Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Watching our girls distinguishing themselves again in the World Cup this afternoon, I wondered if there was a girls' rugby team at CH. We're are presumably past the era when the girls were restricted to hockey and lacrosse.

We started girls rugby in the noughties We even made the final at Rosslyn Park about 15 years ago.

The women seem to do better than the men at most sports, especially at football this century. Looks like they could get another world cup to their name which I believe would be two more than the men.

surprised at an incident in yestrdays final. Somehow a player got upsidse down in the awms of a player from the other side. The upside down girl was slowly lowered so that she could avoid hitting her head or otherwise beuing injured.
The player who lowered her was sent off presumably because she avoided injuring the other one.
The last team I played for had a fracture every two or three weeks and in one match a player was off at the end with his third dislocation of the match.

The severity with which tackles are judged these days dates from the "spear tackles" that were so popular in the days when Southern hemisphere rugby was so brutal that we were obliged to become brutal ourselves. Check out the Lions tour in South Africa led by Willie John McBride when foul play and fights led to players being laid out stone cold on the pitch.

The spear tackle not only upended a player but drove their head into the ground, presumably so that they wouldn't get up again. In today's rugby (as I seem to remember it being explained by the BBC commentary team the other day) anything which may lead to a player falling awkwardly and suffering a head or neck injury is penalised. This may seem a bit over the top but bear in mind that players from previous generations are now becoming living vegetables with their wives having to look after them hand and foot for the rest of their lives. The same goes for older footballers who got "punchy" from constantly heading those old leather footballs. And of course the term "punchy" dates back to boxers of the Joe Louis generation, and later Mohammed Ali, who ended up with the same head damage. Much as we may love sport I don't believe that it's worth risking your long-term health for. I think the the rugby authorities are right to pay more attention to health and safety.

After following Harlequins men's team I took to following the women and posting on their site. So I was delighted to get two Likes from the sublime Ellie KIldunne. It was to do with the pronunciation of Aiofe Wafer who has just recovered from injury and is back going great guns for Quins. I was duly put right by someone familiar with Gaelic names. It is apparently pronounced "Eefah Wafer" (as opposed to Ice Cream Wafer). I had also posted that even Women's rugby is not immune from a bit of aggro. The other week Quins versus Bristol Bears segued into a mass brawl. They weren't actually pulling each other's hair but they were doing just about everything else. CH has a Quins connection. Joe Launch is playing for them today and back in the 50s my old science and maths master WPC (Phil) Davies turned out in the quarters, and also as centre for England with Jeff Butterfield, and also the British Lions. I discover too that my old housemaster NT "Bogey" Fryer (who I have elsewhere described as a mad, bible-bashing Welshman) played for Quins for a while.

Newcomers to rugby union must wonder what the hell goes on at the breakdown and this may be why the game can't expand beyond 10 teams in the new, trendily-titled Gallagher Prem. Having watched Fiji in the recent Southern Hemisphere men's competition, it occurs to me that their game of exhilarating back play and the ball exiting the ruck rather more quickly than most could be the way forward.

Ex Housemaster of Leigh Hunt A, Dickie Dawe, also played for the mighty Quins, as did Lennox Anyanwu until his move to Montpelier in the summer of this year.