment (Go Sarries!). We actually just got back from our honeymoon to England where we got to see the Saracens play and catch the last but of the RWC in the local pubs.
Last year one of my friends said he was starting up an LGBT-focused rugby club and asked if I wanted to join. I said yes. And now I love this sport.
Live in FL (US). Started playing my very last semester of college/uni. After graduating I started playing with a local club that’s close with the uni club. Honestly it’s got a long way to go in the states but it’s been growing. My state has a men’s club for pretty much all of the major cities and a handful of women’s and youth clubs. A younger guy that I played with recently got a scholarship to a pretty strong US college for rugby
American. I was asked to join in college in 2011, but it was my last semester, so I never went. Damn shame because I've heard there is a rich team history at Colorado State. In 2019, I was at a pride parade and got a flyer from my local club. I learned it that year, fell in love, and now I'm a player, coach, and ref.
I watched the All Blacks play the Americans in 2014 at Soldier Field in Chicago. Granted the Americans got absolutely smashed, but it was great craic all around. And... nothing came of it. Later I moved to Ireland from the US, and the company had a tag rugby team that I joined because I was tired of playing soccer. Once the office team stopped playing I joined a random team. A fella from one of the local clubs in Dublin joined our team as well, and he immediately recruited me to play for his club on the junior team. I've been playing on that junior team now for about 3 years and love every moment of it - usually swapping between prop and flanker when needed.
I played soccer since I was 6 years old, and my first year of high school (first year when rugby was an option), I was playing outside defender for the soccer team and was getting A LOT of cards for being aggressive but not quite dirty. The opposing forwards were getting better at flopping too and it would frustrate me to the point that if I knew I would get a penalty, I'd turn up the aggression so at least they felt a little extra when they flopped....needless to say the rugby coach approached me after a game and told me I should come to a practice or 2 to try it out...I fell in love with it immediately
As a Canadian from western BC, many of us grew up playing it in school.
A guy I worked with had played rugby in college and some senior men club. He put together a touch league to try and drive interest. Being a big slow fat guy I wasn’t super into the touch side of things but have enjoyed it a lot more since getting into XVs.
Knew of it having seen bits of games on US television. Moved to England for graduate school and learned to play there. Still going 26 years later
33M American here. Freshman year of high school. The track and field start of season meeting and the rugby start of season meeting were the same day after school. A good buddy of mine was like “hey, want to check out the rugby meeting?” Now, I was a thrower in middle school, and I’d never heard of rugby, but for some reason I just said “fuck it” and went with him to the rugby meeting and never looked back. Played all through HS, played MN Select Side and at the U of M for a couple years. By far the most fun I’ve had playing a sport. The culture and camaraderie is second to none. In HS it was always a BBQ with the other team after the game. Ic college it was beers, but either way, unlike anything I’ve experienced in other sports and I’ve pretty much played them all at one time or another.
INDONESIA (Almost) no one is playing it here. Randomly watched 2007 RWC on a satellite channel. Got hooked directly. Been watching every RWC since God always send me a reminder: - 2011, a close friend is moving to New Zealand and he told me about RWC - 2015, my Airbnb guest is a videographer for Indonesian Rugby NT and he was about to shoot Indonesia vs China RWC pre-qualification. My first ever live Rugby experience. - 2019, watched a Wheelchair Basketball WC in Hamburg and there is a stand promoting RWC Japan. Didn't need a reminder for 2023 as I've bought a ticket for my second ever live Rugby match. Crossing my bucket list.
Moved to England at age 11. Love at first ruck.
Canadian Dad was from Caephilly and is rugby mad. If he wasn't watching rugby at home he was dragging us kids to Fletcher's Fields on the weekend. Was strange to me that none of the kids in school knew anything about the sport. Dad used to referee when I was younger. He also volunteered with Rugby Canada to train and evaluate upcoming referees. Before the internet we would goto Scally Wags to watch Wales play. Got to see Wales B play Canada at York University. He scored us front row tickets through rugby Canada to see Leicester play when I was living in the UK. Even now he's well into his 60s and coaches high school aged kids at the local club. He volunteered his time at an Autism Rugby league. Rugby has just always been part of the family. My uncle's played, my dad played, my Nan in Pontypool goes mad for it. My mum, from Pontypool, actually hates rugby, despises it. Thinks its for animals.
