Country Rugby Sometimes Has Casual Atmosphere

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28322, 6 July 1957, Page 5

Country Rugby Sometimes Has Casual Atmosphere

r FHE grim test match atmosphere x which invades many of the more important Rugby games today does not find its way into many country matches. Country Rugby, like country cricket, usually takes on a slightly more carefree note than that played in the cities. North of Christchurch, ‘‘social Rugby” is once more in full swing, with players attacking the game with enthusiasm. There are few more ardent Rugby footballers than those from the country districts of the province. In one outlying district, the match is always followed by the “social hour,” when the gentlemen and the players of both sides adjourn after the shouting and the tumult have died to recuperate from the rigours of the match. Conditions of play in this district are not always first class, as frequently the football fields are paddocks from which the

sheep have been ushered, just before the game, and goal-posts are sometimes improvised from pine posts, complete with bark. There are seldom more vociferous crowds than those which watch matches in outlying districts, and although the crowds are often small they make up for lack of size in enthusiasm. There are not only husky farmers who walk along the side-line cheering lustily, but there are also often several woolly barking sheep dogs which accompany their masters and which seem to be just as enthusiastic as the spectators. Often, however, the dogs, just as in the city, prefer to be participants rather than spectators.

In one friendly match in an outback district, the game started with 15 men on one side—the other more youthful team took the field with 12 men, the other three arriving during the third scrum in the first half. However, towards the end of the struggle it was found that the older, and in this case losing, side was playing with 19 men. It started with 15, and with good intentions, but as the less fit players tired, replacements were brought on—but the original players remained on the field.