Customer Reviews

The Art of Coarse Rugby

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I read the original edition in the 1960's, and desperately want to find a copy.

It was one of the funniest books I ever read, but will appeal only to those who play, or are at least familiar with, rugby.

I laughed so hard reading this book! After reading his book you can tell if you are a rugger (play on the first side) or a coarse rugby player (play on the other sides). A must read for all rugby footballers

There's much in this delightful little book that will remind you of Stephen Potter's "upmanship" books, as in gamesmanship. Potter, however, tended to emphasize the psychological ploys, and "winning games without actually cheating". You'll get the full gamut, however, in the Art of Coarse Rugby--psychology, rule-bending, and outright cheating. All done in good--or bad--fun. You'll read about the Old Rottinghamians, and their arch-foe the Bagford Vipers. You'll read about Slasher Williams ("so called because of his habit of letting his nails grow long in the rugby season").

It's suggested that one should always carry a small penknife, so that if you're ahead and worried about the other side catching up, you surreptiously puncture the rugby ball (in the Old Rottinghamian matches, spare rugby balls are an extreme rarity). If you have false teeth, leave them with the referee. If you need to bite an opponent, retrieve them from the ref, bite away, and return them to the ref. Having blood-spattered goalposts on your home turf can work wonders. Tell your rivals that you're taking up a collection before the match for an opponent in the previous match who had both his legs broken by a particularly vicious tackle by one of your players. There are suggestions about drawing up ambiguous instructions to help your opponents find your ground--hoping that 4-5 will get lost, and then if you must loan the other club a player, you always have a real ringer available. Bribing groundskeepers to close the field 15 minutes early when you're in the lead is a must. And so on.

We're not talking about the Lions here, or the All-Blacks, just low-level club rugby. You'll find this book lots of fun!