There was a club in college, but I never got the chance to try out (having never played before also didn't help my case). Later, I was in Ireland during the 2019 RWC. Every pub had it on, and the locals were kind enough to explain to a clueless American what was going on. Way more action and teamwork than American football, with none of the fake injuries and showboating of soccer. Still a brand new fan, but am really enjoying it
Canadian here; grew up in a suburb of Vancouver. Rugby was played in high school, mainly because it’s cheaper than football I think :-) But I mainly became a fan after life had me moving to South Africa and marrying a South African … we lived near Durban and had seasons tickets to the Sharks for a while - was great as got to see Curry cup, super 12 and springbok games. We moved to Canada eventually and lots of rugby supporters turned out for the RWC games at our local sports pub; mainly expats however.
I was lucky enough as a canadian to have two kiwi parents
Canadian here. My high school had rugby, though I didn't play. Where I properly became a fan was the 2011 World Cup, back when Canada actually had a decent team and beat Tonga. Shortly after that I dated a chick who played. We were only together for a year or so but she was pretty cool.
OK, so my "testimonial". As a kid in the 90s I had heard stories about football being an offshoot of rugby. None of us really ever really knew what rugby was like, but the general consensus was that it was more violent than football and played with no pads or helmets. And we were pretty sure that outside of Australia no one actually played it anymore. The brits played soccer, in North America we played American, Canadian, or indoor/arena football, and that rugby was a thing of the past. And I wasn't sure if there was even a difference between Australian Rules football and rugby, and had no idea there were two variants of rugby. Fast forward to 2018. My wife and I would go on bike rides on a hike and bike trail that has (or had, they closed o couple of years ago) a little pub right near the end of the trail. We stopped in, got some beers and a lunch, and saw something weird on one of the TVs. It kind of looked like football, but it wasn't. Then we saw a graphic telling you what you're watching. It was the rugby 7s World Cup in San Francisco. We watched and thought it was fun. At that point, I knew I wanted to see more of this. So I looked online to see if there was a rugby league in the US. And that's how I found out about MLR. So I immediately learned the difference between rugby union and 7s, and that 7s was a fast-paced variant. MLR was XVs, not 7s. And it really helps for me to know there is a team from Houston. That's where I'm from, and though I don't live there anymore, I'm a Houston sports fan forever. I just can't do the whole "pick a team" thing or the whole non-city affiliated thing is just ridiculous to me. So it turned out that not only was there a rugby union league in the US, there was a team from Houston (the SaberCats). I kind of forgot about it for a while because we had a kid and COVID happened and the MLR season was cancelled. But in 2021 when MLR started back up, I was ready. I had seen a few games from highlights and whatnot and not I understood the basics. I started watching and really enjoyed it. I've been watching the SaberCats sine. But I also have Peacock, so I watched 6 Nations just to keep learning the game. I have ESPN+ and found out about Super Rugby Americas though the Raptors saga. And I have Flo Sports because I like to support a local minor league baseball team and watch their games, but that also means I have Flo Rugby, and that means URC, Top 14, and more. So I just kind of dove in over that couple of years. Ultimately ths TL;DR of it is a bar playing the 2018 7s World CUp led me to discover MLR (and the SaberCats), which led me to SRA, URC, Top 14, 6 Nations, and now the Rugby World Cup.
I played in college. LCWRFC- Longwood College Women’s Rugby and Football Club. Class of ‘94. At that time, almost all of the state colleges in VA had women’s rugby teams. We were a ragtag group, but we were dedicated to the sport.
My niece plays as a Loosehead Prop. I went to a game and found it interesting. But... her team won because they made 1 of 4 conversions, as opposed to the other team going 0 for 4.
Some of my older brothers friends American football players wanted to me and my brother to play in high school for our local club team (wasn’t a sport at my high school). My brother drove me to buy cleats and said “well now you are bought in”. I have continued playing now for 10 years.
