Right. Now we’re getting to the serious stuff – we’ve seen a lot of the pretenders but rugby players are in a a different league when it comes to on-field brawling. There’s no pretending you’re up for a fight (basketball), no falling down prematurely (Aussie Rules), in fact there’s no hiding place when it kicks off.
Note to non-rugby fans – rugby league is different from rugby union, not that different but there are some fundamental rule variations which combine to mean that the two codes cannot really be mistaken. For this article the rules are completely irrelevant, we’re just interested in the players ability when it comes to the Queensbury Rules.
Let’s start with England – New Zealand from 1998 and it’s fair to say that the New Zealand tend to be the world’s best (out of the four or five countries who actually play this game) but fightings a different matter:
This next ones not bad, and not just because it’s in glorious High Def. I don’t think anyone’s going to accuse the Aussies of being the world’s greatest street fighters – there’s a lot of flapping going on here – but one or two look a bit handy. Also hitting your opponent while he’s being held back by his team mates? A bit shabby.
We’ll give them another chance though and this one…….well just check out the Dallas-style shoulder pads! There’s even (whisper it quietly) some crowd misbehaviour and some cops in tight trousers. The haircut in the first few seconds should also mark this out as a 1980s match but this is Australia and that’s a pretty modern look.
One last one then and back to England for a tie between Northern rivals Leeds and Bradford – a proper solid punch thrown here, no backing down from the recipient and (unfortunately) it’s broken up pretty quickly but this is what you don’t get in other sports, a genuine desire to get stuck in.
Also, and I wouldn’t normally recommend scanning through the halfwitted comments section on youtube but there’s a great comment about one of the protagonists being the first person “…..in the uk to ever get tazered when he worked the doors…..”. Fantastic.
Rugby Union next….