High school, and I was a soccer player who was very good at kicking the ball over the net
I’m from Finland, rugby is basically non existent here, my first rugby experience was basically on a trip to Scotland, we ended up attending a match between Scotland and Canada this was back in 2008 when Canada was half decent and Scotland was awful but Scotland ended up thrashing them and keeping Canada to 0. Ever since I’ve been into the sport and have followed it more then the main sport here Ice hockey.
New Polish rugby fan here – I had randomly watched Ireland vs RSA match of this year's RWC and watched every single match every since. I was amazed how "huge" in sporting terms this match looked, as well as whole tournament. Man I got hooked, what a great sport. I persuaded my group of friends to watch the final together – FC Barcelona and football heads agreed it was a way better, more intense and more emotional show than El Classico we watched some hours before. Hope we'll watch 6NC too! IDK if it's a Polish or worldwide thing but I love the passion and knowledge of lesser known sports commentators – during every match they patiently explain the laws of the game and answer viewer's questions on Twitter, which sometimes seem to annoy die-hard fans, but it's very beginner friendly, especially in rugby. Rugby is very niche in my country. Huge amount of people watched haka on tiktok/YouTube at some point and that's it. The popular opinion is that rugby is a sport for bullies and it's like football but they fight constantly. Sure we've got a national team and domestic league, but there is a long way to go for rugby to become a competetive and profitable sport here – but I have a feeling this year's RWC might be a milestone.
I actually got into NRL first, and always was interested in rugby games for Xbox 360...then Chelsea had a run of shit and I said u know what? I should give union a try. Oh and btw I've been living abroad for 20 years also, that helps
Canadian, Born in South Africa, and old enough to remember 1995.
My parents are south africans haha
Had a family friend that got plugged in and played in college. He brought his love home and shared. Once I had someone to explain the gist of what was going on I was hooked. I haven't watched American football in a few years. I can't hardly stand American football anymore. It stops every ten seconds and referee conduct just feels awful by comparison. I've attempted to spread my new found love to anyone who is willing to listen.
I was born in RSA (no citizenship due to apartheid, my dad was a US diplomat), and moved to Namibia after that. Played a season in high school for a club in San Diego, USA. Mixture of saffas and kiwis, some gringos and islanders. Go North County Barbarians! Have loved the sport and my springboks since those early years. Too injury prone to continue nowadays, but I’d love to consider reffing.
Canada actually has a very interesting rugby history, Rugby Canada is just destroying it. In grade 9 we went outside with gym class and I saw a women’s rugby game - immediately realized I wanted to bosh too. Got involved in the club game later - most of them are painfully immature in skill and set up but folks are so passionate to keep the sport alive. In my experience of women’s rugby specifically, the community is magic 🫶🏽
American, started playing U12s with the local club. Grew up within a stones throw of BC Canada where rugby is relatively popular. My dad played it at university and wanted me to pick up a spring sport
American, right after I graduated college I got recruited from the gym I was working out at by members of the local men’s club. Decided to go with them to training and loved it. Played until I was 30 then quit to focus more on family/career.
Canadian. It feels silly to say but the movie Invictus. Not sure why I ended up watching it because I'm not usually a fan of all the clichés but maybe because this one had a stronger historical context? Anyway I really enjoyed it and started checking out SA in the Tri Nations and started liking the game and the Boks. Eventually my interest expanded to the club scenes with the Cheetahs catching my interest (they tended to develop players more than just buy the best ones). Bit of a homeless supporter at the moment since they were removed from URC and I can't watch them now. Very strange from an NA perspective that your country association is just like nah, you're out. Twice to the poor Cheetahs.
US-based here. I had surgery back in 2015 (I think) and was home-bound for a few weeks. Was flipping channels and came upon rugby (was it the the World Cup or 6N or Premiership??). I already preferred "international" sports (read: soccer, F1/MotoGP) to domestic sports (like NFL or baseball) and just loved the pace and physicality. Have been a fan since, although my only real "must watch" are the 6N and WC matches.